Women's BBall

Chargers increase their winning streak to 4

After starting the year off rocky the BCU women's basketball team looked to increase there winning to 4 games as they hosted Dordt the number 25 team in the nation, but the Chargers wanted to make a statement and let everyone know the season has now just started. The Chargers were playing excellent defense has they forced the defenders to turn the ball over. On the offensive side Senior Michelle Determan led the Chargers in scoring with 16 and Freshman Alex Grant added 15.

Men's BBall

Chargers stay on fire after striking the defenders

The Chargers men’s basketball added another win to there winning streaking as the have 11 games in a row as they defeated the Dordt Defenders 84-73 at the Newman Flanagan Center. The chargers were lead by Brenton Brown and Chase Vander Feen who each had 19 points apiece. The Chargers were on a early run in the first half as the led by 20 points in the early going, but the Defenders fought back to cut the deficit down to 8. But sophomore Jake Shipley was a big spark off the bench playing great defense and adding 13 points on the other end of the court. The chargers are now 5-0 in conference play and look to continue that as the go on the road Saturday to play against Hastings currently 1-4 in conference play. The Chargers are currently 4th in the nation.

Brenton Brown a junior from Stamford, Connecticut has been a great addition to the Chargers this year not just on the offensive end but as well on Defense. After the game against the Defenders I talked to Brown about the teams success. “Its been a great so far, but its only the beginning we cant get to excited yet because we still have a lot of games to play this season. I just feel we haven’t played the perfect game yet, and when we do play that game you will see how dangerous are team can be not just in the conference but out conference as well.”

Chargers Stomp Warriors

Chargers continue to win on the road after blowout at home
The Charger football team traveled to Forrest city to play against the Waldorf Warriors the Chargers was coming off a bad loss against Hastings Broncos 33-0 while the Warriors came off a big win against Trinity Bible College 63-7. The Chargers looked to make a statement against the warriors after a tough week of practice and figuring out what kind of team they were. Coach Rethamn and Langhoff felt with the tough and grueling they could find out how mentally tough this team was. Well it seemed to work on Saturday as the Chargers came out hitting as the defense for the Chargers came out swing as a quick three and out by the Charger D and the Charger offense came to life as they scored 37 points. They were led by Lehi Tonga who threw for 249 yards and a TD. On the Defensive of side of the ball the Chargers had 5 turnovers and score were defensive lineman Adnan Kasapovic scooped and scored for a touchdown. The chargers were clicking on all cylinders and looked like the team that was ready to win from the get go. Team captain Eric Bolin led the chargers in tackles against the warriors and was delighted with the big win, “It definitely felt good to get that first win both sides of the ball showed great signs of improvement from week 1 to week 2 but we still haven’t played are best football which is a good thing coming off a win. Quarterback Lehi Tonga thinks the Chargers can still improve as well after the win against Waldorf, “It felt good and I think it was nice for us to understand our potential and now we can get better.” The chargers will play against their cross town foes the mustangs on Saturday at mside, but D coordinator Kyle Langhoff tells his defensive players on Sunday “if you want to have a rivalry against someone you must win, it’s not a rivalry if you don’t win at all,” the chargers look to do that Saturday.

Chargers 7 on 7 Football

The Chargers are getting ready for 7 on 7 as the Charger offense will being going against the Charger defense 3 times this off-season. The dates for the Chargers 7 on 7 are July 1, July 22, and August 12 the games will be held on the briar cliff campus at the practice field below the McCoy Arnold Center. The games are for current players and incoming freshman, as players will work with their coaches and their skills during 7 on 7. The defensive line and offensive line will work on moves with their coaches and will work moves against each other. The season has already started for the Chargers with working out hard in the weight room and working with each other on the field. The games will be ran by Head Coach Tom Rethman and position coaches.

