Quote from: IC798891 on December 18, 2023, 10:46:45 AMCongrats to Cortland!Quote from: Machiavelli on December 18, 2023, 10:23:57 AM
One other thing I'd like to mention:
Back after Round 1 of the playoffs, I made the comment that I thought Endicott looked like the better team in the game against Cortland. Many disagreed, which is fine. At the very least, they were on the same playing field that day and Cortland had to scrape together a very tough W. I do NOT think Endicott would have made the run Cortland did had they won that game. They would have likely folded against the brass. The only reason I'm bringing this up is the East made some waves this year. I think Endicott wasn't far off, even having beaten HSU. Ithaca had a pretty significant QB injury during the year and ultimately pooped themselves in round 2. But likely not far off. It feels like there's a chance the East is back on the rise, and I hope we can keep the momentum.
I was thinking about this a lot actually. I agree that I don't think we're toasting Endicott as national champions had they beaten Cortland in R1, but their performance vs HSU, along with Cortland beating NCC, really should cause the reflexive dismissals of the East to stop for a year or so.
Way to get the monkey off of the east's back. After years of traveling with Wesley to the semifinals (some close, so not so close), It's great to see someone finally breakthrough.
Agreed on Endicott, but they have been building an excellent program for a while. Got to travel there in 2019 and they had Wesley 17-0 at the half before falling 20-17 on buzzer-beating field goal.
Along with the top E8 and Liberty League contenders, I think that programs like Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Susquehanna, Del Val, and maybe CNU may have the ability to step it up to the highest level.