The Slicers ran the ball well enough to chew up clock as well as the Blazer defense tonight. On a wet night at Kiwanis field the Slicers kept the ball on the ground most of the game dominating the team from Elkhart. Airrence Shark furthered his legacy at LaPorte running for over one hundred yards yet again. Once again the defense looked sharp, controlling the line of scrimmage.
Next week the Slicers will travel to Penn for the sectional championship. Penn beat South Bend Clay 34-13 to advance.
These two teams met back on August 25th with the Slicers winning easily 42 – 13 . The Blazers have improved since that first game, and may be a more formidable challenge tonight. The Slicers came out last week fired up, and went into the locker room at halftime up 35 – 0. They did not allow a first down during the entire first half. The Slicers need to come out with that same intensity that they did last week to put the game away early. With a win the Slicers would play either Penn or Clay for the sectional title.
This year the Boilers have had a rough time with opponents that are favored to beat them. Notre Dame, Iowa, and Wisconsin all beat them handily. This week Purdue must keep up the same effort on defense and hope that the offense can click. Last week it looked like the quarterback and the receivers were having communication problems. The Boilers ran the same out route three times in a row to two different receivers with the ball falling incomplete all three times. If the offense can play like we saw them against Notre Dame and Northwestern this game is Purdue’s to lose. Saying that I think this will be a close game. Penn State is a good team that has lost to Michigan, Ohio State, and Notre Dame. All of those teams are in the top ten. With the quarterback situation up in the air for Penn State, and the home field advantage I think Purdue will squeak by with the win.
Flashback: The only two previous times that I have seen Penn State play they were ranked #2 in the country. The first time was in 1994 at Indiana. The Nittany Lions came in and barely beat the Hoosiers 35 – 29. The close game against the hapless Hoosiers cost them a shot at the National Title at the end of the year. The second time that I saw them was in West Lafayette during the 1999 season. Purdue was ranked 16th playing the 2nd ranked team in the nation, and lost 31 – 25. 21 of Penn State’s points came courtesy of three Purdue turnovers. Lavar Arrington sacked Brees, and his fumble was returned for one of Penn State’s scores. Purdue had 4 shots at the end zone in the final minute, but all of the Brees passes fell incomplete.
That date will forever be etched in my mind. One year ago today the White Sox clinched their first World Series since 1917. I was at the viewing party at the United Center in Chicago for the event. The entire second deck was filled up to watch the Sox on the big screen. Juan Uribe made probably the two biggest plays of his life to clinch the game for the Sox. The first was with one out in the ninth he dove into the stands at full speed to make the second out. He then made a great fielding play and throw to Paul Konerko to clinch it. Watching the video of those last two plays still brings a chill to my spine. Jermaine Dye grabbed the World Series MVP, and his game winning RBI single probably did not hurt his cause. What a great day to be a Sox fan! Two days later I spent the day with about two million other Sox fans in downtown Chicago celebrating.
The Boilers lost their 11th straight game against a ranked opponent yesterday. They were given chances to win throughout the game, but could not capitalize on them. The Boilers charged out of the gate in all black uniforms to an excited crowd, but their play took the crowd down a notch by the second quarter. P.J. Hill ran for 161 yards and 2 touchdowns for Wisconsin. The Boiler defense did a decent job of slowing down the Badgers offense, but could not get any support from their own offense. The Boilers got inside the 30 on numerous occasions, and could not capitalize. Watching the game from the stands it seemed like Painter and his receivers were not on the same page. A lot of routes were not run to completion, or in the wrong place. The Boilers will need to work on this before Penn State comes to town next week. This was a very hard game to watch from the stands. Purdue could not take advantage of the chances they were given, and the Wisconsin fans showed their true form again this time.
The Slicers beat Mishawaka easily tonight at Kiwanis Field. The Slicers set the tone early when Airrence Shark ripped off a 67 yard run for a touchdown on the first play from scrimmage. The Slicers kept scoring, taking a 35 – 0 lead into the halftime break. The defense did not give Mishawaka a first down in the first half, and except for a short time after the break played well. Mishawaka came out of the break pumped up, and we looked flat. They scored 21 points on us, but the Slicers could not be stopped on offense. With the outcome decided at the end of the game, the players started getting chippy. One of the Cavemen had to be dragged off the field by a coach after committing a personal foul. After swinging at the coach, the player was thrown to the ground, and drug off the field by his pads. The Slicers will face Elkhart Central next week at Kiwanis Field.
Confessions of a Sports Junkie 