"Hard work ain't never hurt nobody!" Charger Football

Defensive Workouts during summer and 7 on 7

The defense for the Chargers will start holding workouts for each position every Wednesday until two a days which start August 15th. The chargers look to start getting prepared for the upcoming season with players working with their position coaches. The first workout for the defense was held this past Wednesday as players and coaches were working on their conditioning, stance, get offs, and plays. Players were really excited about getting back on the field with their coaches and getting ready for the upcoming season. The Wednesday workouts are held at Briar Cliff at the practice and are ran by Defensive Coordinator Kyle Langhoff, Secondary Coach Keith Chapman, and Linebackers Coach Spetlar Tonga. Team captain Eric Bolin feels it’s a great thing having a team work out over the summer with coaches and players. “I usually go in and do a little workout every Wednesday since it’s are day off, but its good getting together with the guys and learning new things with are coaches, and with some freshman coming to the workouts to working with them is also a good thing.” The chargers will also have 7 on 7 dates posted in front of McCoy which will be held in July.

Summer for the Chargers

With spring ball and school finished for the Chargers the main focus right now for the players is to stay in shape, get fit, and be ready for two a day’s which start August 15th. That’s when all returning and new players must return to BC. The returning players for the Chargers were given a workout booklet which they follow for the whole summer. The booklet was made by Coach Langhoff and others as well, and he hopes players will follow the workouts and be ready for two a days. During the summer I will update you each week on how the team and coaches are doing. A lot of changes will be going on like the weight room being remodeled, players who live in the area or choose to stay in Sioux City for the summer to work out and take classes, and 7 on 7 were the Chargers O goes up against the Chargers D. The Chargers season starts NOW.

