Dete A National Finalist

Kudos to senior linebacker Andrew Dete, chosen to the Football Championship Subdivision Athletics Directors Association Academic All-Star Team and one of six national finalists for the eighth annual FCS ADA’s postgraduate scholarship. (Release) From the release:

The finalists are Pierre Banks, Appalachian State, linebacker, 3.91; Andrew Berry, Harvard, defensive back, 3.78; Ryan Berry, South Dakota State, quarterback, 3.89; Andrew Dete, Dartmouth, linebacker, 3.74; Jim Verlanic, Montana State, offensive lineman, 3.71; and Justin Witzmann, Charleston Southern, defensive lineman, 3.80.

In a posting about former Yale coach Jack Siedlecki, a columnist for the New Haven Register writes on the Portal 31 blog:

I know that he struggled to beat Harvard, a no-no for any Yale coach in any sport, but still if Siedlecki was the coach at Columbia, Cornell or Dartmouth and had a 70-49 record with two Ivy League titles in the last 12 years including a 23-7 mark over the last three seasons, the Yale search committee would be doing cartwheels if he said he was interested in the Yale job.

Good point.

The College Sporting News has another in its series of Top 30players at difference positions in 30 years of I-AA/FCS football (earlier post). This time there's a look at the Top 30 quarterbacks.

The list is curious because it can seem to decide whether the most important criteria is how a player performed in college, or how the player performed in the NFL. Given the Kurt Warner is listed as the No. 1 quarterback and he didn't even start at Northern Iowa until he's a senior, it must be how players performed after college. That would explain UNH's Ricky Santos, a three-time All-America who is third all-time in FCS in passing yards and touchdowns finishing down at No. 11.

But how then, to explain, Dartmouth's Jay Fiedler being left off the list when Arena League players like Russ Michna of Western Illinois and Michael Payton of Marshall were chosen? Or Casey Printers of Florida A&M, who the writeup said, "had a tryout with the Kansas City Chiefs?"

Either way, do look at the list. You'll be impressed by the number of well-known NFL quarterbacks who came out of I-AA/FCS.

And the national champion in the FCS is ... Richmond. From the Chattanoogan about last night's national championship final:

Josh Vaughan ran for 162 yards, Lawrence Sidbury had four sacks and the Spiders dominated Montana, 24-7, Friday night at Finley Stadium for the school's first-ever NCAA Championship in any sport.

Richmond, by the way, finished third in the CAA South. If you are wondering, New Hampshire won the CAA North.

Snow. Did someone say snow?

We've got it, 14 inches worth with more on the way tomorrow if the forecast is correct. Fortunately, the first indoor track meet for a certain pair of Hanover High School athletes will be taking place as scheduled. That's a good thing because the window of opportunity for the high schools to get in Leverone Field House is small and if the meet were canceled it would not be made up. Whether schools from the southern part of the state, which was supposed to receive even more snow, make the 90-minute or two-hour drive north is in question. But with just two indoor tracks in the state and precious few meets, some probably will.