LaGrange struggling to repeat
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Just a third-year program entering the 2008 season, LaGrange had lost its first 20 games. But by the end of the regular season, the Panthers were conference champions with a 9-1 record. They also earned a NCAA playoff bid faster than any other fledgling program since Christopher Newport, which qualified in its first season of competition back in 2001.
So despite a first round playoff loss to top-seeded Millsaps that ended their “Cinderella” season. Mooney felt the Panthers had “turned the corner,” rather than turning it around.
Whatever the description, it was a great story. This season, however, has been a lot tougher.
It started in the offseason, when the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference dropped its sponsorship of football. One conference team (Blackburn) dropped its program and another (Principia) suspended its program indefinitely.
This left LaGrange and Huntingdon, both who had just joined the SLIAC before the 2008 season as football-only members, as independents once again. The two programs, which had battled for a conference title and Pool B playoff bid on the final weekend of last season, now had to battle to fill spots on their schedule.
So even though a 56-7 loss to fifth-ranked Wesley on Saturday dropped the Panthers to 1-3 as we near the midway point of the 2009 season, what I saw at Georgia’s only D-III school leads me to believe the Panthers future is still a bright one in the long run.
First, injuries have played factor in LaGrange’s three-game losing skid. The losses have coincided with an ankle injury to star tailback Mario Wallace. The senior, who entered the season with more than 3,000 career all-purpose yards, has not played since the second game loss against Shorter. In their opening 30-27 last-second win over Birmingham-Southern, Wallace had 239 all-purpose yards. The Panther offense has sputtered without him, including an anemic 143 against Wesley. (In fairness, the Wesley defense has made a couple of traditionally tough offenses look bad so far, shutting out Christopher Newport and limiting Delaware Valley to just one offensive touchdown.)
“We’ve been banged up a little bit,” Mooney said before the game. “It’s tough, but we’ve had a couple of freshmen step and do a nice job.
“You can’t make excuses. We’re at a point now where in our fourth year where we’ve got some depth and we’re established a little bit.”
Mooney may have to count even more on that depth after losing starting quarterback Drew Carter and receiver Colt Shope against Wesley. Both players sat out the second half on Saturday. But he may have found the program’s quarterback of the future in Michael May.
The freshman directed the Panthers’ only scoring drive in the fourth quarter that covered 86 yards in 13 plays. May finished 8-of-13 for 83 yards with a touchdown. It was the only bright spot for LaGrange offense, which was unable to take advantage of good field position early in the game. Their first two possessions, which started at the Wesley 43 and five-yard lines, totaled zero points.
Secondly, the school remains committed to doing things the right way and building the program from the ground up.
“When you start in year one and you know you are going to start building with young people and do it over time,” Mooney said. “Those first couple years are tough.
“You have guys on the field that have very limited experience playing against juniors and seniors. You feel like by year four, you are going to be in good shape. It’s really been a fantastic process. It hasn’t been easy. But on the other end, I am so proud of the people that can in here in year one and struck with it. And had all their sacrifices pay off.”
LaGrange has the leadership of 24 seniors this season that have endured the tough times of two winless seasons to rise to a playoff team a year ago. So I would not be surprised to see them rise from the ashes of a 1-3 start to turn this season into a successful one. With six games remaining, they face five teams which they defeated last season.
Thirdly, last season’s success has also helped boost the program’s recruiting.
“The recruiting process each year has gotten better and better,” Mooney said. “We had to introduce Division III football to Georgia because there were no Division III’s here.
“Everybody in the high school ranks in this area is tuned into scholarship football. The understanding of how Division III philosophy works was a new process. Each year, we’ve gotten more receptive, especially with success we had it’s really caught on. We had a very, very good recruiting class come in this year, both in number and in talent.”
The Panthers also plan on making further improvements to Callaway Stadium which already features a Sprinturf field. The Stadium, built in the late 50’s and also home to three local high school teams, will undergo a three-year remodeling process. Improvements will include a larger modern press box, a gutting and remodeling of the locker facilities beneath and new brick façade for the concrete stands.
Being a Division III independent can be tough, especially when it comes to scheduling and with few other regional opponents in the proximity. It makes for a lot of long bus trips. But Mooney hopes LaGrange will not be unaffiliated for long.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mooney said. “I think our institution feels very strongly that we cannot just sit back and wait on something to happen.
“We have to be proactive. We are prepared for the time being to handle things as an independent but don’t want to be an independent for very long. We’ve got a great president, who is out trying to make something happen.”
Huntingdon back in the Pool B race
While LaGrange has struggled out the gate, Huntingdon, the rivals located 90 miles down I-85 in Montgomery, Ala., have picked up where they left off last season. (You can tell this is going to be a good rivalry. A Panther fan joked good-naturedly that “the only good thing to come out of Alabama is Interstate 20” during pregame tailgating.)
The Hawks, who went 8-2 last season and lost out on a Pool B bid because of their loss to LaGrange, pulled a mild upset of Louisiana College 34-21 on Saturday. Huntingdon has again set itself up a strong contender for a Pool B playoff bid.
They’ll face Millsaps on Oct. 10 at home after being idle this weekend. A win over the current leader in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference could further pad their resume. The Hawks beat a playoff-bound Major team 35-34 the last time the two schools met back in 2006.
