Mount Ida, Becker, look forward to new league
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First-year coaches at Mount Ida and Becker appear to have their programs on the upswing and are poised for that inaugural season in the NAC.
Mike Landers’ Mount Ida Mustangs are on course for a turn-around at 2-1 after last year’s 3-7 campaign. And Bill McDonald’s Becker Hawks are 2-2, already matching last season’s win total.
“It’s good to have another conference in New England,” McDonald said.
Mount Ida put a damper on Becker’s homecoming, winning 34-19 for its second straight victory, giving the Mustangs some momentum for their own homecoming game this weekend against Husson, another charter NAC member.
Mount Ida’s Kyle Watkins caught three touchdown passes and had 101 receiving yards. He has seven touchdown catches this season.
McDonald is trying to bring winning football to the young Becker program and he comes armed with a wonderful blueprint. He was at Curry as an assistant coach the last 10 years and nobody wins games with the consistency of Curry. The Colonels won their 34th straight New England Football Conference contest Saturday when they pounded Western New England College 40-7.
McDonald’s playbook at Becker is not a carbon copy of the one at Curry. There are similarities, of course, but there are definite differences. McDonald and his offensive coordinator Bob Grammer think a lot alike and the Hawks run Grammer’s schemes.
What he is bringing over from Curry is the program’s philosophy.
“They don’t preach about winning at Curry,” McDonald said. “They preach about doing the right things all the time.
“If you do that, what happens on Saturdays will fall into place.”
McDonald learned a lot during his decade at Curry, working under head coaches like former New England Patriots linebacker Steve Nelson and present head man Skip Bandini.
“You can’t work for a guy like Steve Nelson for eight years and not learn a lot,” McDonald said. “And Skip is another great coach.”
He said he also learned plenty from Mosi Tatupu, another former Patriot on the Curry staff.
There’s plenty of building to do at Becker. Instead of having 100 players in preseason camp as there was at Curry, McDonald found himself with 52.
He got the job in January. It gave him some time to recruit, but he did not get the yield he would have had he been in place months longer.
He has some definite ideas of what his approach will be when it comes to recruiting.
“The previous staff did a good job of recruiting in Florida and Washington, D.C., but we felt they didn’t do a good job in our own backyard. There are a lot of good players in central Massachusetts, McDonald said.”
McDonald feels most of the players should come from a 100-mile radius of campus, but he says he will continue to hit Florida and D.C. hard.
This year’s starting quarterback, Gabriel Prophet, is a Washington D.C. product.
McDonald’s daughter is a college student in Florida and sends him all the high school news from the Sunshine State in each week’s Sunday paper.
McDonald spent 20 years in the technology field and planned to coach high school football in retirement. Instead, the opportunity at Becker surfaced and he is enjoying it immensely.
He can appreciate his new job even after a loss like the one this weekend.
“A bad day in football is a lot better than a bad day in the corporate world,” he says.
Becker’s first NAC game next year will be against Mount Ida and he expects the series between the Massachusetts schools will become an outstanding rivalry.
Spicing it up is the relationship between he and Landers.
“He’s a great guy. We’ve gone head-to-head before when he was defensive coordinator at Nichols,” McDonald said.
Becker hosts Gallaudet this week, yet another future NAC opponent.
Ryan’s express
Quarterback Ryan Van de Giesen did his part to keep Curry’s streak intact by throwing for three touchdowns and running for another.
The next team with designs on halting Curry’s streak is Salve Regina. The Seahawks get Curry at home.
Mack trucking
Jeff Mack rushed for a career-high 218 yards and a touchdown in leading the Plymouth State Panthers to a 30-10 victory over UMass-Dartmouth. Plymouth is 3-1 and hosts Western New England on Saturday.
Out of nowhere
MIT is 3-1 for the first time since 1988. The latest victory was a 43-42 decision over Nichols that came when Peter Gililland drilled a 37-yard field goal with 14 seconds left in the driving rain.
It was victory No. 100 for coach Dwight Smith. Most importantly, it put MIT at 1-0 in the Boyd Division of the New England Football Conference.
Shackleford rescues Coast Guard
Gilliland wasn’t the only kicker with late-game heroics in the NEFC. Jacob Shackleford nailed a 32-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining to lift Coast Guard to a 16-13 victory over Westfield State. It was Coast Guard’s first win in three tries.
Streak stoppers
A notable streak came to an end in the New England Small College Athletic Conference when Trinity defeated Williams 20-17.
It was Williams’ first home loss since 2004. The Ephs had won 16 straight home games. It was also Trinity that dealt Williams that last home loss.
Oliver Starnes keyed Trinity’s victory by rushing for 111 yards and two touchdowns.
A more modest streak ended in the NESCAC when Colby took down defending champion Middlebury 24-19. Middlebury had won five games in a row dating to last year. Colby quarterback Patrick Burns tossed three touchdown passes.
Middlebury quarterback Don McKillop had another big day as he went 28-of-39 for 343 yards and a touchdown, but he did suffer two interceptions. Middlebury’s Andrew Matson had a career-high 177 receiving yards.
Battering Bower
Maine Maritime and Jim Bower ran over Bridgewater State in a Bogan Division game in the NEFC. Bower rushed for 225 yards and three touchdowns as the Mariners improved to 2-2 and are 1-0 in the division after the 41-31 victory. The Bears fell to 1-3 and 0-1.
The ground game was the centerpiece of the attack for the Mariners as Tyler Angell only put up six passes. But he certainly got a lot out of them as his only two completions were for touchdowns.
First win feels Good
Worcester State got its first win by whipping Massachusetts Maritime 42-7 as Pat Good threw for 324 yards and two touchdowns.
Having their number
It would be understating things to say that Tufts has owned Bates in the NESCAC series. The Jumbos have now beaten Bates 23 straight times with the 34-7 victory. Tufts did it with big plays, including Will Forde’s 60-yard touchdown run. That was part of a 121-yard rushing day for Forde.
NESCAC scramble
There are three unbeaten teams in the NESCAC two weeks into the season. Amherst, Trinity and Tufts are 2-0.
The big games
Amherst brings its 2-0 record to Middlebury where the Lord Jeffs figure to be tested by the 1-1 defending conference champions. Amherst is coming off a 31-24 victory over Bowdoin.
Another game that bears watching is Mount Ida’s homecoming game where the Mustangs are gunning for a third consecutive victory against a Husson team hardened by losses to two Division II opponents, Merrimack and American International College. Husson is coming off a 31-7 loss to AIC.
A a big one in the NEFC finds MIT taking its 3-1 record and 1-0 divisional mark to UMass-Dartmouth. A 3-1 record is rarefied air for MIT. Being 4-1 and 2-0 in the Boyd Division would be an incredible midway point of the season for the Engineers.