Spring Game For The Chargers

Who knew you can play football on mother’s day, well that’s what happened on Sunday when the annual spring game for the Briar Cliff Chargers took place Sunday afternoon. It was a great turnout for the chargers at Hoover field as a lot of fans and moms were in attendance for the special day. There were a lot of people anxious to see how the chargers were doing this spring, and people wanted to see the team that ended on high note in November against Nebraska Wesleyan. On the offensive side of the ball returning was QB Lehi Tonga who ended the season on a high note for the chargers and running backs Stavhn Leavy and Damien Eichelberger. One group people expected to hear a lot from this year are the receivers Chase Colvin, Drew Prohaska, and Zac Kliment. The offensive line established itself last year, but have a young group coming in to replace the seniors that include Justin Jethroe, Wes Bell, Manny St.Louis, and John Swanson who started a couple of games for the chargers last year. Only returning starter on the offensive line is Freshman Jonathon Letempt. On the defensive side ball new team captain Eric Bolin leads the group with new inside linebacker switched from offense Josh Schroeder. The defense also brings back the same defensive line led by Steve Urquidez, Brady Summers, Jeremy Schindler, and Adnan Kasapovic. Also returning for the defense Jordan Lester, Tanner Cox, Sam Mulipola, Tyrone Smith and running back switched to linebacker Julian Lee. The secondary for the chargers is really young but led by Jon Smith, Rickey Miller, Caleb Young, Mike Trujillo, Cameron Terry, and Michael Trobaugh. In the scrimmage the 1st team defense went up against the 2nd team offense, and the same happened for the 1st team offense against the 2nd team defense. Stepping on the field first was the 1st team O against the 2nd team D and the offense came out firing throwing a screen pass to Stavhn Leavy that broke for a big gain, but with time and patients the 2nd team D played well enough to hold the offense to 1 TD for the first 15 plays of the scrimmage. Next on the field was the 1st team D against 2nd team O D coordinator Kyle Langhoff feels his defense will be ready this upcoming season, but replacing Mackovicka, Christophersen, and Schumacher will be tough. On the 1st series for the D was a quick 3 and out and had fans saying this D led by Eric Bolin could be really special. Giving a big boost for the chargers was backup defensive lineman Stan Bonsu who started the spring, and played his heart during the scrimmage. Linebacker Eric Bolin had some key stops on the 1st 15 plays for the chargers D. A couple of big hits for the chargers in the spring game came from Josh Schroeder and Julian Lee. A key moment in the game for the chargers 2nd team D was an interception by Mike Trobaugh. On the offensive side of the ball highlighted by skill players were great especially by Drew Prohaska who ran for over 60 yards on a screen play and had a couple of fancy moves. Same thing went for running back Damien Eichelberger who broke a couple tackles on his screen play that went the distance. Lehi Tonga kept hooking up with one of his favorite targets Chase Colvin as Tonga threw 2 TD passes to Colvin. The defense for the chargers looked really good as we saw new faces stepping up on the defense like Stan Bonsu, Josh Schroder, Tyrone Smith, Cody York, , and others stepping up for the chargers. The fans seemed excited to see their chargers going in the right direction as the get ready for the 2010 season. After the game the players and their families all enjoyed BBQ, Ice cream, and cookies. The players reaction for the spring game were great as team captain Drew Prohaska seemed to have a lot of fun during the game. “I thought it was one of the best I’ve been in since I’ve been here. Both sides showed a lot of promise. The O came out hot and the D came out and responded well. The positives outweighed the negatives and it left me very excited about next season.” QB Lehi Tonga also felt pleased about the game. “I thought it went well I think that were really improving as a team and becoming much more dynamic I’m really excited to see how we progress from here and the results that we get in the fall, but overall I was really satisfied by our performance as a whole.” On the defensive side of the ball safety Caleb Young was pleased with the defense. “Outside of the screens defense played really good. The offense looks a lot better than they did last year, and I know if we all push ourselves hard just like in the offseason were going to be really good next year.” Head Coach Tom Rethman was really pleased on his teams play during the spring game and believes with this performance there is always room for improvement. Rethman was also happy about the great turnout on Mother’s Day. “Very happy with the turnout and its shows the excitement for next year and how far we can go with the great support from our families and fans.” How did you feel about the offense? “Offense has to be consistent, I mean we left some points out there on the field, and I know when we correct those I feel we will be ok.” How about the defense? “I saw some very nice things, I liked us getting after it, and compressing the pocket so the quarterback couldn’t do anything, but we need to be more careful on the pass as a couple post opened up on us, but other than that are D was great.” Overall how did you feel about the spring game and about the summertime for your players? “Are guys should be proud of themselves, and we should all be responsible over the summertime. Working out and conditioning is what we want from our players, people who are not in shape were not going to wait on them, if we want to be successful and accomplish our goals it starts now and I know are players will understand to win in this tough conference it starts now.”

3rd week of Chargers Spring Ball

With 2 more weeks left of spring ball for the chargers we’ve notice a lot from the team so far. One is learning not to give up on anything when the tough gets going. The chargers learned that in the 3rd week of spring ball were the defense and the offense keep on going back and forth and who is doing well each practice. Were one side the defense will be doing good and then the offense feels as if they need to put their heads down and feel like the world is over that shouldn’t be the case for the chargers. This week there was a lot going on were the defense went up against the offense with a lot of competition play. Usually when both sides go up against each other you always seem to find certain players that step up their game, or a player you wouldn’t expect at all play this well. We saw that this week especially on the defensive side from Cameron Terry, Tyrone Smith, Sam Mulipola, Mike Trujillo, and Julian Lee. On the offensive side one player who has been stepping his game a lot this spring has been running back Stavhn Leavy who has impressed the coaches a lot so far this spring. Leavy feels if he wants his side of the ball to succeed he will need to step up as a leader. “I can’t really explain it ...It was just kind one day I looked around and realized I’m an upper classman and I’m just like becoming an older brother, I don’t know how it happened but I know my responsibilities change as I grow. I’m also excited because we have a strong core group of guys who are more than willing and more of leading this team.” But u can’t give all the credit to Leavy just yet as his offensive line has improved a lot this spring, and have added couple of new faces to the line. Ted Soenksen the team’s offensive line coach feels his line could go along way by getting the job done and not missing their assignments. I talked to Head Coach Tom Rethman after to practice to see how the team is doing on their 3rd week of spring. “Thought both sides did some good things and both sides had some areas that needed improvement. I was a little disappointed in how our offense finished practice in doing there sprints, but I know next we do them it will be better.”

