Tag Archives: football

September 3, 2010 · 9:59 pm

THURSDAY NIGHT’S NAIA FOOTBALL RESULTS

(#2)LINDENWOOD LIONS over the Evangel Crusaders 68-7 – Last night’s Victory Sports Network Game Of The Week was delayed by 4 hrs because of lightning. The Evangel Crusaders may well have wished the delay never ended in a game which the Lions led 49-0 by halftime. The only touchdown for the Crusaders came when an incomplete backward pass by Lindenwood was returned for the score. VSN gives us a double-shot of our NAIA love this week with a second webcast Game Of The Week on Saturday when the Top-ranked (and defending champs) Sioux Falls Cougars play at the Northwestern (IA) Red Raiders.

St Francis Fighting Saints and (#4)St Xavier Cougars – Mother nature wreaked havoc with this game, too, which was postponed to this Saturday the 4th.

ARKANSAS TECH WONDERBOYS over the (#7) Lambuth Eagles 34-19 Don’t be deceived by the score. The Wonderboys are NCAA Division 2. Lambuth is sure to bounce back when they begin NAIA play.

(#22) TAYLOR TROJANS over the Anderson Ravens 42-20 Taylor is NAIA. The Ravens are NCAA Division 3. To impartial outsiders these divisions are often considered equal but never to their partisans! This game’s outcome is definitely ammo for the NAIA boosters.

GEORGIA STATE PANTHERS over the Shorter Hawks 41-7 Remember what I said about Lambuth? Well that goes double here. Georgia State may have been playing their first ever football game but they are in NCAA Division 1AA, so you know everything, from money and facilities on down, favored the D1 school with more bucks to throw around AND playing at home.

AUSTIN PEAY GOVERNORS over the Cumberland Bulldogs 38-6 Another predictable outcome in a 1AA vs NAIA game. The Bulldogs are sure to come tearing back. At least the school fed the fans who made the trip to Governors Stadium!

TIFFIN DRAGONS over the Malone Pioneers 31-21 Malone did the best job of last night’s NAIA teams up against D2 competition. The Association better be ready to deal with the Pioneers when league play starts.

S ILLINOIS SALUKIS over the Quincy Hawks 70-7 On the flip side this was one of the most lopsided games of the night as the Hawks were crushed by 1AA Southern Illinois. As Quincy, ME might have said, “How many people have to die before they institute a slaughter rule when schools are playing 2 divisions above their own?”

GLENVILLE STATE PIONEERS over the W Virginia Tech Golden Bears 44-10 Another D2 over NAIA game. This was in no way a barometer of the Golden Bears program.

OUACHITA BAPTIST TIGERS over the Texas College Steers 70-0 Poor Texas College! They’ve only managed 3 points in their first two games. This loss may have been to D2’s Ouachita Baptist, but last week they lost by 50 to fellow NAIA team the Belhaven Blazers.

MINNESOTA-CROOKSTON GOLDEN EAGLES over the Mayville State Comets 37-6 Yawn! Another D2 school beat an NAIA team. They’re supposed to, just like 1A teams are supposed to beat 1AA teams. (I know we’re not supposed to say 1A and 1AA anymore but I feel like a wild man when I do it!)

(ALMOST) ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS

Readers of Balladeer’s Blog will remember that last Saturday the Notre Dame College Falcons played their first-ever intercollegiate football game in the school’s history. This week the Falcons are once again making history, but they have co-stars for this game. The Lindsey-Wilson College Blue Raiders have brought football back after a 75-year hiatus. That’s like a bye week where your great-grandchildren are born before your team takes the field again. Or, put another way, Carole Lombard was as hot as Angelina Jolie the last time the Blue Raiders took a snap in a game that counted. The Falcons at least have one game under their belts, (albeit a loss to D2’s Mercyhurst Lakers), but the Lindsey Wilson football team is as green as the grass on a football field. Want to know how you can follow this matchup on Saturday afternoon at 2:30 pm Eastern Time? Well, you’re in luck because I recently took my private jet to the South Euclid, OH home of Notre Dame College and visited their Sports Information Director Skip Snow. After my usual witty ice-breaking joke (I asked him if, after he introduced himself, anyone had ever said “Skip snow? Heck, I’d like to skip the whole darn winter!”…He said no.) I pounded my fist on his desk like Patrick McGoohan in the opening credits of The Prisoner and demanded to know how people outside the Ohio area could follow this historic game. Snow, obviously realizing he was dealing with journalistic dynamite, informed me that NDC and LWC fans around the world could follow the game on the internet with a live audio stream at ESPNCleveland.com. I was about to make a brilliant, yet juvenile, “audio stream” joke when Skip’s beefy security guards escorted me out of his office and off the NDC campus.

