Author Archives: phlog

Recruit Recap: Long road begins

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In a couple months thousands of students will head to Division III schools for the first time with the hopes of playing college football. Many will have very interesting stories, but few will have a longer trip than Brock Graziadei.

Graziadei played quarterback for Lathrop High School in Fairbanks, Alaska, graduating from the far northern outpost in 2004. It has taken three years, four states and more miles than Mapquest can calculate but Graziadei’s long journey south ends in Pineville, Louisiana where he’ll play for Louisiana College. The Fairbanks Daily News Miner has Graziadei’s story.

For Brandon Griffin the road to college is much shorter, but no less meaningful. Griffin put up great numbers as a receiver at Campbell County (Alexandria, Ky.) High School, but not enough to generate a Division II scholarship. So he’ll play his college ball less than an hour away at Mount St. Joseph according to the Cincinnati Post.

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Game Day from quarterfinals

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So here I am for the annual trip to Alliance where the weather is about 30-something degrees and there’s a good wind blowing across the field.

I feel a little silly wearing a Linfield sweatshirt, which I brought to have some fun with the SJU and Whitewater fans before the flight got cancelled. I need to buy some OAC wardrobe for these trips since we make enough of them.

Ric Brienza and “HS Coach” gave me a very pleasant surprise, printing me copies of their game charts which we have named “Brienzas” in honor of Ric. They combine all the players’ vital information in a shell that’s easy to complete for a new team and even easier to update for a team you’ve seen before. Bless their hearts for the help since this was a late change in travel plans.

A few Capital players were milling around at about 10 AM and seemed in good spirits. If nothing else, they won’t be intimidated playing in this Stadium. QB Rocky Pentello and the other four-year seniors are playing their sixth game against Mount Union.

As for the Purple Raiders, they are always good for some stunning stats.

– Nate Kmic averages 7.43 yards per carry and is within striking distance of Chuck Moore’s school record (7.46).
– The Purple Raiders are holding teams to 0.9 yards per carry. That’s about what you should get if your quarterback takes the snap and collapses forward.

The two guys I most look forward to seeing are Pentello to see how he stacks up against other OAC playoff quarterbacks in the past few years (Arth, Adamson) and Matt Kostelnik. A junior safety for the Purple Raiders, Kostelnik has amazing numbers — 44 tackles (fourth on the team), 11.5 TFL (2nd), 7.0 sacks (1st), 4 INTs (1st) including two for TDs. Hello, All-American team.

I’ll post some thoughts at the half and after the game, but the floor is certainly open for other thoughts from Wisconsin, Delaware, New York or wherever else you may be.

Looking forward to Week 7

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Once upon a time in Indiana there was a man named Steward Faught. Steward preferred to be called Red and Red played quarterback for the Indiana State Sycamores. About ten years after he graduated, Red joined the faculty at Franklin College where he became the face of Grizzlies football. Red served as Franklin’s Head Coach for 29 years, instituting an aggressive passing attack during his tenure.

Though Red passed away, two parts of the Franklin football program bear his legacy. One is the field’s name — Steward “Red” Faught Stadium. The other is the tradition of a strong passing offense now overseen by Head Coach Mike Leonard.

This year Franklin leads the HCAC in passing yards per game and Grizzlies Quarterback Chad Rupp leads the conference in total offense. Rupp has put up 1,182 yards and 12 TDs to only 2 interceptions for the Grizzlies (5-0, 3-0 HCAC). On Saturday Franklin faces their most important test as two-time defending conference champion Mt. St. Joseph (5-0, 3-0) comes to Red Faught Stadium. Powered by senior running back Mike Lovell (124.4 ypg, 9 TDs), the Lions are close to breaking into the Top 25. A win over Franklin might put them into the Top 25 for the first time since 2004. It definitely would put them in the driver’s seat in the HCAC.

D3football’s Wes Anderson and Steve Powell will be at Franklin to bring you the action live starting at 1:15 PM for our first broadcast of an HCAC football game.

Elsewhere…

Wish you were here:We’ll have lots of people at Saturday’s battle between No. 2 UW-Whitewater and No. 6 UW-La Crosse. K-Mack is kicking off his Run to the Playoffs Tour with this WIAC showdown while Ryan Coleman and his photography phriends do their thing.

Just to be different, if I could go anywhere this weekend, I’d head to Ada, Ohio where No. 17 Ohio Northern hosts No. 4 Capital. In most years the game between the OAC’s second and third best teams has been a de facto playoff game with Mount Union providing the crippling second loss to whichever team loses this game, effectively quashing their postseason hopes. Since the OAC put a second team in the playoffs at 8-2 last year, the situation may not be quite as dire now. But ONU needs to bounce back off the 49-7 thrashing they took in Alliance last weekend. I’d love to be on hand to see if they could do it.

Don’t sleep on this one: Sticking with the North Region, the NCAC also has a big game as Wittenberg (3-2, 2-0 NCAC) hosts Wabash (4-1, 3-0 NCAC). After losing their first two games, the Tigers will try to knock off NCAC contenders Wooster and Wabash in consecutive weeks. But Wabash knows they need a win here, particularly after dropping their opener to Franklin.

Super Ridiculous Pick of the Week: Two weeks ago I made the following predictions for the Major League Baseball Playoffs.

Dodgers over Mets in 5
Padres over Cards in 4
Twins over As in 4
Yankees over Tigers in 3

Um, not so much. I hereby place myself on a one week suspension from making any more predictions.

Most likely Top 25 team to lose: Since I’m suspended, you can play this game without me. Remember, you can’t pick a team who is playing another Top 25 team. That still leaves some intriguing prospects — No. 16 Cortland State at Western Connecticut, No. 19 Wheaton (Ill.) at Augustana, Brockport at No. 22 Springfield.

And finally…

It’s not Browns-Steelers, but it should still be fun Undefeated Carnegie Mellon plays 3-2 Case Western Reserve as the UAA opens conference play.