2nd week of spring ball BC

Week 2 of spring ball

The 2nd week of spring ball has wrapped up and the chargers already have gone through 6 practices were both sides of the ball have looked good so far. Being a defensive tackle for the defense with the new line up and leader on the d unit for the chargers Eric Bolin the chargers look to have a top 10 defense this year in the NAIA. The team finished 12th in total defense last year and with Jarrod Mackovicka, Taylor Schumacher, and Calvin Christophersen gone the chargers look at their young core on defense to step up. Defensive Coordinator Kyle Langhoff feels the team has a lot to accomplish this year and it they have to prove in spring ball to see if the defense will work next year. The main group on defense that’s returning for the chargers is the Defensive Line led by Adnan Kaspovic, Steve Urquidez, Brady Summers, Jeremy Schindler, Stan Bonsu, Josh Bosquet, and other members of the group. Coached by Anthony Thomas the chargers d line looks to be the leader not only for the defense but for the hold team as well. Kasapovic who’s been with the chargers for 3 years knows this could be the year the team could go over .500 and do a little bit more than that. “I know we have a solid team this year on our side of the ball, and I know the offense with Lehi, Chase, and Pro can make a lot of strides and surprise people, but this upcoming season to me is way more than just going .500.” Head coach Tom Rethman says he sees his team showing a lot of improvement during the 2nd week of spring ball. “I like the tempo of practice the defense is a little ahead of the offense, but it has been good to see some of the players we are expecting to step into the major roles and continue to grow.”

Briar Cliff Spring Ball Week 1

The Briar Cliff chargers started there 1st week of spring ball on Thursday after their 1st practice was cancelled due to the rain. The chargers look to improve on all sides of the ball including replacing the leading tackle in GPAC History Jarrod Mackovicka. On the offensive side of the ball the chargers loose 4 of their top offensive lineman and receiver Luke Roeder. On the flipside the Chargers were 12th in the nation on defense last year but look to fill 3 key position were there linebacker, free safety, and linebacker/strong safety. The defense returns the same defensive line as last year as the look to improve and make a statement this year. Head Coach for The Chargers Tom Rethman says this could be the year the chargers could go have a .500 record or better. The players and Rethman agree that this season can either make or break the chargers. I had a conversation with Rethman on players to watch this upcoming spring ball. “I don’t know if there is 1 particular player to watch for in spring this year, but I am interest in seeing how are young offensive linemen will develop this year.” Captains this year for the Chargers are Eric Bolin and returner Drew Prohaska. I asked Drew about how spring ball was going so far, “It’s still early but I’m excited about the potential I see so far, I’m excited to get outside and put the pads on.” Do you feel if your team doesn’t have a .500 record it will be a disappointing season for you guys? “Yes, I do feel it will be a disappointment we have improved every year with our win total. Are goals will be bigger than ever this year, and not achieving them this year will be a disappointment?”

