Making sense of the MAC mess
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Lebanon Valley controls its own destiny after a 34-7 rout over King's on Saturday.
Running back Charlie Parker was out because of an injury, but LVC never skipped a beat as the Dutchmen ran for 229 yards in the pouring rain.
LVC head coach Jim Monos said Parker would be seeing a doctor Tuesday night about his shoulder injury, but he would be doubtful to play against Albright this week.
“We’ll see where he’s at. It’s good that we have a few guys who can still do it,” Monos said, referring to the running back by committee setup against King’s. “They can split the load, even if they can’t take 35 carries like Charlie.”
Blair Ransom scored his first two career touchdowns in the game.
“Ransom came in for short yardage,” Monos said. “Even though those ingredients have changed, one thing hasn’t -- fullback Brian Lynch and the offensive line. They are doing a great job for us.”
The defense did a good job keeping King's offense in check too, holding them to just 122 yards of total offense on the day.
LVC hasn't played Lycoming or Albright yet, so if they can be those teams, the Dutchman can win the MAC's automatic qualifier. The first test is Saturday, when they face the Albright Lions.
“They’re a good football team, but we are too,” Monos said. “This is a big game, the biggest this year, but we’re still taking things one game at a time.”
Like many coaches, Monos is humble but confident in his team’s chances.
“We haven’t been here before, but we want to continue to take care of business and get to our goal of winning a championship,” Monos said.
Speaking of Albright, the Lions upped their record to 3-1 in conference after a 17-10 win over Wilkes. Freshman Josan Holmes had a career day, rushing for 212 yards and a touchdown on 32 carries, the sixth highest total in Albright history. He's the first rusher to go over 200 yards for the Lions since Matt Santano ran for 223 yards back in 1998. For his performance, Holmes was named as a MAC offensive Player of the Week.
“Holmes is a tremendous kid, a diamond in the rough,” Albright head coach John Marzka said. “He was one of the last tailbacks in camp, but through camp, he jumped off the film at you. He climbed up the depth chart and over the last couple of weeks, he’s become the feature back.”
Holmes’ 32 carries were his most this season as he’s become a bigger part of the offense.
“We got him the ball plenty this week. He’s a big part of the reason why we’ve been able to run the football better,” Marzka said. “We’re a lot better up front as well.”
They’ve managed to get in a good position despite an opening day loss against Salisbury, a 30-28 defeat where Albright had a chance to win in the fourth quarter.
“It turned out to be a positive because even those we lost, we gained some confidence from it and we’ve played pretty well after that,” Marzka said. “We stumbled against Lycoming (a 23-13 loss) and it was a step back for us. But with adversity, you have two choices -- you can lay down and die or stand up and fight, and they stood up.”
As tough as the MAC is, Marzka said the focus as to be one each game and not as much on the games ahead, even though the Lions need some help to win the league championship.
“We just have to finish the next one and play as well as we can on Saturday,” Marzka said. “All we can do is take care of our own end and try to be the best team every week. We might need some help to win the championship but it won’t matter if we can’t take care of our own.”
Lycoming, the third team in the tie, upset No. 22 Delaware Valley in a hard-fought 10-7 game played in a steady downpour. Delaware Valley was upset for the second consecutive weekend.
An 18-yard field goal by Lycoming's Scott Erikson in the middle of the third quarter turned out to be the difference in a game that featured 11 fumbles, seven of them by Delaware Valley.
Erikson earned a MAC special teams Player of the Week award
Each team racked up 233 yards in the contest.
I guess technically this wouldn't be an upset since both teams were tied going into the day, but anytime you can beat a ranked opponent, that's a good thing.
“We’re in a pretty good spot, I’m pleased to be in a tie for first,” said Lycoming head coach Michael Clark. “The league is really balanced, we can beat any team if we play well, but anyone can beat us if we play badly.”
Depending on how the chips fall in the next couple of weeks, the game on Nov. 15 between Lycoming and Lebanon Valley could be for the MAC title, but Clark didn’t want to look ahead, choosing to only talk about FDU-Florham, their next opponent, and what they can control.
“If we can take care of the ball, we’ll be good,” Clark said. “It has to be one game at a time.”
That one game at a time attitude gives the last three games of Lycoming’s season a playoff feel.
“The only way to get in is to win out. Every game now is the biggest game of the year.” Clark said. “We’re worried about us, we don’t want to have to rely on anybody else.”
Anyway you look at it, the MAC championship race will be one of the best and tightest in the country. It will be fun to see what actually happens, as things will start to clear up this Saturday.
A crazy day on offense
Hartwick’s offense was out in full force again on Saturday, scoring 58 points to beat Mount Ida.
Senior quarterback Jason Boltus had his signature big day statistically, completing 26 passes for 508 yards and six touchdowns, tying him with Augsburg’s Jordan Berg for the most yards in a game this season. But the real crazy day belonged to senior receiver Jack Phelan. Phelan caught 14 passes, four for touchdowns, and that’s not crazy. But the passes combined to be for 311 yards receiving, the biggest day in Division III this year. Phelan has the top two spots for yards, adding his 289-yard day against Western New England, and three of the top six, if you add in his 256-yard day against Alfred.
