MidAmerica Nazarene 40, McPherson 24 (final) — Aaron Lafitte runs for 115 yards and 2 TDs in the loss … Bulldogs up 24-23 headed into fourth quarter.

Ottawa 40, Hastings 34 — Ottawa rallies from 34-6 down to win game behind school record 13 catches for 291 yards and 4 touchdowns from sophomore wideout Clarence Anderson — a Wichita Southeast product.

It’s Clarence’s world and we’re just living in it.

Out. TA

THE LAW FIRM OF HITEM, STICKEM & BEATEM AKA THE FORT SCOTT COACHING STAFF

My plate is full this evening, with Fort Scott pulling out the 13-12 Region VI win over Butler and the KCAC getting two bids to the NAIA playoffs with undefeated, No. 5 Ottawa hosting Hastings (Neb.) andNo. 12 McPherson traveling to MidAmerica Nazarene for the first playoff appearance in school history. That’s 87 years, if you’re counting. Here’s the full NAIA playoff schedule, if you’re interested.

I covered the Ottawa-Friends game yesterday and I’ll tell you what … Ottawa looked really, really good. Like they got up 42-0 in the first 16 minutes good. And as far as finally getting to see Ethan Haller play? Dude could start for most of the teams in the MIAA, no doubt. He’s that good. Their defense? Not so much. And as far as Friends — if they would have finished that comeback, as one of our page designers told me — that’s the kind of thing you could go 40 years as a sportswriter and never see. Just nuts.

So … Fort Scott. Brooks Seeley covered that game today and yes, it was cold, and yes, he whined the whole time (LOL) but he got to see a great one. And because No. 3 Blinn beat No. 1 Navarro on Sunday in the SW Region title game, that means, no matter what, the Greyhounds are gonna be No. 1 in the next poll and get to play for the national title at the Citizens Bank Bowl in Pittsburg on Dec. 6 — let’s just hope they can get the No. 2 team to come play them, whoever that may be (Likely Blinn). Couldn’t have set itself up any better for Fort Scott.

I’m out. TA.

PS. I’VE BEEN SAYING ALL YEAR … HE’S NICE!!!

SHANE MASCARENAS

So yesterday was a furlough day for me — which means a day off and also means no checking e-mail, no nothing as far as work. So I get home circa 2 a.m. and I log onto good ole Kansas.com and … I probably re-read the score twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

Yes, people, McPherson beat No. 9 Friends on Saturday night.

I knew it was going to be a little rocky for the Falcons with the transition to a new QB — but this one is on the defense and on the o-line, I think. Friends only ran for 67 yards. This is a team that always leads the conference in rushing and they got smoked. And the D? Holy cow. On paper this team looked really good. Still shocked.

As far as the Bulldogs, the win brought me back to a conversation I had with head coach Brian Ward at Media Day. We were going over their recruits and who they had coming back and I said something to the effect of “hey, you guys might sneak up on people,” and it seemed like it was all part of his bigger plan. Like no big deal. Like he was surprised more people didn’t think that. And now he’s got a star QB in Shane Mascarenas (338 yards, 4 Tds) and they’re ready to roll.

Remember, dynasties start with little seeds. Victories like this can be the catalyst for something … bigger. Do I think McPherson is going to run the table in the KCAC? No way. But if you say you know who is going to win the whole thing right now, well … like Joe Wilson said, YOU LIE.

(On that note — Wilson is a jerk. So is Kanye West. Being impolite never flies)

And as far as Pittsburg State … again? Really?

Out. TA

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.

KCAC

FRIENDS

The Falcons and coach Monty Lewis went after Snodgrass hard and came up short … and I’d really like to figure out how that whole process went down. Snodgrass ended up at McPherson and I think it would have given Tim Rozzell a run for the money in the race to replace KCAC offensive player of the year Alex Melugin. According to Lewis, Jacob McKenzie (OL, Jr., 6-foot-5, 310 pounds, Hutch C.C.), Galen Haaga (TE, Jr., 6-3, 240, Hutch C.C.0 and Felix Snipes (LB, Jr., 6-1, 230, Butler C.C.) are all Juco guys who are going to make an impact and are all already on campus. Friends graduated maybe its best OL ever, so McKenzie is going to feel that pressure early. McKenzie, from Eureka, played at Central Missouri for a year. And they need a TE to replace Luke Flanagan and there’s an open LB spot with the departure of Chad Francisco, so there you go for the other two. But we won’t really know how much not getting Snodgrass hurts them until we see how Rozzell plays. So there’s that.

