Author: Andy

#AllNavyEverything and resident ACC homer on The Birddog

ANDY GOES TO THE NAVY VS HOLY CROSS LACROSSE GAME

On By AndyIn navy lacrosse1 Comment

Global warming may or may not exist, but I am sure of one thing – whatever the hell is going on right now is making some awesome early-March weather happen in Annapolis. I went to Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium today to watch the Mids take on the Crusaders of Holy Cross on the latest upper-60’s, sunny, and breezy day. Despite Spring Break flinging the Brigade to the far corners of wherever the drinking age is under 21, there were still what looked to be a couple thousand fans filling the west stands to see the Midshipmen win 13-7.

Continue reading “ANDY GOES TO THE NAVY VS HOLY CROSS LACROSSE GAME” →

ANDY GOES TO THE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL GAME

On By AndyIn navy basketball4 Comments

Hi, I’m Andy. You might remember me from such blog posts as “JV vs. Naps” and “JV vs. Hargrave.” Tonight I want to talk to you about something a little different – Women’s Basketball. Specifically, the Patriot League Championship game that happened tonight in Alumni Hall. As you may have heard by now, the Navy women won their 2nd consecutive championship behind a trio of sophomore stars, headlined by tourney MVP Jade Geif (her 2nd tourney MVP in a row).

The atmosphere in Alumni Hall was great, especially when you consider that most of the Brigade left town last night for spring break. There was a section full of restrictees (wear it proud, ladies and gents – I still have my tape ball from a 30-day stint after spring break my Firstie year), and a pep band consisting of members of the USNA band and the D&B. The latter ended up being a great group, belting out chant after chant when they weren’t blasting out some (slightly off tune) Lady Gaga. I’d say there were north of 1,500 people present by the start of the 2nd half, and would be shocked if any left before the final buzzer.

I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t overly psyched to go to a women’s basketball game. I grew up on Tobacco Road, so roundball is in my blood. Hell, I didn’t even watch a college football game until my plebe year. The few times I watched a women’s game, I was left wanting. It was usually more of a “support the school” thing, not a “I want to watch a women’s basketball game” thing. And for the first 10 minutes, it couldn’t have been any less appealing. After scoring on their first possession, Navy only got 4 points (2 from the stripe) in the next 10 minutes. But Holy Cross only managed 11 points in that time. Yes, it was as ugly as it reads. Holy Cross eventually built out to a 7-point halftime lead and there was little enthusiasm in the crowd.

Many people will read the box score and assume halftime adjustments in the locker room were the reason for Navy’s dominating 2nd half performance. Others might point to a more tightly called game that saw Holy Cross commit 14 fouls in the 2nd half. But I think the spark came from the halftime entertainment. There was a team of kids from a local rec league that put on a scrimmage. The gold team was led by a 2-foot nothing point guard who is destined to be on the next And-1 mix tape. I saw him cross up a kid at the top of the key and drive the lane for a layup, make no look dishes to teammates, and even split a guy with a dribble. That’s to say he put the all down one side of a guy, ran around the other side and picked the dribble up behind him. The crowd started cheering on the kid as he unleashed a torrent of highlight-worthy moves.

By the time the Navy women came out with just minutes to go before the horn – those adjustments must have been wordy – the crowd was a little more bouncy and ready to see some better basketball (though seeing Louisville and Cincinnati sitting at 26-14 in the 2nd half of the Big East championship game, who can complain). The Navy women did not disappoint. The 7 point lead disappeared in a matter of minutes as Navy opened on a 9-2 run and never really looked back. MVP Geif hit a layup with 12 minutes to go to give Navy a 38-37 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

And by the time Navy got the lead for good, I had started to lose my voice. Two days ago when I asked my wife and my parents if they were interested in going to the game, I looked it as solely a nice starting point to my return to the blog. You know, be the local guy who gets to some games other than football or men’s lacrosse. But by the end of tonight, I was standing on my feet with more than a thousand other Navy fans, cheering on Navy. It wasn’t just fun – it was exciting, emotional, and exhilarating. We stuck around for the trophy presentation, after which the girls did a cheer thanking the fans in attendance, and watched each of the players and coaches climb the ladder to cut the nets down. We’ll be adding another banner in Alumni hall this year – something that’s been rare since the late 90’s.

In the end, I had a great time tonight. The crowd was different from a football game. There wasn’t the massive contingent of old grads who seem to exist solely to make life miserable for other fans. I was able to stand up to take a picture or cheer a play and not once did I get told to get down in front. Even though we were able to get tickets for just a fraction of what a football ticket and parking will run you, the game’s fans seemed to care more and even know more. There was no groaning about timeouts or demands to get the ball more to the forwards. Just pure support and enthusiasm. And that’s the reason why I’ll be sure to go to more Navy Women’s Basketball games in the future. I’m not a convert just yet, but I’m chasing down the bandwagon.

DOWN ON THE FARM: JV VS. HARGRAVE

On By AndyIn navy football10 Comments

Editor’s note: On my trip to Annapolis last week, it became painfully obvious that I am very, very stupid for choosing to live anywhere else. Fortunately, there are those who do not share my imperfection. One of those people is Andy, who lives about as close to Gate 1 as my kitchen is to my driveway. He went to Friday’s JV game against perennial prep powerhouse Hargrave Military Academy, and took notes to share with the rest of us, which he posted here. He also really does live in his mother’s basement, which adds to his blogger cred.

