By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com
Wheaton coach Mike Swider two weeks ago in this column called College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play “brutal.”
What has transpired since would make everyone a believer now. Both of the CCIW’s nationally ranked teams at that time – Carthage and Wheaton – have been knocked off by conference foes. Today, North Central (No. 16) leads the list of three ranked CCIW teams. Carthage, after a tough 7-0 loss to Augustana, is ranked No. 22, one point ahead of the team it just lost to, Augustana at No. 23.
Wheaton is only two spots removed from the Top 25 ranking itself and undefeated Elmhurst (5-0) continues to fly under everyone’s radar. Expect the slippery slope that is the CCIW conference landscape to change even farther this week as North Central’s high flying offense take a crack at Carthage’s bruising defense in a contest at Naperville, Ill. Wheaton will take on Elmhurst on the road.
The CCIW will certainly be fun to watch over the next few weeks.
Is Lakeland up to the challenge?
One of the contests that will determine the Lakeland Muskies’ (4-2, 3-0 ) true worthiness of its favorites title in the Illini Badger Conference comes Saturday in a showdown with Concordia (Wis.). Lakeland, Concordia, and Aurora finished in the three-way tie for the IBC title last year and Aurora went on to represent the conference on a point-differential system.
At the beginning of the season, Lakeland was picked to be the team at the top of the heap when it was all said and done. No one knows better than Lakeland coach Jim Zebrowski that his team needs to make its statement.
“We’ve been playing pretty well in conference,” Zebrowski said. “We played a tough non-conference schedule that I think prepared us for conference.”
Lakeland led nationally ranked Carthage in the third quarter before falling 20-16. The following week, though, the Muskies were steamrolled 73-12 by UW-Whitewater.
Zebrowski said Lakeland played well and kept pace in the first half, but unraveled before halftime, giving up 21 points over a five-minute stretch that left them facing a 38-12 deficit at the break and things snowballed from there.
“Our kids never gave up and never stopped playing hard, but those things were hard to overcome,” Zebrowski said.
They will be playing a Concordia team (4-2, 3-0 in IBC play) that is riding a four-game winning streak after administering a 60-0 whipping to Concordia (Ill.) at River Forest, Ill. Concordia rolled up 436 yards on the ground and will now return home in Mequon, Wis., to see if it can do the same against Lakeland.
Zebrowski said that he felt since his team was picked as favorites that it played like they had something to lose instead of playing like they had nothing to lose.
“The common thread in the Carthage and Whitewater games was when those guys hit you, you know you’ve been hit by somebody,” Zebrowski said. “I think we had gotten away from that and we needed to get back to being more aggressive. I think that’s the thing we’ve been able to do. I think we’ve been played more with our hair back and more aggressive. That probably has been the biggest change.”
Lakeland shortly found themselves on the good side of a big score two weeks ago in its 64-0 victory over conference foe Eureka. Last week, the Muskies registered another solid offensive win with a 42-21 win over MacMurray.
One key to the Muskies’ success has been winning the turnover battle. Lakeland’s defense has recovered 21 fumbles against its opponents this season while giving up the ball only five times on offense. Its defense has taken seven interceptions while throwing six on offense.
Linebacker Ryan Van De Loo has two of those interceptions and Zebrowski said he has played outstanding all season. Last week, Van De Loo recorded eight tackles, four of those for losses and one interception. Defensive end David Benton is also healthy again, and along with tight end John Gilmore, also returning from injury, provides Lakeland with an attitude and edge, Zebrowski said. Benton returned an interception 18 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter to break open the MacMurray game.
Lakeland’s offense is centered around its talented quarterback Ryan Maiuri. Maiuri has run and passed the Muskies’ offense to success this season. He is averaging 73.7 yards a game running at 4.9 yards a tote with seven touchdowns. He has also passed for nearly 1,000 yards this season, completing 77 of 162 passes for 987 yards.
Backs Brandon Erdman (267 yards, 51 carries, 5.2 yards per carry) and Shawn Lee (225 yards on 35 carries, 6.4 yards per carry) have proven to be valuable in Lakeland’s backfield as well.
“We have a great athlete at quarterback and we try to put him in a position to be successful,” Zebrowski said. “We put the veer option in to make teams have to prepare for him. They know if they don’t account for him, he’s the type of player who’ll run 50 yards on you.”
Zebrowski said that he believes not making the playoffs has made his team hungrier this year.
“I think they know it’s not just good enough to play well,” Zebrowski said. “We realize these are our most important games.”
That starts with trying to knock off its fellow IBC co-champion on Saturday.
Kudos ...
To Tom Anthony of Augustana. Anthony collected his seventh interception of the season in a thrilling 7-0 win over Carthage, leading Division III in that category. He also had eight solo tackles on his way to CCIW defensive player of the week honors.
To Monmouth quarterback Mitch Tanney completed who completed 17 of 21 passes for 237 yards and four touchdowns in a 69-14 route of Grinnell in Midwest Conference play. Monmouth is now 6-0 on the season.
To the Defiance defense in holding the high-wire Anderson offense to 224 yards in total offense and one touchdown in a surprising 32-7 victory on the road. Defiance, which won one game last season, has now captured three in a row (3-2, 1-0), two of those wins with freshman quarterback Hans Vetter (14 for 22, 185 yards) at the helm.
To Rockford quarterback Travis Stocker, who despite an ankle injury set a team single-game completion percentage record, going 17 for 20 passes (85%), for 240 yards in the Regents’ 49-18 victory over Maranatha Baptist, giving them a 5-1 record and 2-1 in the South Division of the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference.
And finally to Wheaton’s quarterback Jeremy Chupp, who completed 18 of 36 passes for 311 yards and one touchdown while running for two others in Wheaton’s thrilling 41-35 overtime victory over Millikin.
Other Games to Watch
No. 16 North Central (5-0, 2-0) vs. No. 22 Carthage (4-1, 1-1) at Naperville, Ill., 1 p.m.: Just think a week ago Carthage, behind its tough defense, was ranked No. 13 in the country and now must fight for survival to stay in the CCIW race. North Central’s high flying offense, which is averaging over 40 points a game won’t make it easy. The Cardinals were able to score 35 points two weeks ago against a very good Wheaton defense and create turnovers on the other side of the ball. This one could very well be won in the turnover column – who gets the takeaways and who makes the most of them.
Hanover (3-3, 2-0) at Defiance (3-2, 1-0), 1:30 p.m.: This one didn’t seem so special until Defiance beat Anderson last week in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference’s latest surprise victory. Hanover followed up its surprise win against conference favorite Mount St. Joseph with a convincing 48-7 victory over Manchester. Defiance played in inspiring fashion during its victory over Anderson, which had played well all season to this point. The Yellow Jackets are riding a three-game winning streak, but can they come up with another one of those unexpected surprise games again?
