The New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) will crown its champion this Saturday when the Montclair Red Hawks (8-1) host the Kean Cougars (8-1) at Sprague Field. The winner will get an automatic birth in the NCAA tournament which begins next Saturday.
Quarterbacks Drew Cathey of Montclair, and Tom D'Ambrisi of Kean, took very different roads before arriving at this destination.
D'Ambrisi is a four-year starter at Kean, where he has consistently been one the NJAC's best quarterbacks. A quarterback with outstanding elusiveness in the pocket and an ability to run for first downs, D'Ambrisi is also an excellent passer. The 2011 season has been typical D'Ambrisi. The quarterback has thrown for 1625 yards, and 15 touchdowns against 6 interceptions. D'Ambrisi is commonly mentioned alongside Cortland's Dan Pitcher when people discuss the premier quarterbacks in the NJAC.
Junior Drew Cathey started the season backing up Tom Fischer. All appeared well in Red Hawks Land. Montclair rattled off four consecutive victories to start the season with Fischer at the helm. In the fifth game of the season, Montclair built a 24-14 lead in a key game against Cortland State. But late in the first half, Fischer's season ended with an unfortunate injury, forcing Cathey into the game.
Cathey struggled to get up to speed. After a 60-yard touchdown run by Chris D'Andrea gave Montclair a 31-14 lead, Cortland roared back to take a 33-31 lead. But with 1:50 remaining to play, Cathey hit Gerald Silvera for a 41-yard completion deep into Cortland territory, setting up a game winning field goal for Montclair.
Cathey threw for only 83 yards the following week in a win over William Paterson. The following week, TCNJ upset Montclair 27-21. But Cathey was showing progress, throwing for 157 yards and a touchdown, with no interceptions. After an easy win over winless West Conn, Cathey and Montclair rallied from 21-0 down on the road at Rowan to win 37-31 in overtime. The quarterback overcame 3 interceptions to throw for a season-high 318 yards.
While Kean appears to have an edge with D'Ambrisi at quarterback, Montclair's tailback Chris D'Andrea is a great equalizer. Senior D'Andrea averages 6.3 yards per carry, and better than 160 yards per game.
Both Kean and Montclair bring nasty defenses to the table. Each yields less than 18 points per game, and less than 6 yards per pass play. Neither team compiles huge sack numbers, but both hurry the quarterback and rarely give up big plays.
While Montclair versus Kean will not be mistaken for an episode of All In The Family, it is notable that Kean rebuilt its once struggling program under Head Coach Dan Garrett, former all conference player and Defensive Coordinator at Montclair. Garrett took over in 2006 and has never had a losing season with the Cougars, who were perennially weak in the NJAC prior to his arrival.
Venerable Head Coach Rick Giancola of Montclair is in his 29th season with the Red Hawks. Giancola has compiled an amazing 129-41 record within the NJAC, one of the toughest conferences in Division 3.
Our pick to win? We're going with Montclair in a tight defensive thriller. The Red Hawks passing game is back, and you can't say enough about the importance of home field advantage in a November championship game. Whichever team loses will likely be one of the most talented teams not in the NCAA tournament.
Showing posts with label njac. Show all posts
Showing posts with label njac. Show all posts
D3East Football Rankings - November 6
What a great day of football! Saturday reminded us of why we are fans. The top ranked Delaware Valley Aggies won a rivalry game on a last second drive, Montclair rallied from 21 points down to beat its biggest rival in overtime, and previously undefeated Hobart was stunned by RPI.
Let's get down to business. Here are my Division 3 Eastern Football Rankings for 11/6/2011:
The Delaware Valley Aggies remain the only undefeated team in Division 3 Eastern Region football. We knew their game in Lycoming would be a close call, and it sure was. The Lycoming Warriors rallied to tie the score 21-21 with 1:01 remaining to play. But Delaware Valley drove 54 yards to score the winning touchdown with just seconds to play.
Salisbury won a statement game 41-21 over St. John Fisher, clinching the Empire 8 championship and a Pool A bid to the NCAA playoffs. It is my opinion that the Aggies and the Salisbury Gulls give the East its best 1-2 punch at the top of the playoff bracket that it has had in several years.