Celtics and Lakers Renewed Rivalry

When you think of big NBA rivalries the first thing that would come to your head would be the Lakers and Celtics rivalry from the 80’s. the type of talent these 2 teams have had over the years is unquestionable were for both teams you’ve had players like Jerry West, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Oscar Parish, Kareem Abdul Jabar, and the other greats who have played in this great rivalry. One thing you can’t forget the coaches who have made this rivalry Red Auerbach, Pat Riley, and K.C. Jones. Now you see the new rivalry with two coaches who have done a lot to re new this rivalry and bring the old history back to where it belongs in the NBA finals. Doc Rivers and Phil Jackson met in the finals against each other for the first time knowing Jackson would have the advantage being in the finals more than 10 times as a player and coach. This would be Rivers first coaching experience in the finals, but Rivers had the advantage with players and talent. The Celtics ended up beating the Lakers in the finals in 2008 4-2, but the next year the Lakers won the title as they defeated the Magic 4-1. This year the Lakers are one of the top teams in the NBA, and the Celtics are struggling to keep their position as one of the top teams in the eastern conference. The Celtics today just acquired Nate Robinson in a trade so hopefully with Robinson’s ability to go to the rack and hit big jumpers the team looks to get back as one of the teams to beat in the east. The Celtics will travel to LA tonight as they will play at 9:30pm 7pm pacific at Staples Center. Kobe Bryant won’t be able to play tonight and is still banged up from his ankle injury so if you had to pick a team for tonight’s game you might want to go with the Celtics since I have a feeling Ray Allen will have a great game tonight. Leading scorer for the Lakers will be Odom or Pau with 20 and Ray Allen will 25 or more and Garnett with his usual double double 18 and 11 with 2 blocks. So tune in tonight for a great one on TNT tonight and also get a breakdown on the trades that happened today in the NBA with EJ, Kenny, and Chuck.

NBA All Star Game in Dallas, Texas

When you watch a NBA all star you would expect to see about 30 or 40 thousand people in attendance, and over a million people watching. But what if you were in a stadium that could fill over a hundred thousand fans and feel like you were sitting in front of your television watching the game in High Definition. That’s what the fans will experience this year as the NBA All Star game will be in the newly acclaimed Dallas Cowboys stadium.  The game looks to be in the Eastern Conference favor since Kobe Bryant for the West is not participating with an ankle injury. So look for the East to take over a big lead quickly with their line up being Derek Rose, Kevin Garnett, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade, and the KING Lebron James. Allen Iverson who was voted by the Fans to participate in the game wont be since has been taking a leave of absence with his sick child, so that’s Derek Rose will be starting for Iverson. Rose is the first bull to participate in the all-star game since Michael Jordan back in 1998.

 

Last night was All Star Saturday night for the fans to see some other favorite super stars compete in challenges. In the skills competition Steve Nash won as he defeated Deron Williams who was second, and Brandon and Russell Westbrook who were third and fourth. In the team competition Team Texas defeated Team Los Angeles as Texas had the team of Dirk Nowitzki, Becky Hammon, and Kenny Smith.  The 3 point shoot out turned out to be great as rookie Stephen Curry was hitting threes from everywhere, but former finals MVP Paul Pierce stile the spotlight as he defeated curry in the finals to win the contest. The best was saved for last the sprite dunk contest everyone was expecting high flyer Shannon Brown to defeat Nate Robinson, but the contest didn’t go well as planned as the fans and players around watching weren’t excited at all. Charles Barkley said, “This is the worst dunk contest I’ve seen, if you want people to have fun and enjoy themselves, the NBA is going to need to get the top athletes like a Lebron, Kobe, or Vince to be in the competition. Nate Robinson won his 3^rd NBA dunk championship. 

Colts vs. Saints

Super Bowl Colts vs. Saints

 

The Super Bowl well be Sunday February 7^th in Miami were the Colts are a perfect 4-0 in the Super Bowl and have played all 4 of there Super Bowls in Miami. Last time the colts were in the Super Bowl they played against the Chicago Bears, as it was the first time 2 African American coaches coached in the Super Bowl. The colts won the game and Peyton Manning ended up winning the MVP and winning his first Super Bowl title. The colts look to win there 2^nd title in 4 years and will have to do that against the New Orleans Saints who went through a lot in 4 years with Katrina and rebuilding the team and the city. Both teams went 14-2 and the colts seem to do it by choice as in each of there last two games they benched there starters.  The colts are favored by less than a touchdown, as each game they played in the postseason the Jets and the ravens had one of the top defenses in the league. The saints went up against the top two offenses in the league and had a shoot out against Brett Favre and the Vikings as they prevailed in overtime winning by a field goal. My prediction for the game will b e the colts wining over the saints in a close one but manning will taking over the running for the colts will be led by Joseph Addai and his mates Donald Brown and Mike Hart.  One thing the colts and saints have in common is a great receiver, but one thing about Indy’s receivers is they are still young and they’ve been doing well with manning as they connect with all of his passes. If I had to pick the score for this game I will take Colts 31-20 and MVP for the game will be either Peyton Manning or Joseph Addai I feel Addai will show the saints defense they cant stop the run at all and he will catch some balls out of the back field.

