It's GAME TIME - Our first episode of the 2023 DII Lacrosse season

Intro

SPEAKER_03 0:09

Welcome, welcome, welcome to another episode of Indecrease with Danny and Kevin, a coast-to-coast discussion of Deep Two Men's La Crosse. I'm your co-host, Kevin Sentram, and with me as always is that Quality Lacrosse podcaster, Danny Moran. Hey Danny, how's it going?

SPEAKER_04 0:28

Hi, Kevin. How's it going with you, man? How's everything with Northern Virginia? We got the quality lacrosse hotel desk bell right in right out of the gate tonight.

SPEAKER_03 0:38

That's right. We've been missing it on several podcasts. We had to bring it back. I'm I'm glad you were 100% in there.

SPEAKER_04 0:45

100%. We definitely have to work that in there. Oh, how's it going in Northern Virginia tonight?

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Can it get any better? As we record this, tomorrow is the start of the season. We're recording this Tuesday night. Games start on Wednesday. Can it get it any better than that, Danny?

SPEAKER_04 1:02

No, you know, this is the time of year that you and I are getting we all get ready for. We, you know, we had a ton of podcasts leading up to this week, and here we are, the 2023 season. It starts this week. Uh that's right. By the time by the time this podcast comes out, some games have already been playing games will be played.

SPEAKER_03 1:19

Yeah. I'll try my hardest, but you know, we as we always need to remind our our listeners, you and I have day jobs, so I can't just do you know the editing and everything all the time. So the other great thing is this is the start of our in-season episodes where we try to bring certain segments. We talked about this last week, so let's just go over those segments again. They usually go the week in review, so the games from the past week. We have a coach's spotlight, games to watch this next week, any D2 news we've got, and then we end up with a player spotlight. It's always a great one to end up with. So those are our segments. Uh, the goal is to try to try to drop each episode by midday Thursday so that you, our listeners, have it before the weekend games. But like I said, we have day jobs, may not always happen. Unfortunately, we do have day jobs.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

Hopefully, it comes to an end soon, man. I'm done. I'm done. But you know what? I'm excited for the season. Um, we've had a ton of great coaches, a ton of great guests on so far this season. And uh this this new season um is gonna be the same. We're gonna bring more guests and more coaches and more players on. And and I think our first guests are are as good as you can get, Kev.

SPEAKER_03 2:40

That's right. That's right. So we would move in, like I said, usually in a weekend review, but obviously there are no games yet. Um, there's scrimmages going on, especially in the northern teams as the south really starts their games this week. But before we move in and and move into our next segment, when we recorded our top 20, the USILA coaches poll hadn't pre-season poll had not come out yet. And it has since then. So I thought it'd be good just to run down those teams. Do you want to do that? Yeah, let's do it. All right, so here we go. Um, it this one pairs a little bit better between if you add your if you kind of combine your top 20 and my top 20, we nailed it, Danny. So here it goes. Number one, Tampa, number two, Mercy, number three, Lenore Ryan. They have the coach's poll has Lemoyne at number four, followed by Adelphi at five, Wingate at six, Mercyhurst at seven, UND at eight, limestone at nine, St. Anselm at 10. That's the the top ten. And then the second ten starts off number 11 is St. Seton Hill, followed by Rollins at 12, Pace at 13, Florida Southern at 14, Florida Tech at 15, Belmont Abbey, 16, Bentley tied at 16, and then they've got Wilmington at 18 with Colorado Mesa at 19, and the last one in Frostburg State at number 20. Dude, I'm proud of both of us.

SPEAKER_04 4:15

Dude, you nailed it. Dude, we're we're like one or two off by them. And you know what? I'm not so crazy about that Lemoyne one, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Like I said, Danny, if you look at some of our picks, you know, we're we're close on most of them. You had Bentley in there, I didn't. They had Bentley in there, they had Colorado Mesa, you didn't. So if you look at some of those, we matched ours up, we did pretty well. Some of them we might have run on top.

SPEAKER_04 4:41

I had Wilmington in there, I had Belmont Abbey at 16, I had Florida Tech at 15. The only thing that team that they didn't have that I have is Newberry, the Wolves, man. Telling you, watch out for that team.

SPEAKER_03 4:52

Well, and I had Lewis, I had Lewis in there too.

