FB: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

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Gregory Sager

Carroll 45, Lakeland 26 at Schneider. It's the first time in five years that the Pioneers have opened the season with a win.
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gregory Sager

Time to head over to the stadium and call my first NPU sporting event of the school year. Psyched to be back behind the mic!
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gregory Sager

We're in a lightning delay at Hedstrand Field. Fortunately, it's halftime, so it shouldn't eat into game time too much. (We've already had a delay of over ten minutes due to a Raven needing to be carted off the field and taken out in an ambulance in the second quarter.)
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gregory Sager

"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gregory Sager

"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Gregory Sager

This marked the first time ever that I wasn't able to get in my ritual postgame meal from Charcoal Delights because a North Park contest ended as the restaurant was closing. And I'm pretty sure that we violated a precinct noise ordinance by running the P.A. past 10 pm.

It took NPU forever and a day to get the offense moving consistently, but once freshman RB Mike Soracco came into the game late in the third quarter the Vikings really started to pick it up. Grant Borsch was 19-34 for 239 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks, and Woody Corey caught eight passes for 118 yards and a TD. The player of the game was junior safety Gary Anish, who made a strong bid for CCIW Defensive Player of the Week with 11 tackles and three interceptions.

This was not an impressive result against an Anderson team that is likely going to finish well south of .500 again. But a win's a win, and when it takes almost five hours to put it in the books, it's plenty sweet no matter who the opponent and whatever the final score.

(Kudos to the guru as well, as Pat Coleman stuck it out for the entire five hours -- and it was his fourth football game of the weekend, to boot.)
"To see what is in front of one's nose is a constant struggle." -- George Orwell

Mugsy

Good start to the season for CCIW.  5-1 with lone loss being Carthage, who took #4 UWO to the brink.
Wheaton Football: CCIW Champs: 1950, 1953-1959, 1995, 2000, 2002-2004, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2019

matblake

Here are my thoughts on the Wheaton game. 

First, if that Lesniewski plays every game like he did yesterday he will definitely be in the mix for All-American.  He was in on every play, and just did not stop motoring.  I also liked that he was not a rah rah guy.  He just did his job in high speed, got it done, and was ready for the next play.  He and his fellow D Lineman were definitely ready to play.  Should they get their conference pool A, and avoid one of the juggernauts, they could definitely be in the mix for a first round win.

That being said, it's tough to determine if Monmouth simply had an awful showing on offense or if Wheaton is really going to be that dominant.  The Scots will need to have a much better offensive showing if they plan to make noise this year. Including the spectacular touchdown play, Monmouth was just smothered.  Both QB and WR just made a play on that one. 

Encouraging for the Thunder was that they appeared to be able to pressure without sending extra help, and that often there was no easily found open receivers.  Wheaton appears to be solid at this point, the confirmation test begins in two weeks.

Offensively, it looked like a first game to me.  Missed reads, QB throws just a little off, linemen with their hands on their hips.  Everything is different in live conditions, even after a bunch of practice and a scrimmage.  Having the extra week off may let a little rust back in, but if you intend to be in contention for the conference crown and relevant on the national level, it doesn't matter. To be specific, Wheaton will need to set the edge much better if they hope to continue their sweeps etc.  Kudos to Monmouth for stopping them, but it seemed like on the sweeps, the edge got blown up and there was a linebacker there to clean up no problem.  Also, McWilliams did seem to float the ball a bit, which is surprising because we've seem him throw a rope time and time again.

A win is a win, especially against a playoff team from last year with a lot returning.  IWU does appear to have a few people uncertain on where they will rank this year.  The game on the 15th should at least start to put both teams prospects into better focus.

matblake

Quote from: Mugsy on September 02, 2018, 09:31:14 AM
Good start to the season for CCIW.  5-1 with lone loss being Carthage, who took #4 UWO to the brink.

Absolutely. 

Pat Coleman

Quote from: matblake on September 02, 2018, 09:52:37 AM
First, if that Lesniewski plays every game like he did yesterday he will definitely be in the mix for All-American.  He was in on every play, and just did not stop motoring.

I hope so considering he was on the preseason All-America team! Glad he lived up to it in Week 1.

Quote from: Gregory Sager on September 02, 2018, 12:52:29 AM
(Kudos to the guru as well, as Pat Coleman stuck it out for the entire five hours -- and it was his fourth football game of the weekend, to boot.)

Sorry I had to bolt right at the end. I wanted to make sure I got audio from Anish for use on tomorrow's podcast before I hit the road. Ended up driving through that thunder and lightning and torrential amounts of rain from about Schaumburg to Beloit.
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Quote from: old 40 on September 25, 2007, 08:23:57 PMLet's discuss (sports) in a positive way, sometimes kidding each other with no disrespect.

USee

My thoughts on the Wheaton game:

Overall I think it's a solid win over a solid team. Wheaton's defense was absolutely dominant and based on what I see I expect them to be better this year. Monmouth offense was ranked 79th last year (numbers that are skewed from playing in the Midwest Conference) and they had 8 returning starters including their starting QB and a RB who is closing in on 3,000 career yds. The Thunder Defense held them to 54 yds on 54 plays and -6 yds rushing.

