D3football.com is at two of tonight’s three games kicking off the Division III football season. This is Keith McMillan, here at Shenandoah’s Shentel Stadium, and Ryan Coleman is apparently in the house at Hamline’s game.
Clear weather here, although the remants of Ernesto are supposedly coming up the coast. A couple of big questions will begin to get answered tonight. Will Catholic be better off with another new head coach, one that went 0-8 in one season at Becker? Was Shenandoah’s 1-9 record after a playoff season merely an anomaly? Are either of these teams primed to make any noise this season? Sometimes the first game is a sloppy one and hardly an indicator, but if either team looks good tonight, I’ll let you know.
Not yet ready for the wireless revolution here at Shentel, which is funny because this stadium is about as state-of-the-art as they come in Division III, so I’m on the same computer (I think) that is running the game stats. That said, it might be the end of the quarter or even halftime before I check in again.
There are audio links to the game, Around the Nation is up and we are ready to go for another season of Division III football. (Pause for anthem) … Let’s get it on!
OK, I lied … this computer isn’t the one they’re doing stats on, it’s just a hookup to the live stats, so you have a screen updating in front of you. They take care of you here.
Action right away in this one, CUA returns the opening kick 32 yards and the Cardinals drive to the 6-yard line, where they go for it on fourth-and-1 and get stuffed by Shenandoah. Keith Ricca is 3-for-3 on the opening drive.
This is interesting. It’s 7:47 p.m. after a 7:30 kickoff, and we’re already down to 1:01 left in the first, on just the third possesion. Shenandoah hasn’t passed and CUA hasn’t thrown an incompletion on five attempts, so that sort of explains, but CUA SID Barbara Jonas and I are here thinking this may be a record for quickest quarter.
Definitely the quickest quarter to open a season that I can remember. In the time it took me to type that, the quarter ended. 0-0 at the end of the first, CUA driving.
Sam Weaver kicked a 27-yard FG for CUA with 14:17 left in the second quarter.
Just to give you a little scene-setter as it gets dark here in Winchester, Va., it’s a decent crowd, but I’ve seen better here. I wonder if it’s because it’s a Thursday game against a non-conference team, or because students aren’t yet here and settled in. But it’s a new NCAA by-law that allows these Thursday-before-Labor Day kickoff games, and kudos to these guys for taking advantage. Any time you have lights and can play under them, it brings back that old high school night game feeling.
It’s pretty sparse on the CUA side, but that actually makes sense. Even though this is probably their shortest road trip (they houst McDaniel this year and Randolph-Macon is probably a bit further), CUA draws so many students from Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania that this isn’t such a short trip for the families, especially those who have to work in the morning.
A couple more thoughts from the press box … Shenandoah SID Scott Musa remarked about how far removed this scene is from the first Shenandoah home opener, at nearly Sherando High.
Also, this is more an observation. Junior John Jacobs is quarterbacking this third series for CUA. We’re going to assume it was a planned rotation, as Ricca is 6-for-6 and standing next ot the coach apparently healthy. I was just about to say we may have a battle for the CUA job going on, but Jacobs threw a pick in the flat for the game’s first turnover, so that can’t help. It was a bullet though, nice play by the Hornets kid … senior Mike Guerra (thanks, game notes!) Shenandoah tried to go deep off the turnover, but the pass looked like a punt shanked out of bounds.
Still 3-0 CUA, 7:48 2nd.
3-0 at the half. It’s 8:19 p.m.
Start of the 3rd. Jacobs played another series in the second quarter.
Shenandoah something like 27 yards total offense (23/4 receiving) and 1 first down in the first half.
Nice kick return though, same side of the field and type of runback as CUA’s to open the game.
Someone out there cares, I know it.
(doesn’t know it for sure)
Now I see why they insist on giving Jacobs — also the punter — some snaps under center.
After Shenadoah’s biggest play of the night, a 15-yard screen pass, they fumble, CUA recovers just over midfield (43?). On second down, Jacobs lofts a nice spiral for Myles Sabrick to run under (he did have to adjust) to get them into the 5. Leads to a QB sneak TD and a 10-0 lead at 4:14 approximately.
The Hornets have a lot of work to do on offense. Just two first down through the 3:07 mark in the 3rd.
As a footnote, Shenandoah won this game last year, 12-0, and later forfeitted for use of an ineligible player, if I remember correctly.
