Muhlenberg plays Susquehanna in football today. Name the two other Division III schools with a “q” in their name.
Category Archives: football
Weekend Preview
Is it October already? Indeed it is, and the Mules teams begin the second half of their 2011 seasons on a weekend filled with home events.
Volleyball vs. Dickinson (Saturday, 11:00)
The Mules dig playing at home. In their last four matches at Memorial Hall, they defeated Albright and McDaniel and were very competitive with strong Moravian and Haverford teams. Now theyâll try to even their Centennial Conference record against 2-10 Dickinson.
The Mules also dig pediatric cancer research. Muhlenberg volleyball and the Centennial Conference are working together this year to raise money for Tanner’s Touch, a non-profit organization out of Westminster, Md., that raises awareness and funds to support pediatric cancer research. The Mules (who also play Mount St. Mary at 3:00) will collect pledges and donations for every dig they record in the match against Dickinson.
Live stats (Dickinson match only): http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/vblive/topview.htm
Live video (Dickinson match only): http://www.livestream.com/muhlenberg
Field Hockey vs. Dickinson (Friday, 7:00)
Muhlenberg will try to make it two wins in a row and capture its first Centennial Conference win of the season. Dickinson is also 0-3 in the CC.
Live stats: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/fhlive/xlive.htm
Live video: http://www.livestream.com/muhlenberg
Cross Country at Paul Short Run (Friday, 12:15 men and 1:00 women)
The Mules compete in one of the largest meets in the nation as they continue to prepare for the Centennial championship meet.
Results page: http://www.paulshortxcrun.com/PaulShort/PSLayer.php
Football vs. Susquehanna (Saturday, 1:00)
Susquehanna (3-1) makes its first trip to Allentown since 1992 having won its three games by a combined six points, all on the final play of the game. The loss was at Johns Hopkins, 56-7. The 2-2 Mules, looking to bounce back from a 27-17 loss at Hopkins last week, will try to take advantage of a Crusader defense that has allowed 450.0 yards and 39.8 points per game.
Live stats: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/livestats/xlive.htm
Live video: http://www.livestream.com/muhlenberg
Live audio (WMUH): http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh/stream.html
Womenâs Soccer vs. Dickinson (Saturday, 4:00)
Dickinson won the CC regular-season title and advanced to the âSweet 16â of the NCAA Tournament last year but is just 1-2 in the CC to start this season. Muhlenberg (1-1-1) is looking to bounce back from an 0-2 weekend in Maryland.
Menâs Soccer vs. Haverford (Saturday, 7:00)
Muhlenberg (5-2, 1-2) is happy to be home after tough road trips to Johns Hopkins and Swarthmore, both of which resulted in one-goal losses. Haverford is 0-3 in the CC, with all three losses by a single goal, and also lost just 1-0 to top-ranked Messiah.
Athletes of the Week
for contests between September 19 and September 25
Female Athlete of the Week – Nicki Cronin, Cross Country
Cronin finished third in a field of 167 runners in the 4K race at the Dickinson Long-Short Invitational on Saturday. She led the Mules to a second-place finish in the short race, behind only Dickinson and directly ahead of two other Centennial Conference teams, Johns Hopkins and Haverford.
Male Athlete of the Week – Patrick McDonough, Football
McDonough was outstanding in a losing effort at Johns Hopkins on Saturday. He made a career-high 16 tackles, including 10 solo and one for a 4-yard loss, in the Mules’ 27-17 setback.
Weekend Preview, Part 2
Yesterday, The MuhlBox looked at Friday’s contests at Johns Hopkins. Here’s a preview of the Saturday and Sunday events.
Football at Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 2:00)
Two of the three teams that tied for the Centennial Conference title, and two of the three teams that are off to 2-0 starts this year, square off in a key game in Baltimore.
Johns Hopkins is ranked 23rd in Division III and has outscored its three opponents 142-21. Muhlenberg, which received votes in the American Football Coaches Association poll, is coming off a dramatic comeback win against McDaniel in which it scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to win, 34-26.