3 people particularly stood out to me as dominant. Tyler Sigler, who is returning as a 5th year senior and has NFL teams looking at him. Sigler had 5 tackles and an INT and is a big, physical corner who can cover. He will give Wheaton someone who can take any team's best receiver out of the game. Patrick O'Connell Is a returning All Conference player at DE and he played inside and outside, making plays all over the field. He had 5 tackles including 3.5 tackles for loss, 1 pass breakup and 2 QB hurries. The final defensive player that stuck out to me was Eric Stevenson. The preseason AA was just that, 7 tackles and he made plays all over the field. I think Wheaton's defense is going to be very tough to score on this year. My biggest concern is their ability to get after the QB. That said, in 28 passes yesterday they had 11 QB hurries and 2 sacks.

Offensively the Thunder are very talented. They scored 30 points and were able, at times, to move the ball against a defense that was ranked in the top 10 nationally last year. Again, those stats are really skewed due to competition, but the Thunder showed their top 10 potential yesterday with 519 yds, balance in run/pass games and many tools to make plays. Nichols is playing at a high level, Spencer Peterson needs more touches, and the OLine is experienced and Physical. I love the returning TE's, all of whom were overshadowed by ZL last year. QB Curtis McWilliams needs to tighten up a few things but he looks great. My concern is at RB. Stone Watson looked great early and then started to run tentatively. Later in the game he checked himself out a couple times and ended up on the sideline limping around. I don't think he is a 20 touch a game back. So Jaelin Goldsmith or Will Harris has to come along quickly.

Overall a good solid win against a playoff team to start the season. Now a week off and the September gauntlet begins with a game @IWU.

matblake

Quote from: Pat Coleman on September 02, 2018, 06:00:34 PM
Ended up driving through that thunder and lightning and torrential amounts of rain from about Schaumburg to Beloit.

There always seems to be thunderstorms in that stretch, just like there is always snow from Tomah to Black River Falls in the winter.

markerickson

Yep.  Black ice caused my driver to slide off the hwy as a jr.  We were headed to Mpls.  The tow truck drivers made a lot of money that night. The people in my car and many other travelers - it was the night before Thanksgiving - bunked at a BRF highway motel after getting towed out of the ditch.  It was a surreal night.
Once a metalhead, always a metalhead.  Matthew 5:13.

jaybird44

It was a very successful Saturday night on a couple of levels at WashU. 

The 24-17 victory over Chicago allowed the Bears to retain the Founders Cup trophy for the fourth straight season (kind of odd to be talking about a Founders Cup rivalry signifying the start of a conference that is disbanded for football, but I digress), and attendance at historic Francis Field was 2,903--tops in this century for a football game (thanks to the Student Union for conducting a great tailgate party two hours before kickoff!).  With a new video scoreboard in place, the stage was set for a fun evening of football.

One service predicted a 36-17 victory for WashU, probably because Chicago was replacing a starting QB and its graduated #2 rusher in team history.  But Chicago's defense made sure that the score would be close throughout the game.  The Maroons registered 3 sacks and several other hurries, and had WashU QB Johnny Davidson opening the escape hatch often.  Chicago's secondary is very good, which made it difficult to do any business downfield in the passing game.  In fact, WashU offensive coordinator Scott Mueller wisely utilized RB John Fisher on a couple of key passes to help decide the outcome of the game.

Fisher had a 60-yard TD run late in the first quarter to start the scoring, and he ended the first half with 28 seconds left by taking a perfectly timed screen pass to beat the Chicago blitz for a 24-yard TD reception.  That gave WashU a 14-7 halftime lead, and his 11-yard catch on a wheel route for a TD in the 4th quarter gave the Bears a 24-10 lead.  Fisher scored all 3 WashU TDs, and compiled 119 yards rushing and 60 on the receiving end.

Chicago didn't fold its tents with 5:35 left, after Fisher's final heroics.  Two underclassmen were pivotal in keeping the game close.  Sophomore QB George Krantz was pressed into service in the first half after starter Marco Cobian suffered an injury and could not return.  Krantz threw for 2,855 yards and 44 TDs in his senior year of high school, and he put that pedigree to work in a difficult situation.  He finished 25-of-42 for 203 yards with 2 TDs and 1 INT.  One of Krantz's favorite targets was freshman WR Jacob Jackson, who wasn't even on the two-deep depth chart before the game.  Jackson had 7 catches for 91 yards and a TD.  Krantz's 2 yard TD pass to Dante Nepa brought Chicago within 24-17 with 3:14 left in regulation; and Chicago had a chance to tie the game when it forced WashU to punt with about 2 minutes to play.  Chicago moved the ball to WashU's 45, but a 4th-and-10 pass downfield was batted away in triple coverage from Nepa at the 15 yard line to seal the victory for WashU with a minute left.

Some other notes regarding the Bears:  The defense appears to be better than advertised...a mobile unit that pursues well, and can rush the QB--the Bears had 4 sacks in the game.  And, after a blocked Bears' FG attempt in the 3rd quarter was returned to the WashU 15, the defense forced a Chicago FG attempt that was missed.  That eventually allowed WashU to push its lead to 17-7, en route to a victory. 

The offense appears to be developing an ability to downshift from the hyperspeed offense to a ball-control mode.  That was displayed a handful of times during the game, when 3 straight running plays would be called, or short safe passes would be used to move the chains.  That will be a very good development, especially giving the defense a breather and a chance to make quick adjustments before returning to the field.

A great start to the season, and a nice springboard into CCIW play at North Central in a couple of weeks.

USee

I noted Wheaton RB TJ Williams, is no longer listed on the roster online, indicating he is off the team. With Stone Watson apparently limited, RB becomes an area of concern for the Thunder. We didn't see much of newcomer/transfer Will Smith, but the fresh prince will be needed for Wheaton to have the balance they desire on offense.