Keep up the good work.
Go Cardinals!!!
Now we’ve got a game.
When your offense ain’t getting it done (66 yards, 3 first downs through three quarters), you find another way to get it done. Wes Pope blocks a CUA punt, Shen takes over on the 15 and scores on the first play of the fourth.
Of course, CUA freshman Tommie Roberson (we think) blocked the PAT, and we nearly had a runback.
10-6. 14:52.
Thanks for the updates, Keith. Is it a defensive struggle, or are the teams just not in sync with it being the first game of the season??
The blocked punt is such a beautiful thing.
We had another one here at CUA-Shenandoah, this one by the Cardinals’ Mark Wu. I just love how you have to man up to block a punt. You know you’re gonna take a kick off your precious little paws, or perhaps your chest, neck or helmet somewhere. And then you also, generally, have to lay out for it.
That’s what Wu did, although to be fair, Shenandoah rushed its punt team out and snapped quickly to get an advantage, but fumbled the punt snap. It still looked like they’d get it off clean, as Wu — a big lineman type — was the only one rushing.
Shenandoah had taken over at midfield down 10-6, at home with a little momentum. But — get this — their drive stalled.
CUA has already punted back and has Shenandoah buried. And actually a bad pass into the flat is picked by CUA’s Olivero … he got such a good jump on it he fell backward making sure he secured the INT. Otherwise that was six, easy.
1st down at the 23.
Jacobs and Ricca exchanged series last season as well. Ricca got most of them.
Ron,
a little bit of both. I wouldn’t say it’s terribly sloppy play, but at least what you’d expect in a first game. Some of Catholic’s timing plays are visibly slow, but Shenandoah’s not reacting very quickly either. When CUA hits on their timing routes, they actually look pretty good.
Shenandoah doesn’t have much of a passing game, so it’s going to be hard to get people to respect their offense. When they were good, they had a couple of big tall receivers who would get you if you tried to load up on the run.
CUA TD … SID needs the CPU here, let me go for the moment.
Shenandoah down 17-6, down to a 4th-and-1 from their own 29 to stay alive.
For the record, Ricca threw that last TD pass, but he and Jacobs have alternated and each led one TD drive … although turnovers set up both, if you count a blocked punt as a turnover. (it’s early in the season, I’m shaky on my details) 🙂
Shen completes a nice sprintout comeback …
Final Catholic 17, Shenandoah 6
Also UW-Stout 25, William Penn 18
Sorry,
should’ve wrapped up from here, but I got talking to those Bridgewater guys 🙂
Nice win for CUA to start off the Dunn era. They’re definitely not ready for prime time yet, but they might be able to stay competitive with a handful of ODAC teams.
The thing that stood out for them on the bad side was pass plays developing really slowly. Maybe that’s from being so early in the season and switching QBs, but they’ll definitely have to sharpen up. The balls — and both QBs have some zip — seemed to be coming out well after the receivers’ breaks.
Defensively not bad, but maybe because Shenandoah really struggled. Hard to believe that’s the same team that was a legitimate playoff team two years ago, especially because they seem to recruit so well in the big pockets here in Va.
Both teams seemed a little young too, starting sophomores and a few freshmen, so maybe they’re built for the long run moreso than the now.
In any case, that’s all I’ve got from here. Some of the comments may have been hung up awaiting moderation (oddly, I can moderate myself) … but for those who are fans or just ready to see some football, hope we were of service to you.
Worcester State and Curry go at it tomorrow night, and then the floodgates open on Saturday.
Enjoy.
Thanks for the rundown Keith. Great way to learn about the game without having been there. Keep up all the good work, and GO CATHOLIC.
I’ll try to do it whenever I’m at a game and not broadcasting, as long as someone out there enjoys it.
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I sat and watched Averett give up over 300+ yards in the air, just in the first half yet they stayed with Guilford with their running game and went to the locker room all tied up at 28. What was impressive is Averett made the necessary adjustments to get pressure on the QB and they got more agressive with the receivers in the second half. Averett also opened their offense up in the 2nd half with not only the running game but they put the ball in the air a few times as well and their special teams were very impressive. I guess Dunlevy knew what he was doing to put them through hell the first two weeks of the season with Mount Union and Wesley. They kept thier poise and played a complete game down to the end.
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