By Pat Cummings
D3sports.com
Christopher Newport has never gone through a season without losing a USA South Conference football game. This one will be no different.
Despite holding a 21-9 lead, halfway through the second quarter, the Captains fell into a funk and allowed North Carolina Wesleyan to score 30 of the next 37 points in the game en route to a 46-34 Battling Bishops victory. The win was NCWC's first against the Captains and the biggest win in the three-year history of the program.
"We're just in rhythm right now," coach Jack Ginn told the Rocky Mount Telegram. "We know what we do well and we're sticking to that."
"We took whatever they gave us," quarterback Cedric Townsend glowed after the game. "That was basically it, we took what they gave us and we executed."
Townsend made, perhaps, the understatement of the afternoon. NCWC managed 538 yards of total offense, well diversified with 261 on the ground and 277 in the air.
"We just didn't have the same kind of week we've been having," CNU coach Matt Kelchner told the Newport News Daily Press. "We played with no intensity, no passion. We had no fun playing football today."
Townsend completed 17 of his 30 pass attempts and did not throw an interception. N.C. Wesleyan converted just five of 13 third down attempts and suffered ten penalties for 92 yards. Yet, on seven of eight red zone opportunities, the Bishops put points on the board.
"I didn't know the last time a Christopher Newport team gave up 46 points." Ginn told the Telegram.
"We didn't expect to score 46 points," running back Teron Bush admired, "but we got 'em."
Historically speaking, the Captains have allowed 46 points only once, and that was in CNU's first season after winning the then-Dixie Conference title and proving their youth being well overmatched by Widener in a 56-7 loss. It has never happened in the confines of the regular season.
N.C. Wesleyan should be encouraged by its 2006, or perhaps discouraged depending on the way you look at it. Their four losses have come by a combined ten points. Kicker Brian Vaughn missed a game-tying 44-yard chance against Emory and Henry as time expired. Cedric Townsend's two-point conversion pass failed in the fourth overtime against Maryville. With 2-5 Ferrum and 2-6 Greensboro next on the schedule, the Bishops could earn their first winning season and still sit and wonder what could have been.
If you told Ginn that his team would be sitting asking himself those questions before the season, he might not have minded it, or expected it. The old "degrees of separation" game could come out in the parlor this weekend too. I won't make that leap, but don't think some Battling Bishops fans won't try it themselves.
But even this school-best win wasn't the best news for the Battling Bishops this month. October saw Donnel Cherry's return to the field after his September injury in which he nearly lost his left ring finger to an in-game freak accident. Jennifer Williams of the Newport News Daily Press caught up with him before this past week's game.
USAC playoff update
So where does this leave Christopher Newport, and perhaps more importantly, USAC-leading Averett?
An Averett victory over CNU this Saturday in Newport News clinches the conference for the Cougars. CNU needs a win to remain alive for a share of the title. The Captains' chances for an at-large bid to the big dance are all but eliminated with to Averett. Should the Captains win, heads will turn to the last week of the regular season where Averett has a tougher game in 4-4 Maryville while CNU gets 2-5 Ferrum.
Live by the sword, die by the sword
While we've noted this in past columns, last week brought the stat to the forefront. Guilford quarterback Josh Vogelbach, limping into a sophomore slump, has thrown 25 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions this season. The Quakers' touchdown to turnover ratio is just a plus-six, barely a number that will win football games, let alone a conference championship. That being the case, Vogelbach and the Quakers continue to impress as a much-improved team than Guilford watchers of old are used to.
Many Guilford fans are resigned to these numbers and indicate that it's better to be excited about the game and upset about some interceptions that just plain uninterested in the game and it's outcome. More years than not, the latter has been the case.
In Saturday's 14-6 win over Randolph-Macon, Vogelbach became Guilford's all-time passing leader with 6,248 passing yards in 18 games. He must surely be on track to also lead (if he doesn't already) in most interceptions. Vogelbach threw five picks to five different R-MC defenders compared to just two touchdowns to his own teammates.
Yet, a win is a win, and in Week 9 of the 2006 season, a five interception day did not ruin Guilford's day.
Mules trample Bullets in eye-popping fourth quarter
Gettysburg and Muhlenberg were tied at 14 going into the locker rooms. Neither team could have expected to see what happened next.
"We never see a score like this coming," Gettysburg coach Barry Streeter told the Allentown Morning Call.
Muhlenberg scored 40 unanswered points to end the football game, one week after gaining just 40 yards against Johns Hopkins. The Mules totaled five touchdowns on their final five possessions of the game in a 54-14 win. Four of those possessions were started after Gettysburg turnovers, two interceptions and two fumbles with a punt in the middle.
Mules quarterback Eric Santagato played a role in five of the scores, completing 13 of 19 passes with two touchdowns and no interceptions while running 16 times for 72 yards and three scores. The sophomore managed 274 total yards of offense. Freshman Frank Emmett corralled a Mark Campo fumble and rumbled the final 27 yards to paydirt as time expired, adding insult to, well, insult.
As Saturday's game was Muhlenberg's final game at home, Emmett scored a touchdown in the last second of the home season at Scotty Wood Stadium. Interestingly enough, sophomore Brandon Doyle returned the opening kickoff the season against New Jersey some 94 yards in the first seconds of the 2006 season at Scotty Wood Stadium. Touchdowns were scored on the first and last plays in Allentown in 2006.
ODAC playoff picture
Bridgewater bounced back with a statement victory against Washington and Lee at Jopson Field last week, opening up to a 20-0 lead en route to a 27-8 victory.
W&L gained 148 yards all afternoon, watched BC hold the ball for 39 minutes of the game, and failed to converted on a single third down conversion. The Generals were without all-purpose back Stuart Sitterson and lost Colton Ward midway through the first half.
Despite the win, Bridgewater was eliminated from contention for the ODAC title as a result of Emory & Henry beating Catholic. Now, three teams remain in contention for the ODAC title.
Washington & Lee earns their first playoff bid with a win against Emory & Henry.
Emory & Henry must beat W&L and Guilford over the next two weeks to take the title.
Guilford must win its final two games of the season and hope for a variety of other teams to win or lose to get the ticket to the second season.
Playoff watch update
Dickinson has locked up at least a share of the Centennial Conference title with Muhlenberg's demolishing 55-14 win in their Senior Day festivities against Gettysburg. The Red Devils have Ursinus and Gettysburg left on the schedule and a win against the Bullets this weekend will lock up their first trip to the postseason since 1994.
Wilkes will clinch its first MAC championship since 1993 should it defeat 2-6 Susquehanna. The Colonels will host their Senior Day at Ralston Field and it's a well-regarded tenured class they will honor. Delaware Valley fell to Susquehanna two weeks ago, but this would rank as one of the upsets of the year if the Crusaders upended the Colonels.
Mid-Atlantic Region Top 5
1. Wilkes
2. Dickinson
3. Averett
4. Widener
5. Emory & Henry
Big changes on my subjective list. Not sure what subjective means? Here is the dictionary.com definition: existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought. Keep that in mind.
Games of the Week
Averett at Christopher Newport, POMOCO Stadium, Newport News, Va., 1 p.m.: Averett wins and they clinch the USA South Conference. A CNU gives the Captains some hope, but that's all. Some additional help would be needed in the last week of the regular season. Mike Dunlevy's Cougars will try to seal it up now.
Emory & Henry at Washington & Lee, Fullerton Field, Lexington, Va., 1 p.m.: The Generals have seen their troop numbers depleted while the Wasps are buzzing in numbers. ODAC tiebreakers abound, but the winner of this one has the jump remaining the only one-loss team in the conference.