One good thing that comes out of Alabama is coach Mike Turk’s weekly wrap up television show. It airs on a local station in the area and is available online to download at Huntingdon’s unofficial website. It allowed me to watch highlights from the Hawks' big win over the Wildcats.
It was just a week ago that Louisiana College was riding high after defeating Hardin-Simmons for the first time in school history. They were looking ready to challenge, if not Mary Hardin-Baylor for the America Southwest Conference title, at least for a Pool C (at-large) playoff bid. They still may, but the job just got a whole lot tougher. The Wildcats may have to run the table now to make their playoff dreams happen.
From watching the highlights that impressed me most was the play of Hawk quarterback Justin Ridgeway. I saw the senior a couple of years ago when Huntingdon came up to Dover in 2007 to play Wesley and he has command of the Hawks offense now. Though he completed just 22-of-50 passes, he consistently made big plays down the field, something that was lacking a couple years ago. He finished with a career-best 379 yards and three touchdowns.
Huntingdon totaled an impressive 560 total yards of offense a week after racking up 467 against UW-Oshkosh on the road in a 31-13 loss. The Hawks have played a lot of Division III’s top programs since starting up back in 2003 including Ithaca, Trinity, Millsaps and Wesley, but hadn’t been able pull off a signature victory. The win over the Wildcats was a good start, but a win over the three-time defending SCAC champion Majors in a couple of weeks is one they are looking for.
Around the SCAC
Centre moved to 4-0 and 2-0 in SCAC play with a 34-27 win over scrappy Austin (2-2.) Running back Jonathan Pinque led the way with 181 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterback Tyler Osterman also rushed for 57 yards while passing for 223 and two scores. The Colonels could still be unbeaten when they travel to Millsaps on Oct. 24.
Millsaps (3-1) also stayed unbeaten in SCAC play (2-0) with an impressive win over previously unblemished Trinity (3-1). The Majors rolled up over 500 total yards and allowed just 186 against a Tiger offense struggling to find continunity.
DePauw (2-1, 1-1 SCAC) survived a mud bowl in a 3-0 victory over Sewanee to get their first conference win without starting quarterback Spud Dick.
Birmingham-Southern has started 2-1 this season after beating Rhodes (2-2) 51-17. The third-year program has already equaled last season’s win total. The Panthers, who are not yet eligible for the SCAC title, will face tough tests the rest of the season as Centre, Austin, DePauw, Millsaps and Trinity remain on their schedule. Running back Walter Arrington rushed for 365 yards and three touchdowns.
ASC doubleheader
This week, I’ll get the chance to see a pair a of ASC games by traveling to Abilene to watch Hardin-Simmons (1-3, 0-2 ASC) host UMHB (3-0, 2-0 ASC) and East Texas Baptist (2-2, 2-0 ASC) take on McMurry (0-4, 0-2). It should be interesting to see if a wounded Cowboy team can find a way to knock off the Crusaders. A win will take some of the sting out of what’s been a disappointing season for team that started the season with high hopes.
Later that evening, I’ll be able to see if McMurry can end its 17-game losing streak against an ETBU squad that is still in the hunt for an ASC title. Thanks to Ralph Turner and McMurry for serving as my hosts.
Oh, I can’t forget, Mississippi College is traveling to Louisiana College for a Saturday night in a battle of teams that are also unbeaten in ASC play. Any chance you guys can push that one back until Sunday morning? I wouldn’t mind catching that one on my way back to Delaware on Sunday.
Contact me
I just wanted to say thanks to the people at LaGrange for making me feel welcome last Saturday. I had a great time walking around the tailgate during pregame talking to “ya all.” I enjoyed my tour of the 1984 Cadillac Crown Sovereign Supreme hearse of which only 793 were made. Modified for tailgating and named the “Nimitz” by owner Lee Hodge, the vehicle features a pull out deck (for cocktails) and humidor. The vehicle has its own “easy” to remember website at lagrangecollegefootballtailgatingconsortium.net. The site is still under construction and probably will be for a while judging the from the spread they had set up close by.
This has been a busy travel month for me and the recurring theme of my travels has been pork or pork barbeque. It started the opening week when I covered the Wesley game in Dover and afterward drove five hours to my hometown of Williamsport, Pa.,for my extended families pre Labor Day Pig Roast on Sunday.
I followed that up with a trip the next weekend to South Carolina to broadcast Wesley’s game against North Greenville and enjoyed more pork BBQ at a restaurant called “Little Pigs.” I never had vinegar on my BBQ before.
The weekend of Sept. 19, my family and I stayed at my cousin’s place outside of Philadelphia before the Delaware Valley game. I stayed pork-free that weekend, but my cousin-in-law Steve Olexa did grill up some great chicken wings. (I also want to thank Steve for driving us to the Abington Memorial ER when my four-year old daughter Brynn broke her arm playing with her cousins.)
In LaGrange, my broadcast partner, Sean Greene, and I sampled more pork BBQ at “Hog Heaven.” We also got our first taste of fried pickles, Brunswick Stew and pork skins.
This weekend, I plan on meeting up with some of the regulars on Post Patterns at Harold’s in Abilene before the UMHB/HSU game. If it is anywhere as good as the fajitas that they serve in Mary Hardin-Baylor’s press box, I am sure I will not be disappointed. You can reach me at jason.bowen@capital.k12.de.us, Conrad on Post Patterns or on Facebook at Facebook.com/jasonbowen3.
Enjoy your weekend!