Muhlenberg leads the series 23-19-1 and has won three of the last four meetings, including two at Homewood Field. Seven of the last eight meetings were decided by eight points or fewer.
Turnovers could play a big role in this game. The Mules are plus-9 in turnovers this year and picked off JHU quarterback Hewitt Tomlin four times in both 2008 and 2010.
Live audio (WMUH): http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh/stream.html
Live video: http://www.hopkinssports.com/allaccess/?media=256668
Live stats: http://www.hopkinssports.com/sports/m-footbl/sched/jhop-m-footbl-sched.html and click on Gametracker
Cross Country at Dickinson Long-Short Invitational (Saturday, 11:00)
Dickinson will host the Centennial Conference Championships on a new course at Big Spring High School, and almost all the CC schools will be here to preview it. This meet will give the Mules a good indication of where they stand in the CC six weeks before the actual championship meet.
Results: http://www.motiontiming.com/node/65
Women’s Soccer at Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 7:00); at Stevenson (Sunday, 2:00)
Coming off a tie against 24th-ranked Haverford, the Mules take on another nationally ranked opponent: No. 7 Johns Hopkins, the six-time defending Centennial Conference champion. Each of the last two years, the Mules beat the Blue Jays when they were ranked in the top 10, and in 2008 Muhlenberg took No. 7 Johns Hopkins to double overtime.
Live video: http://www.hopkinssports.com/allaccess/?media=256693
Live stats: http://www.hopkinssports.com/sports/w-soccer/sched/jhop-w-soccer-sched.html and click on Gametracker
The Mules continue their weekend trip to Maryland with a game against a strong Stevenson squad on Sunday.
Live stats: http://livestats.prestosports.com/stevenson/wsoc/?e=5cuvkr0g155v7ppa
Volleyball at Johns Hopkins (Saturday, 1:00)
The Mules look to go to 2-0 in the CC for the first time since 2002. They won in five sets in their last trip to Johns Hopkins (2009).
Athletes of the Week
For contests between September 12 and September 18
Female Athlete of the Week – Nicolette Miller, Women’s Soccer
Miller scored the first three goals in Muhlenberg’s 4-0 win over McDaniel on Saturday. It was the second hat trick of the senior forward’s career;Â she became just the sixth player in program history to record multiple hat tricks. Miller leads the Mules with four goals and nine points this season; she currently ranks in the top 10 in school history in every offensive statistical category.
Male Athlete of the Week – Dan Deighan, Football
Deighan threw for a career-high 282 yards, including 226 in the fourth quarter alone, to help engineer Muhlenberg’s dramatic 34-26 come-from-behind win over McDaniel. He connected on a 26-yard pass on a fake punt that eventually led to a touchdown on the first drive of the final quarter and added a pair of 40-yard touchdown passes to help the Mules erase a 19-point deficit in the final 15 minutes. It was their largest comeback since 1980.
Like Father, Like Son
If Mark Bisbing remembers the game as if it was yesterday, thereâs a good reason â the game yesterday was very similar.
In 1980, Bisbing was a freshman center on the Muhlenberg football team that pulled off a comeback for the ages. Playing their first home game of the season a week after winning at Franklin & Marahall, the Mules trailed Johns Hopkins 38-14 entering the fourth quarter. They scored 27 points in the last 11 minutes, including the winning touchdown on an untimed down after time expired, for a 41-38 win.
Yesterday, Muhlenberg (in its home opener a week after winning at F&M) again stunned a visiting team from Maryland by scoring 27 points in the fourth quarter. This time the victim was McDaniel, which took a 26-7 lead early in the second quarter and seemed to be in complete control, only to fall 34-26.
Garrett Bisbing
Mark Bisbingâs son, Garrett Bisbing, is the current Mulesâ starting right guard and blocked an extra point in yesterdayâs game.
âYou can play for many years without going through a game like that,â said Mark. âThat I got to play in a game like that, and now have Garrett play in a game like that â thatâs pretty neat.â
Muhlenberg has scored more than 27 points in a quarter on five occasions since the 1980 game, but not in the fourth quarter. The last comeback from more than two touchdowns came in 2007, when the Mules trailed Dickinson 17-0 before winning 29-24, but in that game they had closed the gap to 17-16 by halftime.
