Let’s start with the College Football Wrap up. And it was a tough weekend for the locals. Only West Chester came out on the winning side.
It was a 4 PM kickoff on Friday for Temple hosting Army, just before the Phillies played the Rays. It was a close, competitive game. The Owls led 17 – 14 late. Army got the ball and took the game with a 12-play, 75-yard drive taking 5:57 capped by a 3-yard touchdown run by Cadet quarterback Cale Hellums with 1:41 to play. Temple responded with a drive reaching the Army 24, but went no further, stopped on downs.
Army 21 Temple 17
Next Up: The Owls go on the road to play the South Florida Bulls
It was Family Day at Villanova. The Wildcats hosted the parents, a Nor’easter, and the Colgate Raiders. In a slogging through the weeds game, Colgate prevails 28 – 21.
Villanova Coach Mark Ferrante felt the team made too many mistakes, committed to many penalties, and turned the ball over twice. They allowed Colgate to have the ball more than 13 minutes than Nova did. The Wildcats had a last gasp but could not find the endzone. Wide Receiver Braden Reed had 6 catches for 100 yards.
Next Saturday Villanova hosts Morgan State.
West Chester, the only victorious team, did so with a come from behind 17 – 16 win over my alma mater Millersville. The Rams trailed by 13 points going into the fourth quarter. The winning points came on a 3-yard run by Mikhail Johnson and an extra point by Rylan Zuk.
West Chester’s next game is at East Stroudsburg.
The Blue Hens of Delaware played at Virginia of the ACC and lost 42 – 3. During the game UD lost starting quarterback Nick Minicucci due to injury in the first half. The Blue Hens trailed 28 – 3 at halftime and never could mount a comeback. Linebacker Colin Gallagher recorded a career-high in tackles.
It’s Friday night lights next for Delaware hosting Liberty in Newark on Tubby Raymond Field.
In their first home game of their 100th season of football, the University of Pennsylvania fell to FCS nationally ranked Lehigh 20 – 7. The Mountain Hawks are currently 5 – 0 for the season. Neither offense got untracked. The game would swing in the direction of Lehigh in the third quarter when they scored touchdowns on back to back possessions.
The Ivy League schedule starts for the Red and Blue next as they go to New Hampshire to play Dartmouth.
Penn State started out building a 17 – 0 lead and led by 10 points going into the final 15 minutes. But Wisconsin got two touchdowns in the last four minutes to win 24 – 20 in University Park. It was the first loss of the season for the Nittany Lions. Badgers quarterback Colton Joseph connected with tight end Jacob Harris for a 72-yard touchdown pass with 1:13 on the clock to cap the rally.
Penn State meets Northwestern on Friday night.
The Game of the Week was a thriller in Ann Arbor.
#17 Iowa mounted a late drive. The Hawkeyes had one last snap as 2 seconds showed on the clock. Quarterback Hank Brown found tight end Reese Vander Zee wide open and hit him with a 16-yard touchdown pass.
The game ended. Iowa 20 Michigan 19.
It was the first Iowa win on the road against a ranked Big Ten team since 2015. #18 Michigan led at halftime and were on a 47-game win streak when leading at intermission. It was the longest active streak in FBS Football. No more.
The Honor Roll
Delaware linebacker Colin Gallagher recorded a career-high 13 tackles at Virginia. It was his first ever double-digit stops game.
The Villanova women’s Soccer team who won their Big East opener 2 – 0 over St. John’s. The Wildcats are 6 – 0 – 3 over the season and shutout the opposition 7 times. One goal is the most scored against them in two single games.
The United States Presidents Cup team who rallied to win it for the 11th time. The final round had the US winning 17 – 13 over the International contingent. The entire team from Scottie Scheffler to 21-year-old rookie Jackson Koivum, who keyed the rally, passed the cup up and down the line. Congratulations to the team.
The Player of the Week goes to Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler. In a start against the Milwaukee Brewers, he reached the 2,000 career strike out plateau. He started the game striking out the first seven batters faced.
Commentary
The Phillies make it to the Playoffs securing the last wild card spot in the National League on the last day of the season. Philadelphia meets Alanta in the first round in a three-game series all in Georgia.
Accomplished basketball coach and noted commentator, the late Al McGuire, said that you have to go into the postseason on an uptick. The Phillies are going in on a downtick. Over the last couple weeks of the season, they lost 10 of 16 games. This built for power team did not hit a home run for 68 consecutive innings. The streak lasted until Bryce Harper and Edmundo Sosa went yard in the fifth inning of the clinching contest. Those are not uptick stats.
Atlanta won the East and drew the third seed. The Phillies do have needed starting pitching. That will help in a short series. But until this team shows resiliency and grit, the season will end soon.
Yes, the Phillies can win. They’ve taken out Atlanta twice recently. But each year is different. And right now the immediate future does not look promising.
Then the team front office must decide the future direction.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: glenn@phillycollegesports.com
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