FB: Southern Athletic Association

[Clark Kent]

You folks probably won't believe it, but some of Berry's players played before much bigger crowds in high school.

This conference has schools in Texas. They also have high school football.n

And at least ten stadiums (not including facilities under construction in McKinney or Katy) seating 15K or more: http://www.wideopencountry.com/10-biggest-high-school-football-stadiums-texas/

@Ron Boerger  Texas has great high school football but my comment was specifically about Berry.  I mentioned GA, TN and AL because that is Berry's primary recruiting area.  Berry is located in GA, but only an hour from TN and 20 minutes from AL. 

[Pat Coleman]

The reason I made my post, Clark, was that you said people wouldn't believe they played in front of larger crowds in high school. But that's the experience of just about every D3 in Texas, so pretty sure people will believe.

[albatross]

Speaking of good local coverage of D3 teams, the Conway paper had a great quote from Coach Buck in the game preview:

http://thecabin.net/news/local/sports/2017-09-29/hendrix-faces-tough-task-against-revamped-sewanee

[Ron Boerger]

In a game that shouldn't have been nearly so close, Trinity gets past B-SC 26-20.   Tigers were up 26-6 after a safety in the fourth but the Panthers made a game of it, aided by some sloppy tackling and an onside kick that was fumbled after initial recovery.   B-SC had one last chance after a face mask penalty left them kicking from midfield with under a minute left, but this time the onside was easily covered. 

BSC's Trevor Oakes ended up 19-34 for 230 and 2 scores, most of the damage coming in the fourth quarter.   Austin Grauer was 16-27 for 170 yards and 2TDs, and Evan McDowell had 91 yards rushing and 1 TD for the Tigers.   Trinity missed 36- and 29-yard field goal attempts.

[RCottman]

In these first 4 games Tigers continue to shoot themselves in the foot with sloppy play and not playing focused for 4 quarters... may haunt them as the teams get better...

[awadelewis]

It was a good game here in Sewanee.  Hendrix converted  two Sewanee INTs to touchdowns late in the first half and moved out to a 4 TD lead late in the 3rd.  Our guys then went on a tear and had the tying TD w/ 15s left in the game called back on a holding call.  Final: Hendrix 48-42.

An odd thing: Hendrix squib kicked every kickoff.  Any of y'all who regularly follow the Warriors know why?

[albatross]

awadelewis: this year the warriors have really struggled to cover on punt and kickoff. traditional kicks have really not worked well for them thus far. defensive injuries have also caused some of the younger/better special teams players to move into the D depth chart and the special teams guys now skew even younger and are trying to put it all together I think.

[BerryViking92]

Proud of my alma mater, hitting the top 25 for the first time.  Go Berry, #24 in the nation!

[Ron Boerger]

Proud of my alma mater, hitting the top 25 for the first time.  Go Berry, #24 in the nation!

Your program has come a VERY long way in a very short time.   Congratulations!

[awadelewis]

Makes sense now.   Doing so didn't seem to impact the Warriors too much as most kicks ended up in around the Sewanee 20 to 30 yard lines.

It was an entertaining game and I think both teams will be difficult to play against next year with all the younger players that got time out on the field over the weekend.

awadelewis: this year the warriors have really struggled to cover on punt and kickoff. traditional kicks have really not worked well for them thus far. defensive injuries have also caused some of the younger/better special teams players to move into the D depth chart and the special teams guys now skew even younger and are trying to put it all together I think.

[albatross]

Proud of my alma mater, hitting the top 25 for the first time.  Go Berry, #24 in the nation!

I hope you get to stay in the poll a little longer than we (Hendrix) did in our first appearance (just one week  )

[BerryCollegeFan]

Proud of my alma mater, hitting the top 25 for the first time.  Go Berry, #24 in the nation!

Sewanee is next and that game looks to be much tougher than last year.  Sewanee is playing with a lot of energy and though it hasn't always shown on the scoreboard this year.  They are a much better team.  Should be an interesting late kick-off on the Mountain this Saturday.

[BerryCollegeFan]

awadelewis - what's the best parking strategy for visitors to Sewanee?

[jknezek]

awadelewis - what's the best parking strategy for visitors to Sewanee?

Back by the practice football field. Just go past the stadium and usually there are some Boy Scouts out there to help to you park looking for a donation. It'll be on the right a few hundred yards past the football stadium and the last fraternity house.

[Bombers798891]

Why not have Coach K on WRGA radio every Tuesday night for 30 minutes during the drive home?  Why not go speak to the Rotary Club, Kiwanis, Quarterback Club etc.?  Why not send out articles of reasonable size to local media outlets highlighting the upcoming game?  Then when ole Joe picks up the paper Saturday morning to see if Rome High, Cartersville or Calhoun won on Friday night, he might just see an article about Berry hosting Centre on Saturday and decide to take the family. 

I know this is an old topic, but it's something I thought a lot about, so I wanted to respond.

To begin with, I think we overestimate the number of people who have no clue about Berry hosting Centre on Saturday, who then pick up the paper that morning, read about it, and decide to go on a whim.

But the larger issue is that, it's easy to say "Write an article previewing the home football game on the October 14th and send it to the local outlets." Until the soccer coaches want to know why you didn't send anything about their Senior Day games that took place on the 15th. And the volleyball coach is upset because they were hosting a Youth Day on the 15th, and that's something the community would have been interested in, so why didn't you send the local media outlets something about that? And how come you didn't preview the cross-country invitational on the 14th? Or the golf matches? How come you're not working to get those coaches a weekly spot on the radio?

I once interviewed a AD at a super-successful high school. And when I asked him what the trick was to having so much all-sports success, he said "I have to remember that for every coach and every athlete, their sport is the biggest deal to them." I'm not comparing D-III to HS sports, but outside of D-I, where certain sports just have revenue realities others don't, that's a good philosophy to use (and this doesn't even get into Title IX issues with some of the promotion/publicity). Every time we add one task a week like this to an SIDs plate, we're really adding half a dozen. And often, it's already a full plate