How do the two epic comebacks compare? The circumstances in the 1980 game made that comeback a little more improbable. Muhlenberg recovered two onside kicks during the 
rally and got the benefit of two penalty calls on the final drive, one a personal foul after a fourth-down sack and the other a pass interference call in the end zone on the last play.
âIâve heard that story a few times,â said Garrett, a junior. âI have a friend who goes to Hopkins. He was over at my house this summer and my dad was telling us about the 1980 game. Jim Margraff, the Hopkins coach, was their quarterback then.â
On the other hand, yesterdayâs comeback seemed to come out of nowhere.
âYesterdayâs comeback stunned me because of the sheer way we stunk up the joint in the first three quarters,â said Mark, who was the third-string center in 1980 but got to play the whole fourth quarter after the two players ahead of him suffered injuries. âI didnât think we had it in us.â
âI was trying to stay positive, thinking, we just have to score,â said Garrett. âEverything about it was just unbelievable.â
Mark watched the game from the stands with his mother and a teammate from the 1980 team. As the comeback unfolded, both turned to him at various times, independently of each other, and said âthis is just like Hopkins in 1980.â
The 1980 football team was the last coached by Frank Marino, and this was the first home football game for Muhlenberg since his passing in January. It was also the first football game at Scotty Wood Stadium since âFrank Marino Fieldâ was added to the scoreboard.
âFrank would have been going nuts,â said Mark. âHe would have loved it.â
If it happened twice, it could happen a third time, right? So if itâs the year 2042, and youâre on a visiting team that has a big lead on Muhlenberg after three quarters, and if the Mules have a lineman named Bisbing ⌠letâs just say you can plan on a long bus ride home.
Homecoming Weekend Preview
It doesnât get much better than this â Homecoming weekend, fall in the air, and lots of great matchups at Muhlenberg.
Football vs. McDaniel (Saturday, 2:00)
The actual game may not be as marquee as the matchup between Green Terror back Joe Rollins and the Mule defense. Rollins rushed for 311 yards against Moravian last week, and Muhlenberg has allowed only 1.9 yards per carry through two games. This is the only Centennial Conference game this week between two teams that won their league openers.
Live stats: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/livestats/xlive.htm
Live video: http://www.livestream.com/muhlenberg
Live audio (WMUH): http://www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh/stream.html
Volleyball vs. McDaniel (Friday, 7:00)
McDaniel is 0-7 this year, Muhlenberg is 2-8, and it doesnât matter: At the end of this match, one of them will be in first place in the CC with a 1-0 record.
Live video: http://www.livestream.com/muhlenberg
Field Hockey vs. McDaniel (Friday, 7:00)
Fresh off their first win of the season, the Mules try to make it two in a row against 3-0 McDaniel.
Live stats: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/fhlive/xlive.htm
Cross Country at Falcon Classic (Saturday, 10:00)
The closest thing the Mules have to a home meet will be run at nearby Cedar Crest College. The regionally ranked women take off at 10, followed by the menâs race at 11.
Menâs Soccer vs. McDaniel (Saturday, 4:00)
Undefeated Muhlenberg, 4-0 for the first time since 2005, is ranked 12th in Division III by D3soccer.com. McDaniel is 1-2-1 and has not beaten the Mules since 2001.
Live stats: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/msoclive/xlive.htm
Live video (second half only): http://www.livestream.com/muhlenberg
Womenâs Soccer vs. McDaniel (Saturday, 7:00)
Muhlenberg (3-2) opens CC play against a team to which it has not lost since 2003.
Live stats: http://www.muhlenberg.edu/sports/wsoclive/xlive.htm
Live video: http://www.livestream.com/muhlenberg
NCAA stats
Thereâs a new way to keep close tabs on not just the Muhlenberg teams, but all Division III teams in football, soccer and field hockey.
Starting this week, box scores for all Division III contests in those sports will be available on the NCAA website. The NCAA has been doing this with Division I football for several years and started with Division III last year. Soccer and field hockey were added this year, with volleyball to come in the future.
