Injury hits another ASC contender
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First, on Sept. 13, Adam Shaffer injured his knee in the Choctaws first offensive series in Mississippi College’s 49-28 loss to NAIA Cumberlands. The junior quarterback, who was named the ASC preseason offensive player of the year in August and set five school single season passing records last year, was able to finish the game. But, he suffered through his worst night a collegian tossing seven interceptions. By the following Thursday the school had announced he was lost for the year.
Then on this past Saturday, the conference’s leading returning rusher Quincy Daniels, was knocked out of action after just one carry, in Mary Hardin-Baylor’s 63-7 rout of Texas Lutheran. Early indications are that the junior, who rushed for over 1500 yards with 19 touchdowns for the Crusaders, is also out for the year.
After an 8-2 finish last season, Mississippi College had set its sights on challenging a Mary Hardin-Baylor squad with several key losses to graduation and Hardin-Simmons for the ASC title and a possible playoff spot.
But for the Choctaws, the injury to Shaffer seems especially cruel of the football gods. The quarterback had already missed all but a half of the 2006 season with an injury to the same knee. Now with a 0-2 non conference start, including a particularly embarrassing loss 42-6 to rival Millsaps in their opener, and the loss of Shaffer, the situation looked bleak.
For Daniels, from the Crusaders' own backyard of Belton High whom they share a home field, the injury can be no less disappointing. He had moved into the featured back role that he shared last season with graduated Jarvis Thrasher. The junior had rushed for 100 yards and a pair of touchdowns in UMHB’s opening 30-7 win over 2007 NAIA playoff team Southern Nazarene. If you factor in another possible extended playoff run for the Cru, now the third ranked team in the nation, a 2,000-yard rushing season wasn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Both teams, however, were able to rebound on Saturday and post wins in their conference openers. Both also players step into those vacated roles and perform well.
The Choctaws established the ground game by rushing for 233 yards four touchdowns in the 44-7 victory over McMurry. Desmond Mays paced MC runners with 106 yards and a pair of touchdowns. The running game appeared to take the pressure off Shaffer’s stand-in freshman Tommy Reyer, who hit on 12-of-16 passes for 209 yards and a pair of scoring passes and added 47 rushing yards another on the ground.
Now granted, Mississippi College still has a tough road to hoe, starting this week when they travel to unbeaten Hardin-Simmons. And they would also have to beat the UMHB Crusaders on the road in mid-October too. But the prospects certainly appear rosier than they were a week ago.
The player to step up for Mary Hardin-Baylor in Daniels absence was Matt Hurst, a transfer from Baylor. Hurst competed for the starting quarterback job during training camp, before being moved to running back with Josh Saenz was named the starter (though Saenz missed the first game under suspension.) Hurst rushed for 186 yards on just 14 carries and scored four touchdowns against Texas Lutheran. Roger Sanchez also added 100 yards to the Crusader rushing attack. They travel to McMurry this weekend for the huge October 4 match up with Hardin-Simmons at home.
Speaking of the HSC Cowboys they survived another close one this weekend by knocking off host Louisiana College, 36-28 in their conference opener. It was the Wildcats first loss of the season. It was the second straight year that the Wildcats had a potential game-tying touchdown pass batted down in the end zone in the game’s final moments. The game featured 945 total yards of offense, while both quarterbacks passed for over 300 yards and four receivers, two per side, topped 100-yard mark.
Another team not forget about in the early going is East Texas Baptist. The Tigers opened their conference late with a 35-21 victory over Sul Ross State after respectable performance in losing to national power St. John’s in the season’s opening week. If ETB can get past Texas Lutheran and McMurry the next couple of weeks they could be 3-0 in conference heading into an October 11 match with Hardin-Simmons. The Cowboys will either be coming off a tremendous win or a disappointing loss to UMHB in the previous week.
Can Sewanee triple its pleasure?
There are a couple of upset opportunities this week in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference this week. First of all, Sewanee travels to DePauw. The Tigers have already doubled their win total from last season after moving to 2-1 with a conference win over Colorado College. They were 1-8 last year, but were only really blown out in two games: Trinity and Millsaps. No big surprise there, but they did give DePauw a fight last season losing just 14-10.
Rhodes (1-1) will also be looking for a little payback as the host red-hot Millsaps (3-0) in their SCAC opener. The Majors whacked the Lynx 42-0 last season. Millsaps has outscored opponents 117-27 in their first three contests.
Trinity (2-0) gets back on the turf after a week off, traveling to Colorado College, who has won just one of eight SCAC games since joining at the start of last season.
Centre (1-2) would look to have the edge over Austin after a hard fought loss 27-14 to Depauw last week, while the ‘Roos fell to Millsaps 41-7 last week. The winner will pick up their first conference victory.
LaGrange makes name for itself
If you are like me, you may have thought that LaGrange was a ZZ Top song that you have tucked away somewhere on your Ipod. Turns out it’s a college in Georgia of all places. Who knew?
Well, most of the Saint Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has taken notice. The third year-program, which had yet to win a game in 20 tries entering this season, has won two of their first three. This week’s performance was by far their most impressive as the topped a Maryville squad that finished 7-3 last season by a score of 38-14 on the road. They’ll travel to Blackburn this week for their SLIAC opener.
Last week, I talked about how Huntingdon looked to have the inside track at a playoff spot. It appears the Panthers may be a previously unexpected challenge when the two meet in November. LaGrange held the Maryville offense under 300 yards, while the Hawks gave up over 500 and had to rely on several turnovers to defeat 41-35 the Scots in their home opener a few weeks ago. The rest of the SLIAC will get a shot at the two newcomers to the conference before they meet on November 15.
Huntingdon (2-0) will host MacMurray in the conference opener for both teams. MacMurray posted their first victory 44-26 over NAIA Haskell, while The Hawks were idle.
Greenville looks like it could be another contender in the SLIAC too after downing previously unbeaten Rose-Hulman 25-15 on Saturday. The Panthers had failed to score a point in their opening losses to respected opponents Augustana and Washington by a combined score of 52-0. But on Saturday, they rolled up nearly 400 yards of offense to pick up their first victory. They host Principia in the conference opener this week.
Please contact me if you have any feature ideas and facts that would be helpful. I can be reached at jcbowen@lf.k12.de.us.