Detroit Free Press: Hillsdale goes to first dance

November 12, 2009

Behind the scenes

Hillsdale goes to first dance
 

BY GEORGE SIPPLE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER


The Hillsdale College football team (9-2) will participate in the NCAA Division II playoffs for the first time in school history when it visits Minnesota State-Mankato (10-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Hillsdale, a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletics Association team, had its best regular season in 17 years and will make the postseason for the first time since it was an NAIA program in 1988. The Chargers are led by senior back Vinnie Panizzi, who rushed for 1,306 yards and 21 touchdowns. Free Press sports writer George Sipple talked to Panizzi and eight-year coach Keith Otterbein.


"We're not just satisfied with making the playoffs," Panizzi said. "Now we're 0-0 and it's a single-game elimination."


On making the Division II playoffs for the first time:
Otterbein: "Everyone wants to win. The problem is everyone else is trying to win. This is a very satisfying year for us. We had fun as a football team, great chemistry and faced a buzz saw the last part of the season and kept going."
Panizzi: "Walking to my classes, several professors said congratulations, and they were asking when we were leaving. There's a big buzz on campus. They're starting a petition at the student union to ask for Friday off so everyone can travel to the game."


On the challenge Minnesota State-Mankato presents:
Otterbein: "This is going to be a very physical team, as physical a team as we've got in our conference on both sides of the ball. They're not going to try to fool you with the schemes as much as they just play real hard and try to control the line of scrimmage on defense. ... They run play-action pass, very similar to our style, so we have to be assignment sound and eliminate the big play. I think it's going to be an old-fashioned, time-of-possession, field-position game."


On Panizzi leading the offense:
Otterbein: "He's not a home run guy, but he's going to have a bunch that are anywhere from 6 to 8 yards or 14 to 15 yards. He's able to break tackles. He's been able to create some problems for people."


On Otterbein's tradition of lighting a victory cigar:
Panizzi: "At the team banquet, the team gave him a nice engraved butane lighter. Right before we sing our fight song, he'll light up."
Otterbein: "I don't know what the NCAA thinks about that in the playoffs, but if we win I'm going to go hide in the corner somewhere ... at least we'll be outside."

Original Story

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Otter wins Coach of the Year, Several other Chargers garner all-league honors

 

The GLIAC announced its all-league awards this afternoon and headlining for the Chargers is Head Coach Keith Otterbein who was tabbed as Coach of the Year.

First Team Offense
RB Vinnie Panizzi
WR AJ Kegg
WR Andre Holmes
OT Jared Veldheer
PK Mark Petro

First Team Defense
DT Drew Berube

Second Team Offense
QB Troy Weatherhead
H-Back Matt Patillo
OL Phil Doerfler

Second Team Defense
DB Nick Hixson
P Erik Schweller

Honorable Mention
Mike Blanchard (Jr./WR), Bill Kanitz (Sr./H-Back), Kam Mueller (Jr./DL), Mat Szula (Sr./LB), Andrew Yarbrough (Sr./DL), Mark Yassay (Sr./DL)

Full All-GLIAC List

Chargers prepare for the unknown in Minnesota State quarterback situation

Like sharks at the poker table, finding tells and tendencies in opposing quarterbacks is something players and coaches do each week in film sessions. That is going to be mighty difficult for Hillsdale College as they prepare for seemingly an unknown situation in the Minnesota State signal calling department.

Ryan Fick started the season for the Mavericks after taking them to their first ever playoff appearance a year ago. He got off to a pretty good start, completing 8 of 15 passes for 133 yards and a touchdown in the first half of the team's opener with Bemidji State. That would be it for Fick who would break his leg later in that game. He returned six weeks later for a half of football only to suffer a season ending collar bone break.

Steve Pachan would replace Fick and roll up 10 straight wins and honorable mention all-conference honors before being hobbled late this past Saturday against St. Cloud State, a game MSU would go on to lose.

Neither Fick nor Pachan are listed on the two-deep chart in this week's set of game notes, leaving the reins to RS-Freshman and converted wide receiver Cody Rose. The backup is listed as true freshman Ray Teachout.

Rose has completed 13 of 25 passes for 156 yards and 1 TD. He has been picked off twice, most notably this past Saturday on a last minute drive that sealed the victory for St. Cloud State.

Rose has played in 10 of team's 11 games both at receiver and quarterback. He longest stretch of time calling signals was in the Mavericks' blow-out of Upper Iowa, completing 10 of 17 for 135 yards a touchdown.

Obviously quick to have come in as a receiver, Rose scored 3 rushing touchdowns in that Upper Iowa game from the quarterback position. This is a wrinkle the Charger defense must account for and contain.

While we're sticking with the poker analogies, Hillsdale has to wonder how much of their hand the Mavericks might really be showing. How hurt IS Pachan? Also, in an earlier news article, Fick vowed to return before the season was over.

Head Coach Todd Hoffner stated recently that Rose is their starter and that they are monitoring the other players' medical situations. "We don't have a quarterback controversy. We have two quarterback controversies."

Something the Chargers have heard over and over again from Coach Keith Otterbein is that they are to only worry about what they themselves are supposed to do and to do their things. At this point, Hillsdale could care less who lines up behind center.

