After going through the nonconference slate 1-2 this year, North Carolina Wesleyan was on familiar ground. Every year since the program began in 2004, that’s how the season has started.
Those kinds of beginnings put you “at a pretty fragile place,” said coach Mark Henninger, whose Bishops beat Salisbury in Week 2 but also lost to Hampden-Sydney and Emory and Henry early on. In this situation, a team becomes forced into the underdog role, where a conference sweep becomes ever more important to postseason aspirations. But NCWC somewhat likes being the underdog and has a history of being the surprise team on the slate rather than being a front-runner with a bull's-eye on their backs.
With a slow start, however, in addition to a rally in the record books, there’s also some massaging a team has to do mentally.
“When you’re sitting there and you lose [by a score of 55-23] like you did that first game to Hampden-Sydney, you’re pretty shocked, especially when you think you have a pretty decent team. … At the same time,” coach said, “I think that it helps our guys that when you start 1-2 and you’ve done it before, and you end up having a positive season; I think our guys at the end of that nonconference schedule, they’ve been there before.”
That momentum has emerged with USA South wins against Ferrum, Greensboro and, on Saturday, Christopher Newport, which was leveled 35-7 in Newport News. The Bishops’ defense held CNU scoreless through three quarters and bottled up the entire offense for just 183 yards. They also forced seven turnovers in the game.
“Our guys played really hard,” Henninger said. “We caught some breaks. CNU is a great football team. They made some mistakes turning the ball over, and we were able to capitalize on that. Our guys, they were excited about playing. It was a good team win.”
(The coach also spoke of his excitement over having a cherry on top of the day, as the ’96 Wittenberg graduate learned that his undefeated alma mater toppled then-No. 10 ranked Wabash, which happens to be the place from where this reporter graduated.)
From the beginning of the season to now, the Bishops are “really not doing a ton different,” Henninger said. “I think, for whatever reason, we’ve always started slow here. … Now we’re certainly producing and executing a little better. If you go back and watch the Hampden-Sydney game especially, they jumped all over us, and we didn’t respond. We had a ton of execution errors and assignment errors in that game. Our guys are performing better, doing their jobs better.”
N.C. Wesleyan’s win against CNU was among the highlights of the season and couldn’t have been done without improvements from certain elements of the team. The defensive line has turned 180 degrees from its performance early in the year, and quarterback Bo Jordan, who had 323 yards on Saturday along with two touchdowns, has stepped up his game.
“He’s really in a groove right now. He’s making good decisions, throwing good balls,” Henninger said. “We’ve got some pretty athletic wide receivers, and he’s putting us in a position where he’s allowing those guys to make some plays.”
His performance is helped by an offensive line that has jelled significantly since the first couple of weeks. The line consists of two freshmen, one sophomore and two juniors, so a learning curve was to be expected. With Maryville and Averett, each of which have one conference loss this year, among the teams still on tap, there is more work to be done.
Maryville, especially, is a team Henninger is not going to take lightly. “We’re getting ready to play Maryville, who solidly whipped us last year. It was the only game that we were truly beaten. Yeah, we lost three other games … but they thoroughly whipped us.”
The 4-2 Bishops might be in that like-it-or-not position of having targets on their backs, As the only USA South team without a loss, there is a sense of control -- but it’s something Henninger doesn’t want to go to people’s heads.
“I’ve already talked to my guys about this, we’ve got four weeks against four pretty good football teams. This thing is far from over.”
Who’s on first in the Centennial?
We may not have a time machine to take us back to 2004, but the Centennial is doing everything it can to bring that year’s feeling back. That was the year the conference finished with a five-way tie at the top, and Muhlenberg got the automatic qualifier to the NCAA playoffs. We’re seeing the ghosts of that year now in 2009.
After an interesting game day on Saturday that saw Ursinus take down conference front-runner Johns Hopkins, the Centennial is left with four one-loss teams at its peak. Moreover, each of the teams in that position are 1-1 against others in the group and have yet to play the fourth team. So, in all senses of the word, this is a true four-way tie with every team being able to claim a victory chain over another.
Saturday’s JHU loss came after a missed kick with 27 seconds left, giving the Bears perhaps their best win of the season. Then lay the results, linked through the circle: Ursinus beat Johns Hopkins who beat Dickinson who beat Franklin and Marshall who beat Ursinus. Just when I think the Centennial can’t get any weirder -- erm, more exciting -- we get a series of events like this.
Keep a close eye on things here. It has definitely gotten interesting!
Fourth time by three
Methodist used an overtime field to surmount Shenandoah and notch its second win of the season. Sure, quarterback Erik Teague’s 211 passing yards and two end zone strikes were impressive, but the tale of intrigue in this case may lie with the losing team. For the fourth time in a row, Shenandoah lost by just 3 points -- making the team only a handful of points away from being 5-1 rather than 1-5. Two contests came down to overtime, while the other two slipped away amid a closing-seconds touchdown (against Maryville) and a fourth-quarter field goal (against Randolph-Macon).
The blitz package
Randolph-Macon dealt a shutout for the first time in a decade, felling Emory and Henry 19-0 and inching toward an ODAC title showdown in Week 11 in “The Game.” On Saturday, the Yellow Jackets further left no doubt to their rushing prowess in the post-Thornton days -- sophomore Thaddeus Scruggs pounded out 235 yards on the ground against the stout Wasps defense. Passing wasn’t shabby either, with both touchdowns coming through the air.
Gettysburg launched a record-breaking day en route to a 59-14 win over Juniata. The Bullets shot ahead under the strength of a conference-best 525 yards rushing, which included 129 yards and five touchdowns from Jamel Mutunga.
Greensboro put stock in a freshman quarterback, which paid off handsomely in a 27-24 win over conference opponent Ferrum. Quarterback Seth Adams threw for four touchdowns and 286 yards as the Pride continued its resurgent year under new coach Randy Hunt. The team is standing at 3-3 overall, its best record since 2003.
McDaniel evened out its conference record with a win at Muhlenberg, breaking a 13-game road conference losing streak. Junior defensive lineman Sam Cox scooped up a fumble and ran it 36 yards for the go-ahead score in the 16-9 decision.
Washington and Lee threatened Hampden-Sydney late in the game, but the Tigers held on for a 38-31 win at home. The teams combined for over 700 yards of offense and nine touchdowns. H-SC got three of its scores from rusher Kirk Rohle, while W&L’s three-score man was receiver Ryan Welsh.
Wesley remained on track for a Pool B bid, boosting its undefeated season with a 39-0 win against Newport News Apprentice. The Wolverines have allowed only 7 points on average per game this year and had 17 tackles for loss on Saturday.