MCPHERSON

Props to Carol Swenson for getting me this list … now if only I knew which positions all these dudes played …

Seriously, though, I just talked to MC coach Brian Ward about this class and he’s excited, as he should be. I don’t want to get too much into what he said about Snodgrass because I’m working on something for Monday specifically about his recruitment (he reportedly got MIAA offers from Fort Hays St., Emporia St. and another DII — Chadron State — also offered) and how he ended up with the Bulldogs. Cheney’s Dustin Hague is a good addition, athletic and big (6-3, 260) so he’ll help shore up that D-line. Wide receiver Bryant Theis out of Medicine Lodge — a 2x all-stater — should help soften the blow of losing Gary Cox.

But Snodgrass is the big catch here. He’s intelligent, tough, athletic and he’s going to be running basically the same type of offense he had at Derby. I watched him torch Garden City his junior year for almost 500 yards and five TDs in the season opener, and was sold that night. There’s going to be a QB battle this fall in McPherson that will be fun to watch.

Junior College and 4-Year transfers enrolled for Spring ‘09:Jeff Frank (Tonganoxie, Kan.) Garden City CC;Derrick Johnson (Maricopa, Ariz.) Phoenix College; Aaron Lafitte (Wadell, Arz.) Wabash College (IN); Rattanack Muor (San Jose, Ca.) West Valley College (CA); Rafail Reyes (Mesa, Ariz.) Mesa (AZ) Comm. College; John Sobczuk (Scottsdale, Ariz.) Glendale (AZ) Comm. College; Loni Tolutau, Jr. (Mesa, Ariz.) Phoenix College. High School signees:Patrick Barton (Moundridge, Kan.) Moundridge HS; Tim Brozek (Cheney, Kan.) Cheney HS; Dusty Hague (Cheney, Kan.) Cheney HS; Caleb Hamilton (Madison, Kan.) Madison HS; Bryant Jackson (Enid, Okla.) Chisholm HS;Taylor Lemuz (Larned, Kan.) Rozel-Pawnee Heights HS; Mitchell Leppke (Marion, Kan.) Marion HS; Ryan O’Neill (Spearville, Kan.) Spearville HS; James Patton (Cunningham, Kan.) Cunningham HS; Taylor Roop (Moscow, Kan.) Moscow HS;Tyler Sears (Cheney, Kan.) Cheney HS; Dylan Smith (Lebo, Kan.) Lebo HS; Jacob Snodgrass (Derby, Kan.) Derby HS; James Temaat (Dodge City, Kan.) Minneola HS; Bryant Thies (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) Medicine Lodge HS; Anthony Zajac (Pocahontas, Ill.) Highland HS

SOUTHWESTERN

Last year was a debacle for the Moundbuilders — nothing less than the worst season in school history at 1-9. One key, I think, to getting things turned around, is selling the kids on the new facilities they’re building. That’s no problem. They’re going to be beautiful …. everything a small-college stadium should be. The other thing would be to recruit kids from the state of Kansas to come to school there. And that’s just not happening. Take a look at their roster last year. Take a look at this recruiting class so far — that’s 12 signings and not one kid from Kansas. What gives? Time to change things up a little. I’ve always thought this was a great place to go to school, but it’s losing that luster rapidly.

STERLING – didn’t give me anything yet

BETHEL – they didn’t give me anything yet, either

BETHANY – again, nothing.

I may make another KCAC signings post if the bottom three come through with a signing list. Otherwise, see you when I get the Jayhawk signings together.

TA

Using a two-quarterback system, junior college transfer Shane Mascarenas threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns in his McPherson debut and Josh White ran for 72 yards and two touchdowns when he got his snaps. Mascarenas is done for the year after breaking his leg in the fourth quarter, and White’s return is up in the air after sustaining a third-quarter concussion.

Shane Mascarenas

Josh White

Like I said, bad news. Coach Brian Ward is going to try to make one of three freshmen work for now.