Game day from Whitewater, Danbury, etc.

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Hey folks, Pat Coleman from the press box in Danbury, Conn., where Cortland State leads Western Connecticut 28-14 at the half. I came here with the hopes of finding out exactly how good Cortland is, because I think we might have them a touch underrated at 16 in our poll.

Big news here on Cortland’s second drive of the game, as Red Dragons quarterback Alex Smith took what appeared to be a relatively minor hit which became a serious injury. Clutching his left knee as he went to the turf, Smith was eventually carried off the field and was being fitted for crutches on the far sideline. No official word but it doesn’t look good.

Good news for Cortland is that backup Ray Miles has looked decent in his stead, completing seven of 10 passes for 82 yards and a score.

36 thoughts on “Game day from Whitewater, Danbury, etc.”

  1. This is open for any running commentary on any games, though we’re hoping that Keith McMillan gets Internet access at UW-Whitewater to chime in occasionally from there.

    Pito Gonzalez, the Western Conn receiver/returner, was as good as advertised. Been hearing about this kid for four years, nice to see him in person. Torched the Cortland secondary for a 51-yard touchdown with 2:09 left in the half to cut the lead to 21-14. Cortland answered with 61-yard kickoff return from Jeff Beck to set up a 33-yard drive for a score with 0:59 left in the half.

  2. I’m surprised that Western Connecticut doesn’t miss All-NJAC receiver Vinnie Sheperis more. But, it shows how valuable Pito Gonzalez actually is.

    The second half is underway in Springfield. The undefeated Pride lead Brockport State 6-3. Brockport led 3-0 before Chris Sharpe brought Springfield into the end zone. Missed extra point keeps the Golden Eagles down only three.

  4. OK, I haven’t gotten to the field yet, still up here. Miles looking good running the option, made a great decision and pitch just here. All of his option plays in the first half were easy decisions, this was not.

  6. We are logged on and live here from Whitewater, where it is as Ryan said chilly, but otherwise a great day for football. Especially since they just announced the Badgers score and they’re leading 28-5.

    5 Minutes to kickoff, Whitewater takes the field to Hendrix … Purple Haze, that’s clever. Pep band now.

    I’ll get situated and give you the scene from the field, late injuries or anything. Anthem now.

  7. Warhawks won the toss and deferred to second half.

    Let’s see, what’s interesting so far? Saw a guy downing a 40 of Miller Lite in the Will Call line. I wore La Crosse colors (was my most comfortable warm shirt) and no one so much as looked at me funny. The Whitewater anthem guy got a warm reception, but also appeared to have La Crosse colors on. And that Badgers score is 41-5.

    La Crosse put the ball on the turf during the opening KOR but recovered.

    They look like they have some serious beef up front, for D3, even from up here. They go three and out though, a short out, a run up the middle and a square-in incomplete.

    Beaver gets the first carry for UWW. Will report a little more when there’s something interesting to report.

  8. Pat,
    I’m sure this will please/amuse you … they did read the sportsmanship statement here to the crowd, which is bigger than for the game last year vs. UW-EC but maybe still a little short of the all-time UWW attendance record, which they were aiming to set. Actually, the La Crosse side is full, the very expansive UWW side is at 80 percent, so if 13,500 is really the capacity, they might be over 9,000, which would set their record. It’s homecoming and the Hall of Fame game.

    Beaver with a tough 10-yard run, first really interesting play so far. More later.

  9. Union leads Franklin and Marshall 28-0 at half. For the first time all year Union is dominating a team they should dominate. Arcidiacano has 140 yrds and 2 tds. Interesting fact, Union is doing this all without Angiletta or Twitchell. I heard again today that Angiletta and Twitchell will be back for St. Lawernce in 2 weeks. Lets go Union!

  10. Whitewater goes up 7-0 on a methodical first drive. Nothing terribly flashy, a good mix of Beaver and passes and negative plays or incompletions, I think.

    Mixed in a Beaver run then play-actioned off that same run to an X screen. Also had success running the ball when La Crosse had 8 or 9 on the line of scrimmage … but not in the box. Whitewater spread out their 4-3 defense then attacked it up the middle with their zone-blocked running plays.

    Got interesting down near the goal-line, La Crosse LBs Gabe Piloczewski and Adam Neitzel had a huge goal-line stuff of Beaver on second-and-goal. Whitewater comes out in the same two-back set and runs the same play on third down, except Jacobs keeps it on the naked bootleg, everyone bites on the fake and no one is withing 8 yards of Jacobs when he scores.