For the punchline to my Audio Stream joke, click here: http://www.notredamefalcons.com/

Helmets courtesy of The Helmet Project at : http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/

Balladeer’s Blog is not affiliated with or operated by the NAIA or the NCAA or any of their member institutions.

© Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog, 2010. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Edward Wozniak and Balladeer’s Blog with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

NCAA DIVISION 3 FOOTBALL PRESEASON TOP 25

Well, the NAIA will start week 2 of their football season this coming Thursday night and D3 will begin their season this Saturday. The time seemed ripe to take a look at the Preseason D3 Top 25. It will surprise nobody familiar with Division 3 football that Wisconsin-Whitewater and Mt Union are ranked 1 and 2. For the past 5 years in a row the D3 Championship Game has been between these 2 teams when the dust settles in the playoffs. Yes, playoff-hungry 1A football fans will revel in the fact that the lower divisions settle it on the field in a playoff and not with the BCS system. Anyway, some people love the fact that the Warhawks and Purple Raiders have owned the playoff game for half a decade and some find it boring. Others insist if the other teams don’t like it one of them can rise up and actually beat one of these 2 in the playoffs. To the Top 25. I threw in their helmets, too, since part of this blog’s purpose is to familiarize new fans with these teams. Helmets courtesy of The Helmet Project at : http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/

1. WISCONSIN-WHITEWATER WARHAWKS

2. MOUNT UNION PURPLE RAIDERS

3. WESLEY WOLVERINES

4. LINFIELD WILDCATS

5. ST THOMAS TOMMIES

6. MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR CRUSADERS

7. CENTRAL DUTCH

8. WITTENBERG TIGERS

9. ST JOHN’S JOHNNIES

10. DELAWARE VALLEY AGGIES

11. OHIO NORTHERN POLAR BEARS

12. COE KOHAWKS

13. THOMAS MORE SAINTS

14. NORTH CENTRAL CARDINALS

15. HARDIN-SIMMONS COWBOYS

16. UW-STEVENS POINT POINTERS

17. MONMOUTH FIGHTING SCOTS

18. WILLAMETTE BEARCATS

19. TRINE THUNDER

20. OTTERBEIN CARDINALS

21. WASHINGTON & JEFFERSON PRESIDENTS

22. MISISSIPPI COLLEGE CHOCTAWS

23. JOHNS HOPKINS BLUE JAYS

24. WABASH LITTLE GIANTS

25. MONTCLAIR STATE RED HAWKS

4 Comments

Filed under college football

Tagged as college football, football, NCAA Division 3 Sports, sports

August 30, 2010 · 2:33 pm

QUICK TAKES: ROUNDUP STYLE

If You Feed Them, They Will Come – Cumberland Bulldogs Director of Athletics Ron Pavan has announced that tailgating and free food will be available for the Bulldog faithful for the football season opener this Thursday, September 2nd in Clarksville ,TN (insert your own “Last Train” joke here) against the Austin-Peay Governors. If you’ve never witnessed an Austin-Peay sporting event the team’s fans love to chant “Let’s go Peay! Let’s go Peay!” with the proverbial smile on their lips and a song in their hearts. Anyway, the food tent for CU fans will be at Eighth and Marion Streets just east of Governors Stadium. Food will be served from 4-5:30 PM.

Opening Volley – The Franklin and Marshall Diplomats volleyball team has been picked in the preseason poll to win the Centennial Conference this year. The entire starting rotation from last year’s 23-6 team returns. “Little” Pam Horner and Nicole “Mighty Mo” Morano, both All-Conference players last season, will lead the Diplomats as they try for their fifth Centennial Conference title since the year 2000. Franklin and Marshall open their season this Friday, Sept 3rd against the Dickinson Red Devils.

Queen Bees Turn In A Royal Performance – Speaking of volleyball the Saint Ambrose University Queen Bees went 3-1 at the Saint Ambrose Early Bird Tournament in Davenport, IA. The ladies defeated Benedictine-Springfield 3-0 by scores of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-14. Their loss came at the hands of the Mount Vernon Nazarene Cougars by scores of 25-22, 25-18, 22-25 and 25-16. Amy Royer of St Ambrose made the All-Tournament team!