Hillsdale Daily News: Chargers Football Team can thank NCAA for playoff bid

As printed in the Hillsdale Daily News and posted at Down in the Dale Blog

A column by James Gensterblum, a Hillsdale Daily News Correspondent

The NCAA has come under a lot of fire in recent years for some of the decisions it has made as a governing body.

It’s been criticized for everything from the punishments it hands out to programs that break the rules (or, as is often the case, lack of punishments) to the sponsors it lines up for its postseason tournaments.

There’s almost nothing more controversial, tough, than which teams get into those postseason tournaments, and which get left out. Just log on to a message board after the field for the Big Dance is released each year if you don’t believe me.

Saturday night, the NCAA had another tough choice to make, this one regarding the last open spot in the Division II football playoffs’ Midwest region.

The national committee that had the final say over who gets in and who is left in the cold could take a Wayne St. (Neb.) team that was the logical choice for the spot based on all of the mathematical formulas used to put together the regional rankings which help decide who gets in and who doesn’t.

Or, they could go with their eyes and take a Hillsdale College team that had beaten one of the best teams in the Midwest region and was playing as well as any team that had already secured a playoff berth over the last few weeks.

In the end, the committee chose Hillsdale to be the number six seed in the tournament even though the numbers may have said otherwise.

In doing so, they went against the recommendation of the Midwest's regional committee that had given Wayne St. the nod just hours earlier. They also went against the computers who had identified Wayne St. as the stronger team because of their superior strength of schedule.

And despite those mitigating factors, they made the right decision.

In choosing Hillsdale over Wayne St, the NCAA's national committee used their authority and followed form of NCAA Division II handbook to reinforce the idea that what a team does on the field matters more than the decisions their athletic departments make off of it.

The computers liked Wayne St. more than Hillsdale because before the first game had even been played, Wayne St. had scheduled a Nebraska-Kearney team to open the season as a non-conference opponent, while Hillsdale had chosen St. Joseph's (Ind.).

After losing the opening week game to Wayne St., Kearney proceeded to go 10-1 on the season against lackluster competition, while Hillsdale’s opening opponent could only manage a 5-6 record on the year.

Because Kearney had such a gaudy record, Wayne St. had a huge advantage over Hillsdale in strength of schedule, even though Kearney had run its record up against a set of mostly cupcake teams.

And to the computers, that only see strength of schedule, nothing else was as important as that difference.

Not the fact that Hillsdale ended up 9-2 on the year, while Wayne St. finished one game back at 8-3.

Not the fact that Hillsdale put up that record in the rugged GLIAC, whereas Wayne St. put up theirs in the less harsh Northern Sun Conference.

Not even the fact that Hillsdale had a signature win over the region's No. 2 team Grand Valley St, while Wayne State’s biggest win was against that unimpressive Kearney team, could overcome that difference in that one game for the computers.

Don’t get me wrong, Wayne St. is a solid team with a legitimate case to make the playoffs.

But in comparison to a Hillsdale team that is riding a five-game winning streak, has a win over a national powerhouse, and has shown the ability not only to play playoff level football but to play at a level competitive with any school in the country, Wayne State's case just doesn’t hold up.

Thankfully, the NCAA, which has been much maligned in the past for decisions just like this one, made the right call this time.

Free NCAA Webcast: Hillsdale vs. Minnesota State

All NCAA Division II playoff games can be watched for free online. The official tournament bracket contains links to all broadcasts. The NCAA is also hosting a free bracket challenge contest.

Weatherhead voted by his teammates as Team MVP

Here are the awards that were handed out at Sunday's Hillsdale College Football Banquet.

Roy Beck Most Valuable Player: QB Troy Weatherhead
Captains Award: OL Jared Veldheer, DB Lance Smith, LB Mat Szula
Outstanding Freshman, Offense: OL D.J. Loy
Outstanding Freshman, Defense: DB Nick Galvan
One Play Warrior: PK Mark Petro
Outstanding Offensive Lineman: OL Jared Veldheer
Joe Vijuk Outstanding Defensive Lineman: DE Drew Berube
Outstanding Offensive Back: RB Vinnie Panizzi
Outstanding Defensive Back: DB Nick Hixson
Ralph Miller II Outstanding Linebacker: LB Mat Szula
E.P.E.P. Award: WR A.J. Kegg, HB Bill Kanitz, LB Joe Stempien, DE Andrew Yarbrough
Howard "Champ" Messenger Award: DE Eric Schweller
Leonard Urbanick Award for Scholarship, Leadership and Ability: OL Phil Doerfler

Seats available on Hillsdale football team flight to MSU

Seats are currently available on the Hillsdale College football team's charter flight to Minnesota State for this weekend's playoff game.

Flight departs Toledo at 9:00 AM on Friday morning and arrives in Minneapolis at 9:30 AM, Hubert H Humphrey Terminal. The airport is approximately 1.5 hours from Mankato.

The return leg is a 7:00 PM departure that arrives back in Toledo at 9:30.

Passengers are responsible for ground transportation and lodging.

Airfare is $278 and must be purchased by 3:00 PM Wednesday.

Contact the Hillsdale Athletic Department and Anita Gordon at 517 437-7341 with your credit card information.

Travelers will need a government photo I.D. with First, Last and M.I., Date of birth and weight.