Cornerstone Wins NAIA Title For Johnny

((HT: CornerstoneU))

Cornerstone University's Caleb Simons handed over his MVP trophy to 8-year-old Johnny Teis after the team won their NAIA D2 title last night.

According to the Grand Rapids Press, Johnny, who has an inoperable brain tumor, is a former ball boy who has been an inspiration for the Golden Eagles as they chased their title.

They won the national championship in Missouri at the College of the Ozarks Tuesday
night, Simons said the real MVP is Johnny, who has inspired the team. The Golden Eagles won their first National Championship since 1999.

Cornerstone defeated the University of St. Francis of Fort Wayne, Ind., 80-71.

Here's their recap...


Pat Dailey's article in the Press is hyah...

TWTW NAIA: USF Falls To Carroll For Title

The HQ got a full dose of the NAIA Championship this week in Rome, Georgia...

And, we don't really care, if it's Number One versus Number Two regardless of the brand-name attached- it should be a good match-up... and it was a good match-up...

These two schools, top-ranked Sioux Falls and second-ranked Carroll College ((Pictured over there, thanks Alondra Alondra)) met in Rome two years ago in what could best be described as a bowl of chocolate pudding. The rain took over Rome's virgin voyage of hosting a title game for that week, and it was cold, wet, rainy, and any other adjective that fit. The game was 23-7 in favor of Sioux Falls, but the images that keep popping in my mind are those of what-used-to-be white uniforms turned brown...

That game was the impetus for a US$52-million bond issue for grand improvements to Historic Barron Stadium- which, thankfully, included astroturf that debuted on television this year. The surrounding track and buildings will be renovated and turned into a quality facility when all is done. There's a videoboard as well that is capable of showing replays and such...

Top notch...

And since the NAIA title game is in Rome until 2015, the renovations needed to be done for long-term viability...

Even after Stage One, the place looks different... and it feels different...
A step up... ((See...? Over there is proof, thanks Alondra Alondra))

One of the Sioux Falls players actually came up to me and, jokingly, asked before kickoff where all the mud was. It was, thankfully, on the levee-side, in the parking lot, and in the grass that surrounded the place...

It was a game of two incredible defense that locked down two electric offenses- quarterbacked by Jon Eastman of USF and Gary Wagner at Carroll. Eastman has only been around for one season after transferring from Colorado State and Wagner, on the other hand, was a sixth-year senior.

Wagner is an automatic soundbite and a treasure for those of us who needed a quote-and-a-half... He's the kind of guy who will tuck and run instead of throw the ball away- and, quite surely, drove head coach Mike Van Diest crazy. Eastman is extraordinarily talented and knew to get the ball to NAIA Player of the Year Jon Ryan when he was in a jam.

But it was Wagner's 83-yard uphill run in the open off a draw/scramble that got the first points on the board. It was widely panned as the slowest touchdown run in the history of the NAIA. But USF came back with a steady drive of their own to tie it at seven.

"We came into this game knowing that we were going to be coming up against one of the top rushing defenses in the nation,” Carroll's John Camino said, and he couldn't have been more spot on. When you can hear the hitting over the crowd and the cold, you know you're in for one of THOSE games...

It stayed that way after three, and half-way through there was a bit of redemption for Carroll kicker Tom Yaremko. He had doinked, and I mean flush-doinked, two other field goal attempts in the game. Not to show impartiality, he hit each set of uprights on either end of the field.

Coach Van Diest admitted he's pretty hard on his kickers and didn't say anything to Yaremko going out for his third attempt. But the kick went through the target and Carroll had a 10-7 lead.

"He’s never had to win a football game and today he did, and he deserved it because I’m pretty hard on kickers,” Van Diest said. “He’s a hero back in Portland.”

They had to hold onto that three-point lead with everything they had as Carroll couldn't convert on a new set of downs after USF flunked a 4th-and-19 pass from Eastman to Ryan ((Pictured again over there, thanks Alondra Alondra)).

There were close to 30 seconds for the Cougars to get into field goal range for Brandon Wieking. They gave him the shot with 8 seconds left.

The breeze coming off the levee was cruel and pushed Wieking's field goal to the left and a bench that thought they had overtime started spiking helmets and had come to the realization that their 42-game win streak and the idea that they had won 69 of 70 under Kalen DeBoer and Jed Stugart was coming to a sudden end.

The Fighting Saints were champs again and the Cougars were heading to D2.

On to Year Four for the Host Committee and new challenges. The HQ just hopes their cell phones were turned off Sunday- all day Sunday.

Here's local USF coverage from David Brown and his friends at KELO-TV...

TWTW: USF Repeats NAIA Title, Lisa Debuts...

((ed. note- Lisa Weiss now joins our ranks as columnist, reporter, and general shenanigans chaser... she was part of the OSG crew that watched the NAIA National Championship Game on Saturday afternoon... Oh, the pictures are hers, too...))

