Fun day, fine finishes
ATN's take Sixteen games at once, all with national title implications? Saturday afternoon was a Division III football junkie's dream, with surprise early scores, surprise late scores and late-game heroics across the country. We know the winners and losers, on the scoreboard. What were the surprises? Which 0-2 conference might actually have improved its status in the first round? What's the hindsight on the 16 first-round games, and what did Keith McMillan see in North Carolina Wesleyan in September that caused him to pick the upset in mid-November? Hear from him and Pat Coleman on the subject in our weekly ATN podcast. And, of course, we have a holiday weekend and eight games coming up, so we take a first look at what's ahead as well. For more playoff coverage, scroll down. As always, you can click here to load the podcast page in iTunes or you can also receive this and any of our future Around the Nation podcasts automatically by subscribing to this RSS feed: http://www.d3football.com/dailydose/?feed=podcast Plus, check out our 10 photo galleries: • Capital at UW-Whitewater | Concordia (Wis.) at Bethel • Hampden-Sydney at Wesley | Hartwick at Curry • New Jersey at RPI | North Central at Franklin • Olivet at Central | Redlands at St. John's • Salisbury at Muhlenberg | UW-Eau Claire at St. Norbert | ||
| Permalink | Nov 19, 2007 | ||
Colonels ride their signal-caller By Tom Haley D3football.com Before the season began, Curry coach Skip Bandini recalls a conversation with his quarterback Ryan Van De Giesen. “He said, 'Coach, I think this team is trying to jump on my back. I hope I can lead this team the way they want me to.'” Van De Giesen has led this team to a place it has never been. The Colonels have won five consecutive New England Football Conference championships, but when they beat Hartwick on Saturday, it marked the program’s first victory in the NCAA playoffs. Having beaten one Empire 8 team, the Colonels now will try to take down another. Only this time it must be achieved on the road as they travel to St. John Fisher. Van De Giesen fired three touchdown passes in the 42-21 first-round victory. He did not suffer an interception and has now thrown 30 touchdown passes against just eight interceptions. “He is a great leader. He just wants to win,” Bandini said. “He doesn’t care about any accolades for himself.” Much of Van De Giesen’s success comes from the rapport he has with his receivers, particularly, Felix Borukhov and Brian Taylor. Borukhov has 60 catches for 907 yards and 15 touchdowns. Taylor’s 57 receptions are good for 898 yards and nine touchdowns. “Ninety percent of the time, he and his receivers are thinking exactly alike,” Bandini said. “We tell our kids to be around each other a lot and talk football. It’s telepathy. “Those two receivers can be great coaches someday.” The day could not have started better for the Colonels. It took them seconds to work the home crowd into a frenzy as Tim Bloniasz took the opening kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown. “Whenever you take the opening kickoff back, it gives your team an emotional boost,” Bandini said. “And we hadn’t lost at home in a long time so it put us in a positive mood.” But there was still the challenge of containing Hartwick’s high-powered offense with quarterback Jason Boltus. “You won’t see a better quarterback in Division III,” Norwich University head coach Shawn McIntyre said when his team was preparing for Hartwick. “I would agree with that,” Bandini said. “But we had a plan to attack and put pressure on him. I bet he was hit on more than 90 percent of his throws. He is a tough kid and a tremendous quarterback.” Nino Nunziante led Curry’s pass rush with three sacks, Scott Driscoll had three breakups and an interception and Bloniasz had two interceptions and a breakup. Hartwick was the team that hung a defeat on St. John Fisher, but Bandini is not reading anything into that. “Every game is different,” he said. And he knew little about Fisher at the beginning of the week, although the Curry and St. John Fisher staffs know one another from attending the same clinic. “The thing about this time of year is that the mental preparation is more important than the physical,” Bandini said. “The important thing is to stay healthy and put yourself in a position to win. “This time of year, every team is good and it will come down to who makes the fewer mistakes because everyone can capitalize on those mistakes.” Curry’s preparation will be tweaked a bit because of the Thanksgiving football game between Waltham High and Brockton. Bandini’s son plays for Waltham and he will be attending that game. Around the Northeast Bandini credits the Colonels’ outstanding special teams play to assistant coach and former New England Patriot Mosi Tatupu. “He is one of the most classy and most knowledgeable coaches I know. And one of the most underrated. He could be coaching at a much higher level,” Bandini said. Bandini thought he would lose the coach to the West Coast this year since his son plays for Seattle and he is happy he decided to return for one more season. Panthers win bowl NEFC Coach of the Year Paul Castonia and his Plymouth State Panthers wrapped up the season in style by wining the ECAC North Atlantic Bowl. Senior tailback Jeff Mack put an exclamation point on his career, leading the way in the 24-21 win over league rival Bridgewater State by rushing for 182 yards and two touchdowns on his 29 carries. Plymouth completed the season at 9-1. Senior wide receiver Chris Joyce went out in style for the 6-4 Bears with 12 catches for 193 yards and two touchdowns. NESCAC honors Williams’ Pat Lucey was named New England Small College Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year. He completed 167 of 272 passes and that completion percentage of 61.4 led the league. He threw for 16 touchdowns. Middlebury linebacker Erik Woodring, who finished as the program’s all-time leading tackler and made 106 stops this season, was named NESCAC Defensive Player of the Year. Quarterback Donnie McKillop, who helped take Middlebury to its first outright NESCAC championship with a 7-1 record, is the NESCAC Rookie of the Year. He completed 129 of 228 passes for 1,379 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also ran for two scores. Middlebury’s Bob Ritter is Coach of the Year. Scouting The North-South Vermont Senior Bowl was played Saturday. DVDs of the high school all-star game will be sent to 40 colleges around the Northeast, many of them Division III schools. | ||
| Permalink | Nov 19, 2007 | ||
Come along for the ride "Coach, I think this team is trying to jump on my back. I hope I can lead this team the way they want me to." So said Curry quarterback Ryan Van De Giesen, coach Skip Bandini recalled. And 12-0 entering Week 13 is somewhere the NEFC hasn't been. That's where the Colonels stand entering their second-round game at St. John Fisher. Find out more in a Road to Salem feature by Tom Haley. And check back throughout the week for more features as the Division III football playoffs continue.
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| Permalink | Nov 19, 2007 | ||
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