Phelan 311-yard performance is the highest in the country since Adam Brossman’s 337 yards for Lebanon Valley against Albright on Nov. 11, 2006.
The Hawks are also first in the nation in passing offense per game at almost 400 yards a game. Hartwick needs a little help from Ithaca, but if the Hawks win out and Ithaca faltered, Hartwick can win another E8 title.
Cardinals take pride in comeback
Staying in the Empire 8, St. John Fisher held off a game Springfield to score a 38-35 win. Springfield quarterback Josh Carter threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to get the game within three, but on the next offensive possession, St. John Fisher’s Kenny Bostick secured an interception to seal it.
St. John Fisher quarterback Tim Bailey completed 15-of-25 with four touchdowns and three interceptions, and Dan Witkowski caught six passes for 157 yards and three of those touchdowns. If the Cardinals win out, they still need help from both Ithaca and Hartwick to win the E8. St. John Fisher would be 7-3, but they would only have one loss in-region -- the one against Hartwick.
Great performances
No. 10 Cortland held William Paterson to 103 yards of total offense and 28 rushing yards in a rain-soaked afternoon on Saturday. The Red Dragons won 38-0.
Another NJAC team, Rowan, held Buffalo State to 115 yards of total offense and had two safeties in a 20-7 win over the Bengals.
The two safeties came on a punt block through the end zone and a sack in the end zone.
Buffalo State's Matt Pacana had 16 tackles and a sack and Paul Gruber 15 tackles, but it wasn't enough against the Profs.
No. 25 RPI stayed undefeated, scoring a 44-8 win over St. Lawrence. Rensselaer receiver Eren Savasli had a big week for the second game in a row, catching 11 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns to help the Engineers to their sixth victory in a row.
St. Lawrence's Gerard Bryant made 13 tackles, including seven solo against the Engineers.
Widener freshman quarterback Al Humes had an efficient day for the Pride. Humes completed 14-of-19 for 239 yards and three touchdowns in Widener's 27-7 conference win over FDU-Florham. Widener sophomore linebacker Shane Szumski also had a productive afternoon, making 15 tackles and getting two sacks.
Brockport senior Garet Lynch ran 28 times for 131 yards in the mud and rain in a 13-12 slugfest against Western Connecticut.
Kean’s Jared Chunn ran over and around Morrisville State in a 38-28 Cougars win. Chunn carried the ball 37 times for 238 yards and two touchdowns. Chunn has run for exactly 238 yards twice this season, also doing it against Merchant Marine Academy in Week 1.
Record-breakers/milestones
RPI quarterback Jimmy Robertson set a new school record for pass completions in a career in the 44-8 win over St. Lawrence. Robertson completed 23-of-34 for 273 yards and four touchdowns against the Saints.
No. 22 Ithaca running back Thomas Bergerstock is climbing up some very full and important lists in Bomber football history. Bergerstock ran the ball 33 times for 138 yards and five touchdowns against Empire 8 opponent Utica in a 42-7 home win.
The five touchdowns ties the Ithaca record, one he tied earlier this season with five against Hartwick in Week 3. He has 16 touchdowns this season, second all-time, behind Jeff Wittman's 1992 season. He's the 25th Bomber to reach 1,000 yards in a career and the eighth to do it in one season.
Ithaca is 6-1 this season, their 38th consecutive winning season, second all-time behind Linfield.
WPI's Stefan Nicotra had a career-high 14 tackles and an interception in the Engineers 21-14 win over Rochester.
Other minutiae
Cortland's 38-0 shutout of William Paterson was the Red Dragons' first shutout since blanking the Pioneers last year. In the last two meetings, Cortland has outscored WPU 80-0.
Rochester had the ball inside WPI's 15-yard line three times, but could only score once in the 21-14 loss.
Hobart is ranked fourth in defensive efficiency in the nation, and they showed why in a 24-0 blanking of Merchant Marine. The Statesmen held MMA quarterback Derrick Ventre to a 7-for-30 day for 46 yards passing. The Mariners also had zero yards rushing on 15 carries, only holding the ball for just over 16 minutes. They didn’t get a first down rushing all day, and had only five the entire game. It was an overall beatdown by Justin Hager and the rest of the Hobart defense.
Top 10
1. Cortland State
2. RPI
3. Ithaca
4. St. John Fisher
5. Hartwick
6. Hobart
7. WPI
8. Alfred
9. Lebanon Valley
10. Montclair State
Others include: Lycoming, Kean, Delaware Valley, Brockport State, Rowan, Albright.
Another tough week to pick a top 10, and everyone won (or had a bye, in Alfred’s case). I didn’t do a lot of moving around, but I did move Montclair down and Lebanon Valley in. The Dutchmen are 3-1 in conference and in control, so it’s up to them to deliver.