JV Football Report

The JV squad took on Hargrave’s Post-Grad (PG) team this past Friday on Rip Miller Field. Before we talk about the game, let’s be sure we’re all on the same page. Navy’s JV squad is comprised of mostly plebes (there are 20 youngsters on the roster of 78). The JV team is also the scout team for the varsity practices. Translation: the offense rarely runs the spread option. Because of this, I won’t be offering up slams of reads or fumbles when looking at the offense. I’ll let you know what the highlights were and what players impressed.

Also, this is the first time I’ve watched a game with the intent of reporting on it afterward. That means I may (and by may I mean there is a 100% chance of it) make some mistakes or have misidentified a player. So any corrections are welcome.

Finally, Hargrave is essentially a BCS feeder program. The kids on their field are future SEC, ACC, etc. players. Last year Hargrave beat Navy’s JV team 32-4.

Ok, onto the meat of the report. Friday was a nasty day to play on Rip Miller. There was a constant light rain and a 15-20 mph wind blowing from land out to the bay. I also showed up midway through the 1st quarter, so I missed some action. Here’s what I saw:

Fullbacks
We rotated 3 different FB’s throughout the game. #15 Austin Beaty (Friendswood, TX) was the best performer of the bunch. He carried the majority of one scoring drive and had an 18 yard TD run of his own. #43 Jarred Mack (Houston, TX) had the 2nd most carries. He was a strong runner, busting some up the middle and at times carrying defenders with him. #40 Kevin Eckel (Haverford, PA) was in for a few plays and had one impressive run of over 10 yards.

Quarterbacks
#8 Tyler Lynch (Irving, TX) and #9 Gordy Law (Berwick, PA) both played admirably given the conditions. Saw one fumble on the QB/FB mesh. Given my viewing position, it was hard to tell if there were bad plays because of missed reads or because Hargrave was just that much bigger.

Slotbacks
Hargrave did a good job of shutting down the pitch lanes. #5 John Howell (Hatfield, PA) had a couple of good carries. He was also back for a lot of the punt and kick returns. Those were a mixed bag as well, with equal parts muffed and decent returns. Again, I can not stress enough how much of an impact the wind had on the kicking game.

Wide Receivers
Navy didn’t do much passing. There were two plays that stood out. #11 Brandon Turner (Renton, WA) had a 4 yard TD reception on 4th and goal. Navy sent him iso on the left side of the field with 3 receivers right and Lynch hit him on a short under slant. #89 Jonathan Gazaille (Grand Prarie, TX) took a pass to the flats at the line of scrimmage, put a move on his defender and busted a 10 yard gain for a 1st down. #19 Darian Hess (Largo, FL) had a great reception on 3rd and long, leaping above tight coverage to pull down a nice pass but landed on the line out of bounds.

Offensive Line
On the two scoring drives, they were able to open holes for the FB’s and protect the QB. There was a lot of backfield penetration on the day. Chalk that up to inexperience and an overwhelming size disadvantage. Given that I have no baseline for comparison, I can’t say much more than that.

Defensive Line
I noticed that most of the game we were running the same 3 guys on the line (at least every time I checked numbers). #72 Francis Archibald (Rye, NY) was at nose guard. But I think I wrote the wrong numbers down for our ends – I had #86 and #87, but according to the roster that’s a WR and an OLB. Regardless, the line had some good pressure, opening lanes for LB’s to get to the running backs and QB. Again, given the size difference and inexperience, I thought they performed very well.

Linebackers
Lots of LB’s made plays in the game. There were TFL’s, great open field tackles, tipped passes, etc. Here’s a quick list from my notes:
– #17 Keegan Wetzel (Palos Heights, ILL) had an interception in man coverage. The WR he was covering came back to the ball, but Wetzel got a great break and picked it off.
– #46 Andrew Sharp (State College, PA) had an interception in what looked to be zone coverage. He was sitting in the middle of the field and just read the QB’s eyes for a nice pick.
– #26 Josh Dowling-Fitzpatrick (Westerville, OH) and #42 Mason Graham (Brentwood, TN) combined for a pressure sack. Graham also got good penetration on another play to force an incompletion.
– #53 Craig Veech (Longwood, FL) had a great tipped pass at the line of scrimmage.

Defensive Backs
Hargrave had a great QB and WRs. Most of the damage was done in the air…had the wind not been so brutal, I think they would have been able to leverage this more against Navy’s squad. But as it was, we did have a few plays that stood out from our backs.
– #14 David Sperry (Las Vegas, NV) made a textbook open field tackle to stop what would have been a big gain.
– #4 Jordan Fraser (Chandler, AZ) had a great tackle for a loss on a safety blitz.

Kicking Game
Not much to take away here given the conditions. With the win we were great, against it not so much. We did try one FG with the wind…about 45 yards out from that had the distance but was pushed left. And of course I didn’t write down the number of who was kicking. I think it was the same kicker who converted our only PAT – #6 Scott Blasinsky (North Royalton, OH) – into the wind.

It was 12-7 at the half and the final was 18-13. Hargrave was relatively undisciplined and penalty prone. I wouldn’t be shocked if they had 100 yards of penalties or more, including 3 or 4 personal fouls (a couple of which were unsportsmanlike conduct). They won on sheer talent and size. Like I said, this is a team that rarely runs our offense except for these games, so try to look more at individual performances than the W/L column for this one.