Playoff fever hits Norwich, Mount Ida campuses
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By Tom Haley STAFF WRITER - Published: November 14, 2009
The Norwich University campus has been hit with postseason football fever. And with good reason. The last time a title game was played at Sabine Field was in 1984 when the Cadets hosted the ECAC championship.
Today the Mount Ida Mustangs come to Northfield for the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference championship. Kickoff is at 12:30 p.m.
This is the first year of the ECFC and its conference champion does not receive the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs until 2011. So, conference officials put a title game in place to be played between the top two teams at the end of the regular season.
Norwich went unbeaten in the league to claim the top seed and the Mustangs went 4-2 to tie Gallaudet for second place. The Mustangs get the spot in the title game as the result of beating Gallaudet 23-6 on Sept. 19.
The last time the Cadets were in a postseason game was 2004, but that was on the road and for the ECAC championship at Alfred.
Norwich coach Shawn McIntyre said there is definitely an excitement on campus. He had so many calls and e-mails one day, he could not get to the film he needed to watch and wound up taking it home with him.
"It's a good problem to have," he said.
The excitement has been just as great on the Mount Ida campus.
Friday night the staff gathered in head coach Mike Landers' office to follow the Gallaudet-New York Maritime game on the Internet, needing a Maritime loss to get into the title game. Gallaudet scored the winning touchdown with less than a minute remaining.
"When Gallaudet won, the campus just erupted," Landers said. "All of the players ran down to our office."
The Mustangs gave the Gallaudet players plenty of encouragement during the week, communicating with them via Facebook and MySpace.
"The teams formed a special bond," Landers said. "New relationships were made during the week."
Landers said his players were so drained from following the Gallaudet-Maritime game, they didn't start playing until the second half against Utica the next day, falling behind 40-6.
The fact that they stormed back and tied it 40-40 shows the explosiveness of the Mustangs' offense.
"We're a young team. We're mostly freshmen and sophomores and I'm the second-oldest coach on the staff at 33," Landers said.
"But the players all play for each other."
McIntyre is concerned with Mount Ida's multi-faceted offense. The Mustangs can move by air or over land.
The headliner is Johrone Bunch, who has rushed for 1,506 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Freshman quarterback Scott Droesendahl presents the other dimension. He has thrown for 817 yards and 10 touchdowns. He threw four of those TD passes in last week's 47-40 loss to Utica.
"We were concerned about their passing game the last time we played them," McIntyre said.
That was back on Sept. 26 and the Cadets trimmed the Mustangs 28-6.
"Bunch is a great runner and they have a great receiver," McIntyre said.
Droesendahl's prime target is Kyle Watkins who has 37 catches for 539 yards and five touchdowns. Droesendahl only turned 18 this week, but he has grown up quickly.
"In the recruiting process, we knew he was special," Landers said.
Norwich is all about the run. And that's whether it means ramming the ball down the opponent's throat or keeping them from doing the same.
"Our philosophy has always been to run the ball and stop the run," McIntyre said.
Leading the Cadets run game is Andrew Fulford, who has collected 695 yards and nine touchdowns.
Quarterback Kris Sabourin, the freshman from BFA-St. Albans, has 546 yards rushing himself.
He has thrown the ball only sparingly, going 36 of 103 with four touchdowns and four interceptions.
The Mustangs will try to slow down the Norwich running game with a 4-3 defense.
"They do a nice job with their defensive schemes and they give you a lot of different looks," McIntyre said.
Landers has the same immense respect for the Cadets defense.
"They are so good defensively. They play a 3-4 and send people from all different angles," he said. "They are so good at stopping the run which makes sense because they run the ball so well."
Middlebury takes a three-game winning streak to Tufts along with its prolific air show.
Coach Bob Ritter has turned quarterback Donald McKillop loose this season and the numbers are staggering: 238 of 367 for 2,537 yards and 19 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. James Millard has caught 60 of the passes for 708 yards.
A victory in the season finale will give the Panthers a winning record at 5-3. Tufts is 2-5.
The New England Football Conference championship game will be played today at noon between Maine Maritime and Curry in Milton, Mass., with Vermont players prominent in the contest.
Curry's Jason Ryan, a Bellows Falls graduate, is Curry's top kickoff return man. He has run back 12 kicks, averaging 19.8 yards per return. He is also a defensive back and has two interceptions.
U-32's Todd Murphy has 484 yards rushing with six touchdowns for Maine Maritime and teammate Mike Riley of Milton is a mainstay on the other side of the ball. Riley has a team-high seven interceptions.
The Curry-Maine Maritime winner goes on to the NCAA playoffs.
tom.haley@rutlandherald.com
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