    UW-Lax really only had one positive play to this point, the goal-line stop, comes out with an OK KOR, then two passes to get them inside the Whitewater 30. They were just incomplete on a shot into the end zone. Run gives them 3rd-and-4 from the 20.

    Warmed up a lot. Scoreboard says 57 degrees.

    The third down … a traditional RB screen to the right, nice cut block by La Crosse OL on the move, 1st-and-10 at the 11.

    Hope this is insight on their styles for you guys, not boring play-by-play. First down the CFL-looking pass where the WR goes in motion and flares into the flat and catches the pass in stride and tries to make a play out of it. Next down is a fade, great catch along the sideline only about 5 yards deep in the end zone, but out of bounds. Same CFL play (wish I could remember what it’s called), that’s twin receivers out there blocking and slot catches the flare, UWW stuffs it.

    UW-Lax gets and ugly-but-good FG (they have replay in the booth here!) to make it 7-3 Whitewater at 1:53.

    Let me know if this is too revealing or good detail.

  13. Keith, that stuff looks good to me.

    Cortland wins here, 49-21. Miles looked pretty good in the second half in relief. Gotta head back down. Will talk more later.

  14. Springfield 27 Brockport 3 FINAL

    Springfield scores 27 straight points after trailing in the first half, 3-0. Very impressive effort by the Pride. If Fisher defeats Norwich, that will set up a battle of unbeatens next weekend at Growney Stadium.

  18. Caught the second quarter from field level. That’s worth it for the insiders tips alone from Tom Pattison (Warhawkfootball.com).

    I also got a good feel for the speed of the players, a couple nuances … I think I’ll hold on to the good stuff for ATN, but here’s what I can say:

    It’s hard to say La Crosse is being dominated at this point, a lot of neutral plays. But Whitewater in earning it’s 17-3 lead has been opportunistic (Jacobs has bought time on big throws, and on his TD to TE Schmitt his line bought him time, and Schmitt finished the run strong) … but it’s also been mistake-free. There was one bad tackle for loss late in the second, but not much for La Crosse to rally around. They’ve hit on some pass plays, and missed on a couple other close ones. If they’re going to get back into the game, it’ll be via the pass. They’re really big,and tall in the secondary and at receiver. At least it seems that way. Looking ahead here … if they got into the playoffs against someone small, they could be an awful physical matchup.

    Anyway, Whitewater is really sharp. Main guys are healthy for the most part, some nicks and such, but it looks like the run-pass balance is really on.

    Some halftime stats while I wait for an open ethernet port to post this.

    UWW 22-83 rush, 101 pass, 184 total offense.
    UWL 9-9 rush, 89 pass, 98 total offense.

    UWW 17:25 TOP. Jacobs 9 of 12, Beaver 18 for 72.

    2 penalties for 25 yards for each.

    That first UWW drive was 15 for 75 yards. UWL field goal drive was 10 for 68.

    Long halftime here, Hall of Fame stuff and band.

    I am thinking “hmm, how is UW-W comparing to Mary Hardin-Baylor” Should pay off when we broadcast that game live from Belton, Texas in two weeks.

    Running out of stuff to say while I stall for this ethernet cord.

    Looks like Guilford’s up 14 on Bridgewater and Muhlenberg last I saw was 22-6 on Ursinus. Those would be the upsets of the day. MSJ and Franklin tied at 14.

    Crowd really filled in after kickoff, they should definitely set the record. Good energy too, not rowdy really, but supportive.

  19. Guilford took a 33-21 lead with 3:54 to go but Bridgewater answered with a quick TD drive. With 2:47 left it’s 33-28 Guilford.

  20. La Crosse finally got something going, Mike Schmidt’s 14-yard run took them donw to the Whitewater 22. Next play they fumble and UWW recovers.

    After a hold on a big Beaver run on the UWW drive, Jacobs comes back with a 29-yard completion across the middle to Derek Stanley, probably 10 of those yards were jukey-juke yards after the catch. (only in the blog you get words like that).

    Beaver busts a 51-yard TD run on the next play, running through two arm tackles.

    Fumble was a 10- or 14-point swing.

    La Crosse is coming back throwing go routes on the sideline to Jr. WR Ted Everson, THE guy in the Eagles passing game. An Everson catch and a defensive hold sets them up with first-and-goal from the 5 about a minute after they went down 24-3.

