FB: American Rivers Conference

[doolittledog]

An update on the injured UD player.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19wiGTF9Bc/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[DriftlessDuhawk]

https://www.facebook.com/groups/775835951481936

A couple days old but it sounds as if he is doing a bit better. Brain swelling is absolutely no joke. Sending many prayers to him, his family, and the Dubuque football team.

[Schipper Strong]

An update on the injured UD player.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/19wiGTF9Bc/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Sorry Doolittledog, I didn't get back on this week other than to do my picks. I didn't see your message about the injured player until just now. I remember a player getting hurt that I wondered if he would go to the hospital here, but I thought it was a leg injury, just because players came and helped him off the field. I also remember a helicopter flying over later and wondering if it was a medical transport. I live by the hospital, so I hear a lot of them. I never saw the ambulance leave, but that doesn't mean it didn't. I pray he is doing well and has a full recovery. Those head injuries are so scary.

[Schipper Strong]

Another game against a team from Dubuque and another tale of two halves. Down 20-14 at the half and so 45-27.

Driftless what was your take on the turnover at the 20 yard line in the first half? It looked like a forward pass that got knocked down to me, but I wear rose colored glasses. Grunder had a phenomenal game with 241 yards rushing today. If he only had longer legs!

We were forced by injury to change QB's late in the first half. Pella High grad freshman Kerndt played the entire second half and while they avoided the passing game like the plague, he ran the offense well. I did not see Hoffman get injured, but the write-up said he was.  Kerndt is a very capable passer, but Loras was a little interception happy and Kerndt hasn't had much playing time yet with the varsity squad.

[doolittledog]

Much prefer homecoming games in late October instead of early October.  85 degrees is hot for us old timers.  UD wins 21-10 which is good.  Free drinks with wings and tacos at the Dog House afterwards was also nice.  Pretty sure our kids are feeling a lot worse than we are this morning 

Onto Wartburg next week.  With the Knights victory over Luther yesterday, they tie the conference winning streak that Central reached back in 1987.  If my memory is correct, it was UD that snapped that streak.  Would be nice (for me) if the Spartans could also stop the Wartburg winning streak!

[hazzben]

What are ARC opinions of Wartburg compared to last year? From the outside the D looks like a typical disciplined, physical team. But is the O a tinge more vulnerable? Hard to gauge from a distance since I don't know how good the rest of the league is comparatively.

[HansenRatings]

What are ARC opinions of Wartburg compared to last year? From the outside the D looks like a typical disciplined, physical team. But is the O a tinge more vulnerable? Hard to gauge from a distance since I don't know how good the rest of the league is comparatively.

The defense is playing better than last season - both up front and in the secondary. They were great against the run last year, same as always, but couldn't get consistent pressure rushing 4. The defensive line is getting way more pressure this year, and the secondary is able to sit on routes knowing the ball's gotta come out quickly. Last year, good teams were able to protect and let WRs find soft spots in the intermediate zones to move the chains.

Offensively, I don't think it's a trade secret of any sort to say they're not playing up to the standard they want to. Made a switch at QB from Dodd, who split time with Markham last year, to Papesh, who is a sophomore but medically redshirted a year ago. Dodd's a great athlete, but he didn't look comfortable in structure and he wasn't having as much success scrambling this year as he did last year. Papesh got limited action in the first couple of games, and looked like a kid who hadn't played ball in two years + wasn't getting practice reps with his WRs. In his first start two weeks ago, he looked much, much better. Was getting the ball out in rhythm and accurately, but the whole offense right now is somewhat limited, not necessarily in what they can do, but in what they're trying to do. They look like a team running their camp offense, which makes sense with the new QB and their receiving corp being the least experienced unit on the team.

[HansenRatings]

From the outside the D looks like a typical disciplined, physical team.

One more note on the defense... I think this might be the most physical defensive unit they've ever put on the field. When the LBs hit RBs, the RB stops dead. When a OL tries to kick out a DE, the DE is winning that collision every time. There was a play against Stout where they tried to run counter, and the edge defender hit the first puller so hard that 1) the guard left the game with two bloody nostrils, and 2) he also knocked over the second puller.

