Springfield running with Sharpe
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Springfield’s Chris Sharpe is nasty.
Sharpe ran for seven touchdowns (seven!) and 280 yards on 26 carries, both school records, in a 55-38 win over then-No. 14 St. John Fisher.
The seven scores were the Division III record by a quarterback, and one short of the all-time record by any player, held by Carey Bender (a future Buffalo Bill) of Coe vs. Beloit in November 1994.
Sharpe’s list of accomplishments is impressive. Some of the numbers:
–> He’s set a Division III record for rushing TD’s by a quarterback with 25 in just seven games, breaking the old record of 20 set by past Springfield quarterback Ryan Sylvia in 2003.
–> He broke the school record for most points in a game (42) a record that had been almost 40 years old;
–> He broke the school record for most points in a single season – now at 150 – a record that was set in 2000.
–> His 280 yards in the game broke a 20-year-old school record.
–> His seven touchdowns broke the old record of five.
–> His 25 TDs broke the record for any Springfield player, passing Jay Miller who set the record with 22 in the 2000 season.
He’s also on pace to shatter the record for touchdowns per game for a quarterback at 3.6 per game right now (25 scores, seven games) more than double than Sylvia (20 in 11 games)
Sharpe is also on pace only the third player in Division III history to score more than 20 points per game. The other two are James Regan from Pomona-Pitzer in 1997 and D3football.com first team All-American Tony Sutton from Wooster in 2003.
This information is from the Springfield Web site, but you can’t argue with numbers like this.
He’s rushed for almost 176 yards per game. It’s incredible. I have officially jumped on the Springfield bandwagon.
How impressive was the Pride’s win? Here’s some food for thought:
–> Fisher came into the game giving up 72 rushing yards a game, and Springfield went for more than five times that, rushing for 493 yards on 67 attempts, an astounding 7.4 per rush.
–> Fisher came into the game only allowing 56 points on the season (!) And gave up "the double nickel" against the Pride.
And not that the Cardinals did badly. Hardly. According to John McGraw’s commentary on the D3football.com Game of the Week, Mark Robinson had 123 yards rushing, the 20th time in his career that he’s gone over 100 yards rushing in a game.
Also, Fisher had 507 yards of offense and did not punt. Nine weeks out of 10, you’ll win a game with some of those stats. But not Saturday.
"I have to admit I was thinking about this game for three weeks," Sharpe said in a news release. "We just kept running the plays and taking the plays they were giving us."
The Pride are just running (pardon the pun) on all eight cylinders.
All bets are on
Next week, the undefeated Pride travel into Butterfield to face the Bombers, who only have the one loss against Fisher.
Two guys I work with, one an Ithaca alum, Paul, and the other a Springfield alum, Ben, have made a bet on the game next week. Nothing too major, but definitely a great bet.
The loser has to wear the other team’s shirt, but the caveat is that is has to be out in public, like out at the bar on Saturday night after the game.
It’s been pretty fun listening to them go back and forth.
Speaking of the Empire 8, there is a tiny possibility that three teams (Ithaca, St. John Fisher, Springfield) all end up at 9-1.
If that happens, the tiebreaker is pretty convoluted, but would come down to head-to-head matchup to begin with. Also, if all those teams finished 9-1, one team (at least) would have a hell of a season and may well get left out of the 32-team tournament.
This was posted on the Liberty League board by Frank Rossi, a Union announcer for their games on the radio:
For those wondering...The Empire 8 actually has a somewhat cogent tiebreaker. From the League's SID, Tim Farrell:
The following criteria will be used to determine the E8's NCAA automatic qualifier:
(If a tie exists among three or more teams and one of the tied teams is eliminated by this process, the process will begin anew at No. 1 of the tie-breaking criteria among the remaining tied teams).
1. Head-to-Head results.
2. Results vs. lowest ranked conference teams (7th, 6th, 5th, etc) based on final season standings.
3. Results versus common non-league opponents
4. The team’s overall quality of win index (as determined by the NCAA procedure used at the completion of the season)
5. Overall record
Here’s what I think ... it’s still too early to tell
Predictions from last week: I said Fisher would win 40-34 in a shootout, but we all know how that turned out, but I said Wesley would beat Brockport State handily, and they did. I also said RPI would beat Merchant Marine and it did too.
2-1 on the week 8-4 overall.
Great performances
1. Bruce Freeman of Newport News ran 24 times for 110 yards and 2 touchdowns in a 41-0 win over 1st year SUNY-Maritime. The Builders are 4-3 this year, one win from matching the best record for the school this century.
2. Aaron Jackson of Wesley was named the ACFC Rookie of the Week after the freshman ran 20 times for 143 yards and two touchdowns over Brockport in a 48-17 win.
3. Ithaca held Utica to 114 yards of total offense in their 33-7 win.
4. Hobart held St. Lawrence to 167 yards of total offense, 45 on the ground in their 27-7 win.
5. Alfred held Husson to 117 yards of total offense, only 11 on the ground, and didn’t allow an offensive score in their win over the Eagles.
Thanks for playing
I put Brockport here last week for their brutal schedule, but this week, this spot is reserved for St. Lawrence. I was ready to get the Saints some pub after their crazy comeback against RPI, one of the big three in the Liberty.
I thought if they had a good game against Hobart, they could make a run for at least an ECAC bid. They can still get it, but they didn’t do well against Hobart in a 27-7 loss as the Saints only crossed midfield once.
It doesn’t get any easier as the Larries play Union next week.
Record hunting
Hobart senior quarterback Shawn Mizro needs 261 yards to surpass Craig Swanson’s school record for passing yards in a career. Mizro can break the record this week as the nationally ranked Statesmen travel to the edge of the earth, er ... Alfred, to face the Saxons at Merrill Field.
Team peering over the edge
I’ve put Alfred here before, but I think the time is appropriate to put them here again.
They play Hobart Saturday, then face off against Ithaca and St. John Fisher in the final two weeks of the season. The Saxons knocked the Cardinals out of playoff contention last year with a 13-7 win at Growney Stadium. Could the Saxons play spoiler again?
Team that’s fallen over the edge (definitely)
Montclair State. I said a couple of weeks ago that if Montclair won their last three games against Kean, Cortland and Rowan, they could win the NJAC. Well. Not only did they lose to Kean, Cortland won by nearly six touchdowns. RedHawks in a 41-3 victory.
They moved from possible Pool C contention to ECAC darkhorse in a span of 14 days.
Around the East Top 10
1. Springfield
2. Wesley
3. Cortland State
4. St. John Fisher
5. Hobart
6. Ithaca
7. Rowan
8. Union
9. Alfred
10. Rochester
Honorable mention: RPI.
A great Daily Dose
There is an interesting Daily Dose up right now on the site called "Your team’s playoff chances." It helps to spell out how the playoffs are shaping up for team all over the country, but there have already been some good prognostication for the East Region.
Three more predictions
Springfield at Ithaca: I think Ithaca’s homefield advantage gives them a small edge in that department, as I think the crowd at Butterfield will be raucous. I don’t think Ithaca’s defense can totally stop the triple option, but no one has really been able to yet this season. Similar to the Alfred-Springfield game earlier this season where the difference in the game was the fact that Springfield scored on one more possession than Alfred, I think this game could come down to whoever scores last.
I will say ... Roll Pride Roll ... as the Springfield Pride beat the Ithaca Bombers, 38-31.
No. 22 Union vs. St. Lawrence: Union comes off a bye and makes a big statement against the Saints. Union 31, St. Lawrence 13.
Norwich at Hartwick: The loser of this game ends up in the Empire 8 basement. Hartwick 24, Norwich 7.