STEPHANIE MCCARTHY
My state/juco notes for today focused on the Friends softball team, something I was leading up to for a couple weeks but hadn’t pulled the trigger on the story because I was waiting for them to make a move in the standings, which they did. If you don’t know the backstory, here it is in a nutshell: Two-time defending KCAC champs have 31-game league winning streak broken, fall into second place then regroup to peel off six straight wins including a sweep of the first place team and take back the league lead.
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Garden City Community College’s epic postseason run ended Thursday night with a loss to Connors State in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Tournament.
The Broncbusters have put on a heck of a show, and because of my fondness for this team … I’m going to honor them with the first annual Sunflower Slate Johnny Drama Award.
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JAKE SNODGRASS
So here’s the thing about KCAC schools and Jucos — there is no national signing date. That means that, unlike the NCAA schools, there is no set date to announce your class. Conventional wisdom would say that around this time is when these schools sign the bulk of their classes, only because of the time frame around sending in applications for scholarships and student loans, but understand that these schools never stop recruiting. You can easily pick up a kid who falls off academically late or has some other type of hold up with a bigger school and he ends up on your campus. With that being said, I’m going to break down what I have so far on our beloved KCAC, and tell you why I think the prize of this class was Derby QB Jake Snodgrass, who is headed to McPherson. I’ll post links to the school sites when I can, but a few I’ll have to type up.
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DALE FABER
So he lost both games. That was definitely the worst case-scenario.
But seriously, I don’t know if it would have mattered who was the coach other than Gayla Soyez. I read a few comments on Patrick Sheltra’s story on the games last night at Friends — some thinking that it was a publicity stunt, some thinking an assistant should have been the coach. I think this still would have came up if he’d won the women’s game, although I don’t think he’s to blame for the loss. If you’re missing your head coach, no matter if it’s the men’s coach or one of the assistants taking charge, that intensity that would have been there under the head coach is going to be missing, I think.
Hello all. Roll call is definitely back in the house.
Let’s get this rolling. Not as much to deal with as in the fall … but just as important.
No players of the week to speak of — yet — in the KCAC but I’ll get into that in a minute. And the Jayhawk won’t start putting them out, apparently, until after the new year. Bummer.
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This should be the last mention of Northwestern Oklahoma State on this blog, pending any further developments. But I did think that this situation, with the Rangers being forced to forfeit a first-round win over Friends, merits some discussion and exposes some serious weaknesses in the NAIA.
And in the last week of dealing with this, I’ve actually learned a few things.
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This just in off the AP wire. Just got back from a press conference at Friends, so check tomorrow’s edition of the Eagle to get reaction from the Falcons. Friends will finish season 11-0 and Carroll College gets a bye into the quarterfinals. If this had happened 24 hours earlier, Friends probably would have made the trek to Helena, Mont., to take on the five-time national champs … but the NAIA decided it was too much packed into too little of a timespan;
Here’s the AP story, followed by the full statement from the NAIA:
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FRIENDS DB LEVI READY ON SATURDAY
What happened to Friends was that the Falcons ran into a better team. That wasn’t altogether surprising. This is the NAIA playoffs and every team is good, every team should be worthy of being there. What was surprising to me was the way that Northwestern Oklahoma manhandled Friends physically. On paper, yes, the two teams were comparable, and if anything it would have appeared that Friends had a slim advantage on size. But from the first snap the Rangers were moving at an entirely different speed. Even at that … i don’t know that that was the main reason they lost. The Falcons played tight for the first time all year. Maybe, and this is just theory, they got overwhelmed by their surroundings and the pressure. And then they cracked.
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Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always To be blest.
-Alexander Pope
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I’m stepping out of my features/blog/previews mode tomorrow … I’ll actually be covering a game!
It’s winless Southwestern at undefeated, No. 6-ranked Friends. I’m psyched, although I don’t think it’s going to be close. The Moundbuilders have really struggled the last five years. It seems like you can trace their downturn and Friends’ rise directly to Monty Lewis’s career path.
MONTY LEWIS (FRIENDS PHOTO)
Since I haven’t got to see a KCAC game this season, I want to see if Friends has what it takes to win an NAIA playoff game. Don’t kid yourself, this is a conference that needs to get into that national spotlight and that is ultimately what the Falcons season is going to be judged on. Regular seasons are great and all … but if you want to be like the Carrolls and the St. Francises and the Georgetowns of the world … you got to do it when it counts. Which the KCAC hasn’t been able to do.
If you’re at Friends tomorrow hit me up in the press box and I’ll share some of my popcorn with you. Seriously. I’m not a selfish person. You can have some. Game time is 1:30 p.m.
Out,
TA
PS,
Ben, if you’re reading this, you’re more than welcome to come to the game.