BCU vs. Northwestern

Briar Cliff vs. Northwestern Tonight

 

When you think of rivalries you think of Michigan and Ohio State, North Carolina Duke, Florida and Florida State, Texas and Texas A&M these team have fought and battled for many of years. One rivalry the chargers have started a new one with has been with Northwestern, which is only an hour away. Northwestern is known as the Dutch school and us known as the catholic school. The rivalry seem to get intense 2 years ago when briar cliff made it to the GPAC championship game and had to play the Red Raiders at there turf.  The chargers were missing their key player Dehonis Williams, but felt his presence on the bench would help the team. Adi Cizmic and Neil Rohe led the chargers at the time. The game turned out to be a crazy one as three fourths of the briar cliff student population and faculty attended the night game and was also in a snowstorm at northwestern.  They game turned out to be one of the greatest games in briar cliff history as the chargers lost by 5. The rivalry has now been a good one and intense after the JV game this past Monday as tempers flared a little bit between the men’s game. But with the big game tonight we all expect a big turnout and have plenty of Dutchmen show up to the Flanagan center 6pm for the women and 8 pm for the men and it will be a good one, who knows it might be another classic one.

National Championship

National Championship Game Texas vs. Alabama


The stage was set for the National Championship to be great and a lot of excitement between Alabama vs. Texas on Thursday night. Alabama was favored the whole time after blowing out Florida in the SEC championship game. Texas on the other hand played a tough one against Nebraska in the big 12 championship after a controversial call with one second left on the clock after Colt McCoy threw the ball out of bounce, and Texas kicking a game winning field goal. Colt McCoy and the longhorns offense look to prove to Alabama that their offense could get on a run and do damage against the Tide defense. But who knew we would never get a chance to see Colt McCoy in the National Championship except for 3 plays. After Alabama failed to convert on their first drive of the game the tide decided to punt the ball away to Texas. Instead the tide ran a fake punt and the longhorns caught them off guard had they got an interception. After the interception takes took the ball down to the tide 9 yard line in 2 plays look to take a quick lead in the game, but all that change on the 3rd play of the game as the horns ran an option play that didn’t work and McCoy was hit on the shoulder and took himself out of the game. McCoy ended up having a nerve injury in his shoulder and was not able to feel his shoulder and arm at all. The longhorns ended up losing the game 37-21 but the score was closer than it seems in the 4th quarter the horns maybe the game a 24-21 game with only 3:00 minutes left in the game. The question that everyone is asking right now is if Colt McCoy was able to play the whole game would the horns have won the game. Now being a longhorn fan I’m just saying this as a fan of college football I feel the game would have been closer or Texas would of blown the tide out of the game. The horns ran 2 quick plays that took them to the tides 9 yard line and easily could of took a 7-0 lead instead of a 3-0 lead. Then the horns regained the ball in the tides 30 yard line and easily could took of took a 14-0 lead instead of a 6-0 lead. The horns took it to the tide in the early minutes of the game as the tide looked confused and felt the horns were going to blow them away, but with the injury to McCoy we will never know. Greg McElroy QB for the tide was 5-11 with only 69 yards passing. Now what if McElroy had to pass the ball the whole game it would have been a long day for the tide. So another thing that you want to ask is is the tides national championship tainted knowing that fact McCoy didn’t play at all, and it wasn’t the game we wanted to see. 20 years from now all we will know is that McCoy didn’t play in the national championship and Alabama almost lost the game to a true freshman quarter Garret Gilbert.