Raise your hand if you predicted Montclair and its backup quarterback would lose on the road to the Rowan Profs. I know I did, and I felt pretty smart with Rowan ahead 21-0. But Drew Cathey played a brilliant second half of football to rally Montclair to a 37-31 overtime victory. Kean had little trouble dispatching William Paterson, setting up a showdown for the NJAC championship between Kean and Montclair next Saturday.
Western New England stopped UMass-Dartmouth 28-18 to win its ninth game of the season. Like all NEFC leaders in the past decade, the Golden Bears of Western New England sport an impressive record but are completely untested out of conference. For that reason I don't have the confidence to rank them higher than #10. And honestly I wrestled with the idea of putting Rowan in the #10 spot. Unfortunately we won't know anything about Western New England until the first round of the NCAA playoffs is over.
Let's get down to business. Here are my Division 3 Eastern Football Rankings for 11/6/2011:
- Delaware Valley 9-0
- Salisbury State 8-1
- Widener 9-1
- Montclair 8-1
- Kean 8-1
- Lycoming 7-2
- Hobart 6-1
- St John Fisher 7-2
- Cortland 7-2
- Western New England 9-1
The Delaware Valley Aggies remain the only undefeated team in Division 3 Eastern Region football. We knew their game in Lycoming would be a close call, and it sure was. The Lycoming Warriors rallied to tie the score 21-21 with 1:01 remaining to play. But Delaware Valley drove 54 yards to score the winning touchdown with just seconds to play.
Salisbury won a statement game 41-21 over St. John Fisher, clinching the Empire 8 championship and a Pool A bid to the NCAA playoffs. It is my opinion that the Aggies and the Salisbury Gulls give the East its best 1-2 punch at the top of the playoff bracket that it has had in several years.
Raise your hand if you predicted Montclair and its backup quarterback would lose on the road to the Rowan Profs. I know I did, and I felt pretty smart with Rowan ahead 21-0. But Drew Cathey played a brilliant second half of football to rally Montclair to a 37-31 overtime victory. Kean had little trouble dispatching William Paterson, setting up a showdown for the NJAC championship between Kean and Montclair next Saturday.
Western New England stopped UMass-Dartmouth 28-18 to win its ninth game of the season. Like all NEFC leaders in the past decade, the Golden Bears of Western New England sport an impressive record but are completely untested out of conference. For that reason I don't have the confidence to rank them higher than #10. And honestly I wrestled with the idea of putting Rowan in the #10 spot. Unfortunately we won't know anything about Western New England until the first round of the NCAA playoffs is over.
Montclair Survives at Rowan
The Montclair Red Hawks rallied from a 21-0 deficit to overcome the Rowan University Profs on the road, 37-31 in overtime. Rowan missed a field goal and failed to score on its first possession. Montclair scored quickly to send the Profs fans home disappointed.
The Montclair Red Hawks just earned a ton of street cred. After losing its starting quarterback against Cortland on October 8, the Red Hawks offense had struggled to find its rhythm. A loss to TCNJ two weeks later made a lot of Eastern Region football fans become Montclair doubters.
But give Montclair a ton of credit. Backup quarterback Drew Cathey has improved every week as the new starter. They have a strong defense, and an explosive ground game led by Chris D'Andrea. And this week, Cathey became the star as Montclair rallied from a seemingly insurmountable deficit in hostile territory to lead the Red Hawks past the Profs.
The Montclair victory moves the team to 8-1 on the season. The New Jersey Athletic Conference championship will be on the line next Saturday when Montclair hosts 8-1 Kean in a winner-take-all showdown.
The Montclair Red Hawks just earned a ton of street cred. After losing its starting quarterback against Cortland on October 8, the Red Hawks offense had struggled to find its rhythm. A loss to TCNJ two weeks later made a lot of Eastern Region football fans become Montclair doubters.
But give Montclair a ton of credit. Backup quarterback Drew Cathey has improved every week as the new starter. They have a strong defense, and an explosive ground game led by Chris D'Andrea. And this week, Cathey became the star as Montclair rallied from a seemingly insurmountable deficit in hostile territory to lead the Red Hawks past the Profs.
The Montclair victory moves the team to 8-1 on the season. The New Jersey Athletic Conference championship will be on the line next Saturday when Montclair hosts 8-1 Kean in a winner-take-all showdown.