[Schipper Strong]

Much prefer homecoming games in late October instead of early October.  85 degrees is hot for us old timers.  UD wins 21-10 which is good.  Free drinks with wings and tacos at the Dog House afterwards was also nice.  Pretty sure our kids are feeling a lot worse than we are this morning 

Onto Wartburg next week.  With the Knights victory over Luther yesterday, they tie the conference winning streak that Central reached back in 1987.  If my memory is correct, it was UD that snapped that streak.  Would be nice (for me) if the Spartans could also stop the Wartburg winning streak!

It was UD that snapped our win streak. It turned out to be a good thing. They played much better with that monkey off their backs. I don't know if they overlooked UD or the pressure of keeping the streak going was too much. Every local story mentioned it every week. It was a load to carry. Just the same, feel free to repeat with WB.

[DriftlessDuhawk]

Duhawks came out of the gate fast against the Dutch in front of a large Homecoming crowd in the Rock Bowl. The Duhawks started the sophomore Phillips at QB due to an injury to Helminiak. He played alright, and the defense did its part in forcing 4 takeaways in the first half but had two drives finish in FGs in the redzone instead of TDs. Those are things you just can't do against a much more talented team.

Central was able to get out of first gear and seemingly shifted directly to fifth in the second half as good teams normally do when losing at halftime to an inferior team. Gotta imagine the Central coaching staff had some very stern words for their team in the locker room. The Duhawks were winning by 6 points at halftime, knowing that Central would receive the second half kickoff, and seemed to presume that everything they did in the first half could be able to be replicated in the second half. In my opinion, as many sitting around me on Saturday agreed with, they needed to approach the second half as if they were losing. Assuming that a team as good as Central would continue to roll over in the second half seems foolish to me. It was not replicated, and the Dutch rolled from the start of the second half.

I have only seen 1 Central game thus far and I know that this was a prime "trap" game, but I was not super impressed by the Dutch overall. I do think the Duhawks are better than their 0-4 record would suggest, but I thought that Loras had its best push up front of the entire season against the Dutch. That has been anything other than a position of strength for Loras this year. If Central has hopes of knocking off Wartburg later this season, they will have to play much better.

[Schipper Strong]

I agree with Driftless Duhawk. Central has got to do much better, particularly if Hoffman is out at QB. I do not know the status on that. Saturday with our freshman pressed into duty we pretty much stuck with the running game. The bye week could not have come at a better time for us. If Hoffman is out, Kerndt has time to get a lot of reps in. We play NWU the next week, so more time to get comfortable. Then we hit Wartburg and the run will not be the way to go. I watched Kerndt take Pella High to the state championship his senior year. He can throw very well if he knows his receivers and how they run their routes. How quick he can adjust to our receivers and the college game will be critical.

I was really impressed with our first string defense until we hit the teams from Dubuque. Both of them gave us issues. I don't know if they weren't giving their best or what was going on. I don't want to take anything away from UD or Loras as both of them outperformed us the first half.

I hope the Central team read the impressive write up on Wartburg's defense. Their mindset seems to be way ahead of ours. Read it, learn from it, steal it, implement it.

[HansenRatings]

After watching Wartburg's homecoming win against Dubuque, I'm feeling a whole lot better about that side of the ball. Leo Dodd came back to start after missing a couple weeks, and definitely had his best performance of the year. The offense still has their fastball when they need it. And seeing how good Monmouth and Stout have looked the last few weeks, I may have actually underestimated how good both of those squads are, too. If we take care of business against Central (glad that game's not in Pella), should be setup nicely for one of the Top 4 seeds in the tournament.

[hazzben]

That Stout win certainly has a little more shine on it right now.

[HansenRatings]

That Stout win certainly has a little more shine on it right now.

I'm still not entirely sure what to make of Stout. They tried and failed to lose to Dubuque in the first week, and it's not like UD has looked all that great this season, but now the last two weeks Stout has looked every bit like the team that made the Isthmus Bowl a year ago.

[wartknight]

Logan - I still like what I see out of Papesh; throws a great ball. Just needs to learn he doesn't have to win every play. Good future with him. Nice game for Dodd. D is still going to carry the team, but Wheels will get the O ready for the stretch run. I assume I'll see ya in two weeks (hopefully Knights take care of business this week - tell your dad to come down). Good homecoming weekend with HOF for Tschetter!