Cougar Tales – Staying on volleyball for a moment, the Sioux Falls Cougars went 3-1 at the 16th Annual Red Raider Classic, hosted by the Northwestern (IA) College Red Raiders this past weekend. On day 1 of the tourney the ladies defeated the Indiana Wesleyan Wildcats by scores of 25-21, 25-17, 22-25 and 25-23. They then took down the MidAmerica Nazarene Pioneers by scores of 25-18, 22-25, 25-23 and 25-21. On day two they split, sweeping the Graceland Yellowjackets by scores of 25-21, 25-17 and 25-22, but losing to the Oklahoma Baptist Bison after going the distance 25-20, 13-25, 21-25, 25-23 and 13-15. The Cougars’ overall record is now 5-3, with the Waldorf Warriors coming up on Wednesday, September 1st.

Saint Xavier Women’s Basketball Lands Star Recruit – Maloree Johnson, a senior point guard at Rockford Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, IL. “I’m proud to become a student at Saint Xavier University, ” Johnson said, “because it is such a great school and I’m also excited to be a part of such a successful basketball program.” The SXU Cougars women’s basketball team went 31-2 last season and won the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles. In the NAIA tournament back in March they made it all the way to the Elite Eight for the first time in the program’s 10 year history.

Don’t Forget To Vote – Polls close on September 12th for my latest Top 20 contest. To vote for your favorite among The 20 Coolest Helmets In NCAA Division 3 e-mail me at Thtcom15@aol.com . To review the list of 20 candidates click here: https://glitternight.com/2010/08/23/the-20-coolest-football-helmets-in-ncaa-division-3/

Taylor Trojans Volleyball Off To 4-0 Start – The 10th-ranked Taylor Trojans went 4-0 at the aforementioned Red Raider Classic, with 3 of their wins coming over other Top 25 teams! The Trojans dominated at the net this past weekend with a .350 hitting percentage and recorded 47 team blocks in the 4 matches combined. Rachel Kizer and Kelsey Pritchard led Taylor with 7 kills apiece against the Bellevue Bruins alone. The ladies will next host their own tournament, the 8-team Trojan Challenge this Friday and Saturday. Their opening opponent in the tournament will be yet another Top 25 team (Head Coach Brittany Smith needs to have a serious talk with whoever does her team’s scheduling) in the Shawnee State Bears.

Some Baltimore Love For Blue Jays Football – Johns Hopkins Blue Jays Head Football Coach Jim Margraff will be a guest tonight on WBAL’s Sportsline with Brett Holander at 8:15PM (Moved from its previous time slot of 8:14 and 36 seconds) on 1090 AM. You can tune in or catch it live on the internet at http://www.wbal.com/ Plus the Baltimore Sun ran a full-length preview of the JHU 2010 football team today and you can read it at : http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/college/football/bs-sp-hopkins-football-0830-20100830,0,5433561.story

4 Comments

Filed under college sports

Tagged as Austin Peay State University, basketball, Centennial Conference, Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, College and University, football, Johns Hopkins Blue Jays, Saint Xavier University, soccer, sports, Taylor Trojans, University of Sioux Falls, volleyball, women's basketball

August 29, 2010 · 6:02 pm

THE COOLEST HELMET IN THE GREAT PLAINS ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (JUST GOT COOLER)

Team: University of Sioux Falls Cougars

Site: http://www.usfcougars.com/

Comment: Previously the Defending National Champions in the NAIA had helmets with white shells and the eye-catching logo. Now these purple shells add an extra “Hey, look at this!” quality as the Cougars try for a threepeat.

As always, football helmets courtesy of The Helmet Project at: http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/

And for more cool helmets click here: https://glitternight.com/category/cool-helmets/

Balladeer’s Blog is not affiliated with or operated by the NAIA or the NCAA or any of their member institutions.

2 Comments

Filed under Cool Helmets

Tagged as college football, college sports, football, NAIA football, sports

August 23, 2010 · 3:18 pm

THE 20 COOLEST FOOTBALL HELMETS IN NCAA DIVISION 3

Well, from the e-mails I’m getting people want another Top 20 Contest. On top of that Division 3 fans have been complaining that I’ve done 2 NAIA Top 20 lists but only one for them, but that’s only because I didn’t branch out to D3 sports until recently. To keep everyone happy I’ll continue to feature NAIA football teams in my Cool Helmet Of The Day posts and do a Top 20 List for D3 football teams. These rankings are in no particular order and the votes of my readers will, as usual, dictate the winner. As always you can reach me at Thtcom15@aol.com to cast your vote. Football helmets courtesy of The Helmet Project at: http://www.nationalchamps.net/Helmet_Project/

20. MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR CRUSADERS

Location: Belton, TX

Conference Affiliation: American Southwest Conference

Comment: Crusaders is easily one of the coolest names a sports team could have. Out of all the Crusader teams throughout college sports I think Mary Hardin-Baylor has the coolest helmets! The only way their helmets could get any better would be if they had a picture of Crusader Rabbit on them!