When I was asked by my friend if I wanted to go to Rome, Georgia and watch the NAIA Football National Championship game to cover Sioux Falls I could not resist. I love football but I knew nothing about Sioux Falls other than my good friend went to school there and followed Cougar football religiously.

So like any good reporter, I started doing my homework and found out that the Cougars were gunning for their 3rd National Title in 4 years, they were undefeated, ranked #1 and outscored their opponents by an average of 44 points.

I was ready for an offensive super showdown. Their quarterback Lorenzo Brown is the teams 2nd leading rusher but he can also throw and right on the money his efficiency percentage 196.6.

I know not bad… not bad at all…

However, the first half of play against Lindenwood in the title game was anything but an offensive showing. The Cougars had possession of the ball for 19 minutes and walked away with only 8 points and the Lions leading at the half with 14.

The star on offense to me was freshman kicker Braden Wieking. A soccer player for 14 years making his football debut this season... stole the show. He was three for three including a 42 yarder and the game winning field goal. It was only fitting that the rookie kicker was named offensive player of the game.

Turnovers would haunt Brown he threw 2 interceptions including one in the end zone. Keeping his footing seemed to be a challenge that kept him off balance; “I wish I could have played a better game, I have high standards for myself and let their pressure get to me”.

In the third quarter I did see a glimpse of their scoring power, however not by the offense but special teams once again. On the opening kick off of the second half, Adam Lopez ran the race of his life 91 yards down the sideline for the TD. The Lions would quickly answer back, and within a little over 5 minutes 22 points were scored tying things up at 22 a apiece.

The Cougars took the lead with 9:50 left on the clock. At this point, I was frozen and ready to find warmth. All I wanted for Christmas was the Cougars to run the ball and run down the clock. But nothing is ever as easy as it would seem. Sioux Falls would fumble inside the Lindenwood 25-yard line- prolonging any chance I had of defrosting.

See… I am from California not South Dakota.

Therefore, unlike it feeling like summer or fall as it did to a few of the fans I talked with, it felt like the coldest winter day ever.

Oh yes, back to the game.

The Cougars defense was superb, ending any chance for the Lions to tie things up.

Brown was finally able to take a knee as USF would defend their National title by a final of 25-22.

And I was finally able to find warmth.

One last note… which I found to be a cool stat... the 20 USF seniors ended their career winning 56 games with only one loss and 3 National Titles.

((Lisa's USF friends were also sitting directly in front of the father of USF tailback Kristian Porter. Porter was subbing for Ryan Lowmiller in the last drive, but fumbled and gave the ball back to Lindenwood with 78 seconds left...

Porter's dad apparently said, "Oh, no," at the time if the fumble. But when the defense stood up one last time you can see Head COach Kalen DeBoer consoling Porter on the sidelines. DeBoer admitted in the post-game presser that they were tears of joy and relief from Porter.

Those of us at OSG HQ can only imagine what was going through the minds of father and son... congrats to them both...))

And this is what it looks like when Jon and TBH let Lisa do all the work...

TBH debated which festive hat to wear for the occasion, and proceeded to the car to avoid any and all lingering post-game comments...

We don't blame her one bit... even if it was her first title game from the sidelines...

NAIA Thursday: Meet The Teams

I've seen the University of Sioux Falls football team play before...

It was at last year's NAIA title game where, on a field that turned into chocolate pudding with all the rain and mud, Kalen DeBoer's Cougars took it to the Carroll College Saints for a title...

Now, they haven't lost a game in, like, 45 years coming in to this Saturday's game against Lindenwood ((Missouri)).

It's number one versus number three.
It's the last game on grass at Historic Barron Stadium in Rome, Georgia before they install SprinTurf and $3.6-million in capital improvements before next year's game.
And it's a game where a lot of people don't give the Lions a shot of winning before the Cougars head off to NCAA's Division II in 2010.

If you look at the offensive numbers these two teams have put up, it went past gaudy three months ago.

These two teams have top-ten offenses ALL TIME. Not just all time in the NAIA, but we're talking all versions of organized college football. Both are averaging over 53 points per game- USF at 53.6 and Lindenwood at 55.5. USF even put an 80 on someone early in the year.

Sioux Falls has an average margin of victory of 43 points to go with their 28-game win streak. Lindenwood has cleared 60 five times this year. This went past Arena Football numbers and went straight for XBOX 360-type stuff...

Here's your USF refresher... their 49-21 win against Augustana that gave them another conference title from a month ago...
((HT: USF SID))


Here's your Lindenwood reminder from the semi-finals...
A 42-35 win over Carroll in a freaking blizzard...
((HT: Helena Independent Record))


USF's motto this year is "Plus One." It surrounds the whole idea that you want to be one better than you were before- whether we're talking a play, a day, a game, a week, a month, or a season...

DeBoer says the players dig the notion of having a bull's eye on their back...
You look at QB Lorenzo Brown and he's been here before. He knows the drill...

Lindenwood isn't happy looking like they're just playing with house money in their first-ever championship game...

They're looking for a different kind of first-ever come Saturday afternoon...

More from the "Enchanted Land" tomorrow...