Here are the links:
Football: http://web1.ncaa.org/mfb/mainpage.jsp?year=2011
Menâs soccer: http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings?sportCode=MSO
Womenâs soccer: http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings?sportCode=WSO
Field hockey: http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings?sportCode=WFH
The football page is set up a little differently, but for the other three, click on âClick here for box scores and complete team and individual statistics.â Although it is listed on the Division I line, you can get to all three divisions from there. Select III from the drop-down menu where I appears, and you get a list of all schools that play the sport. Click on any school, and you can see their links to cumulative stats and game boxes. Click on a player name in the roster to see season and career stats.
If you want to check up on upcoming opponents, this is an alternative to going to their school websites. And if nothing else, it’s a great way to kill some time poring over stats.
The NCAA continues to provide weekly rankings in these sports, as well as volleyball (http://web1.ncaa.org/stats/StatsSrv/rankings?sportCode=WVB). Although it is way too early to put any stock in national statistical rankings, it is interesting to note that the Muhlenberg football team is 28th in Division III in rushing defense after two games, and Joe Rollins of McDaniel, who will be visiting Scotty Wood Stadium on Saturday, is the second-leading rusher in the division.
Records Are Made to Be Broken
Jim Skidmore was sitting at home in Sea Girt, N.J., on Saturday when he received a series of mysterious phone calls.
âThey were all saying âthe record is broken,â and I didnât know what they were talking about!â he said
What they were talking about was Dan Deighanâs 95-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Vaughn to seal the Muhlenberg football teamâs 34-13 win at Franklin & Marshall. It was the longest pass play in Mule history, eclipsing the 90-yard pass Skidmore threw to Gene Reed against Albright in 1951.
(watch video of the Isaiah Vaughn touchdown)
Although that game was nearly 60 years ago, Skidmore remembers the play very well.
âThe first two passes I threw that day were for touchdowns â one for each team,â he recalled. âThe first pass was in the right flat. The ball got tipped and a guy on the other
Jim Skidmore then ...
team ran it back.â
Skidmore was a sophomore then in his first year on the varsity after helping the 1950 freshman team to an undefeated season. Freshmen were not eligible to play varsity in those days.
âHere I was, the underclassman. And when I got back into the huddle, all the upperclassmen told me not to worry about it. So I called a pass.â
The play was called âflood left.â Muhlenberg had two receivers line up to the left, with Reed split out to the right. According to the game report, Reed, who passed away earlier this year, caught the ball at the 22 and took off to the end zone with a single Albright defender in futile pursuit the whole way.
âThe irony is that because of the encouragement youâre given by others, you try again immediately,â said Skidmore. âI do believe that the lessons we got on those athletic fields were tremendous foundations for life.â
It is a life that has taken Skidmore many interesting places. He played football for the Marine Corps after graduating from Muhlenberg and had professional opportunities with the Packers and Giants, but he decided to âgo make a living.â Now 78, he is the chairman
... and now
of Science Management, an international professional services business. He serves on the boards of 13 public companies and is a member of Muhlenbergâs Board of Trustees. He was appointed by Muhlenberg president Randy Helm to the Fitness and Wellness Committee.
âI really care a lot about the school,â he said.
Sure, but how does he feel about getting knocked out of the record book after all these years?
âI think you realize that anytime you set some kind of record, you know itâs going to be broken. Iâm elated for Dan Deighan. I think itâs terrific.â
Athletes of the Week
For contests between September 5 and September 11
Female Athlete of the Week – Alyssa Meola, Women’s Soccer
Meola scored the first two goals in Muhlenberg’s 3-0 win at Gwynedd-Mercy on Friday night. The junior midfielder entered the game with a career total of two goals. She also helped the Mules to a 4-1 home win against Delaware Valley on Saturday night.
Male Athlete of the Week – Tim Vogel, Football
Vogel, making his first career start, had two of the Mules’ four interceptions in a 34-13 win at Franklin & Marshall. His first pick set up Muhlenberg’s third touchdown, and his second ended a Diplomat drive in Muhlenberg territory. Vogel also made four tackles.