    3rd-and-goal from the 1, 7:49 3rd qtr … 28 Dan Hall stuffed for a loss of one.

    UW-l going for it on fourth-and-2, now burns a timeout too.

  21. Play-action left, John Schumann roll right and throws high to TE Brian Edmison … was decently covered but a good catch.

    24-10 7:03 third. UWW in control but it’s not over.

    UWW did set its attendance record of 9,570, breaking the 1984 mark of 8,717.

  24. Whitewater responds to make it 31-10 on the next drive. iThey’d have to be really sloppy to blow this lead. I don’t see it happening.

  26. It’s 38-10 here in Whitewater … about three or four TDs ago I started believing they were Mount Union good. Sharp, creative, tough. Few weaknesses, make few mistakes.

    Beaver was at 219 on 30 carries at the end of the third, if I’m not mistaken that’s 147 in the third quarter alone. Take away the 51-yard TD run and that’s still a beastly quarter.

  27. ONU and Capital as well as the Bridgewater and Wilkes games are really the only entertaining games so far.

    I do have to say that Springfield started slow, However their QB Sharpe is the real deal, I think they have a really good shot at winning the E8.

  28. Beaver still in the game with less than nine minutes to go, we think he’s approaching the single-game record of 278 (Pat get ready to recast the front).

    Beaver’s gotten the last several carries in a row, although there’s a holding penalty on his latest run. He should be getting close to 40 carries too, not including the three holds.

    Derek Stanley and OL #62 have been injured on this drive though, maybe keeping the starters in so Beaver can get the record (no idea if they’re doing that or just trying to speed the game up by running with their best back) was not a good idea.

    62 is their top OL Sakellaris.

  29. New ballcarrier … No. 28 runs for about 15 on this first play. Beaver was banged up … he’s on the bench getting treatment, but we are getting confirmation from the SID, they announce it to the crowd.

    286 yards is the final call. Wonder if he set it on the holding call.

  34. More on the Justin Beaver situation … Whitewater was saying he would miss four weeks but Steve Angiletta has missed more than that after breaking his collarbone in Union’s preseason scrimmage. … Paraphrasing Beaver’s comments, which Keith will elaborate on later, ‘I fell on my shoulder, like I always do, but I felt something crack and I knew it was bad.’

    Big blow for Whitewater, especially heading into the Mary Hardin-Baylor game in two weeks against a stout Crusaders’ run defense.

    Keith will have more later.

  35. I thought four weeks sounded awful short for a broken bone, but the news could be different after his X-Rays tonight.

    Beaver seemed to be dealing with it about the best he could. Said it could have happened on any play. Said he wanted to be in on the final drive, salting the win away. You only get a limited number of games against each team, he notes.

    Basically, this was a sweet victory, and they were enjoying finishing it off. Both sides agreed it was still a game at 24-10 mid-third quarter. So Whitewater claims it didn’t know about the record and wasn’t chasing it, and had given thought to taking Beaver and other starters out, but decided to go with them for the final drive, on which Sakellaris, Stanley and Beaver all got hurt. The other two’s injuries turned out to be not substantial.

    I’ll have more in Around the Nation, quite likely to be finished before Thursday this week too.

    Basically though I think Whitewater looked that good today that they should be able to win without Beaver if they stay focused. They definitely weren’t one-dimensional, and should be able to pass just the same. Beaver hits the hole quickly, keeps a low center of gravity and finishes runs. They’ll miss that, but the line played pretty well today. If they do that and the backup backs are functional, UWW is in good shape. UWW has Platteville, UMHB, Stout and River Falls left.

    The UMHB game was a toss-up being in Texas anyway. Having seen them both I’m inclined to say Whitewater is better, but at CNU was UMHB’s opener and first game with a new coordinator. They showed glimpses.

    UMHB and UWW are two of the more physical teams around, that game should be great.

    I don’t think La Crosse is nearly as bad as that score and the rush yards will have you believe. They still have very alive playoff hopes, in my mind.

  36. A couple other interesting scores …

    Claremont-Mudd-Scripps may have ended the dream for Cal Lutheran. Can’t look ahead.

    Carleton lost to Hamline (which normally is not huge news either way) but Sul Ross State keeps it going with the 31-10 win over TLU.

    And then everyone who left Augustana for dead, watch out now. That could also mean it’s not just a great CCIW year.

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