19. URSINUS BEARS

Location: Collegeville, PA

Conference Affiliation: Centennial Conference

Comment: What better name for sports teams at a school called Ursinus than the Bears? (Maybe “Da Bears”) And using the same reasoning I used with Mary Hardin-Baylor above I picked Ursinus because out of all the Bears teams throughout college athletics Ursinus has the coolest helmet! Should I apply the Mary-Hardin Baylor template even further and say the only way the helmets could be any better would be if they had a picture of Yo- naaah!

18. TRINITY BANTAMS

Location: Hartford, CT

Conference Affiliation: New England Small College Athletic Conference

Comment: When you hear the word Bantam you think “scrappy” and “hard fighting” and “feisty” so it’s the perfect nickname for sports teams. And the Bantam on the helmet looks like he could kick Foghorn Leghorn’s butt all over the barnyard. Still, I’d like to see a team called The Orpingtons but I’m kind of eccentric .

17. MERCHANT MARINE ACADEMY MARINERS

Location: King’s Point, NY

Conference Affiliation: Liberty League

Comment: What better name for – okay, I’ll stop! But you do have to admit that the Mariners is the perfect name for the academy’s sports teams. And aside from people sometimes throwing mean-spirited Seattle Mariners jokes their way there’s no real down side to the nickname.

16. ANDERSON RAVENS

Location: Anderson, IN

Conference Affiliation: Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference

Comment: Go ahead and insert your own Edgar Allan Poe joke here. All I’ve got to say is that out of all the Ravens teams in college sports the Anderson helmets will definitely stay with you, or my name isn’t Annabel Lee. (Get it? The obvious joke would have been some kind of “Nevermore” reference or something like that, so I – oh, forget it!)

15. UMASS-DARTMOUTH CORSAIRS

Location: North Dartmouth, MA

Conference Affiliation: New England Football Conference – Boyd Division

Comment: I don’t care if it’s The Black Pirate or Captain Blood or The Black Swan or Nate And Hayes, people love the romantic image of pirates! The Corsairs have such a cool helmet, nickname and logo it’s easy to imagine that the fans don’t even care what their record is…I’m just kidding, of course. You know how fans are!

14. LAKE FOREST FORESTERS

Location: Lake Forest, IL

Conference Affiliation: Midwest Conference

Comment: The helmet makes sense when you know that one of the school’s mascots is a Bigfoot-type creature. It’s not the least bit true that Quentin Tarantino went to Lake Forest and the helmets are an odd tribute to him.

13. WASHINGTON AND LEE GENERALS

Location: Lexington, VA

Conference Affiliation: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

Comment: Okay, I know it’s just a W and an L but it’s the coolest possible rendition of a W and L conjoined into one great-looking helmet! Personally I think we should launch a movement to have this logo added to our alphabet as a combined W and L sound. It could be used in words like owl, bowling, etc.

12. CARLETON KNIGHTS

Location: Northfield, MN

Conference Affiliation: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Comment: What’s not to love about a helmet this eye-catching? What kid wouldn’t want to strap this on his head on Saturday afternoons? The city flies under the radar, but Northfield, MN is known just as much for college football as it is for the time when the residents rose up and kicked the butts of the Jesse James Gang in the 1800’s! “Don’t call us Squareheads” should be the town’s official slogan (People who’ve seen The Long Riders will get it).

11. MORRISVILLE STATE MUSTANGS

Location: Morrisville, NY

Conference Affiliation: New Jersey Athletic Conference

Comment: Forget about SMU, these Mustangs know how to rock a helmet with an equine mascot! Just keep your “Jack Woltz in The Godfather” jokes to yourself! By the way, the Morrisville State helmets would make great “knight” pieces in a chess set made out of tiny football helmets. We could just use plain helmets as pawns since I doubt any school’s administration will have such low self-esteem that they’d call their teams The Pawns.

10. SAINT OLAF OLES

Location: Northfield, MN

Conference Affilation: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

Comment: The Oles, another Northfield football program, sport an incredibly cool logo that looks great on helmets, T-shirts, etc. And by the way, there’s no truth to the story that the school’s teams are named after “Ole” Olsen from the comedy team of Olsen and Johnson. (Say what you will, it takes guts to try to get away with an Olsen and Johnson reference in the year 2010!)

9. OHIO NORTHERN UNIVERSITY POLAR BEARS