SPEAKER_04 4:54

So yep, and watch out for that team too, man. That's another team that's I'm telling you, they're gonna bite some people's butts this year, I guarantee it. Without a doubt.

Coach Shumate of Barton

SPEAKER_03 5:05

So let's move right into our coach's spotlight. And it's funny, Danny. We have never met this coach in person, but I kind of feel like I already know him. He has always been giving us great insight into his team and his program. In fact, he's the one who started us with providing all the info on his team for our preseason conference uh previews. He did that unsolicited, shot it to me, and I'm like, hey, we can maybe we can ask the other coaches that they'll help out. It made our job so much easier having all that information 100. Yeah, so it's almost like he's part of the podcast. He's like he's one of our crack researchers, the one we don't have. So let's just let's welcome in Coach Warren Schumach of the Barton Bulldogs. Hey coach.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

Hi guys, thanks for having me on. You gave me a lot of credit there. My uh my assistant coach Brad Wheeler, he's he's very in uh into your podcast as well, and he's been with me from the start. So he's he's been feeding a lot of that information to you guys, too. It's good.

SPEAKER_04 6:03

He's a smart man, he listens to us. He's a smart man, Coach Shume. Thank you so much for coming on Barton Bulldogs down there in the uh conference Carolinas.

SPEAKER_03 6:12

Yeah, yeah. So, coach, let's start off first about your program. You started back in the 2017-2018 season, but before that, you were the head coach at your alma mater, right? At Gordon College.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_03 6:24

What was it about going to Barton that made you make that jump from your alma mater to Barton?

SPEAKER_00 6:31

Well, the first thing I made a promise to my wife, we're both from Maryland, and uh I told her that we would move to south of the Mason Dixon at some point. I believe our last Massachusetts were the coldest on record uh in that north of the Boston area, and then also the most snow on record. So we were we were anxious to to move closer to family. We had just um had our first kid, uh Finley, and she's she was one when we moved down here, and then my wife was pregnant at the time, and we didn't know that it was twins until uh twins.

SPEAKER_04 7:02

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

Yeah, we started the new program with uh with three little ones. So that was that was not the smartest thing I've ever done, but working with people for us, you know, it was geographic, but it was also just a unique opportunity, it was something new. I've always been interested in the scholarship model and um being in the northeast, it's the saturation's really high. And so I really felt like I I I still love Gordon. I still keep in touch with the coach there. Brian Lane is uh a young man who played for me out of Rochester, and so I I still have my my heart goes back to there. My wife and I met there, but um, you know, Division II lacrosse is exploding. You guys know that, and it's it's been a wild ride moving down to you know the south where I think a lot of the growth is now, and uh and it's a quick, quick ride north too to Maryland to be able to see family.

SPEAKER_03 7:47

Yeah, that's that's awesome. And just to let you know, I I know about the trials and tribulations I'll live in in Massachusetts. I grew up there and uh I uh moved to Maine, had my first squadron up in Maine because I wanted to move back to New England after going through flight school, and I promised my wife that I wanted to retire in Maine. And since 1990, I have not lived north of the Mason Dixon line. So I'm right there with you, coach. That's awesome. Um so you were able to get a winning record in only your second full season if you just don't count 2020 COVID season, and last year you lost to Belmont by one goal twice, and UMO Mount Olive only by two goals. So what's the secret to your success in such a short time?

SPEAKER_00 8:34

You know, I I feel like I could sit here and and go through the list of thank yous to the the thousands of people that had involvement in it. But um, you know, my assistant coaches are awesome. I I I have had consistency through that. So, you know, Brad Wheeler's been with me since that very first spring. Now I was recruiting for a half before him, but Brad's phenomenal, and he's uh, you know, he's a he's a new New York guy. I've got three New York guys on my staff.

SPEAKER_03 8:59

Oh my God bless you.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah, what have I done? Um and then, you know, Tyler Thompson, he he started with me two years ago, but he also was a kid that I recruited in one of my first transfers from Genesee Community College. And that's been a great pipeline for us as well. And uh, and then John Hayden jumping on staff, you know, he's a you know a living legend in North Carolina. He helped start lacrosse down here uh 20 plus years ago. He's in the Hall of Fame for North Carolina, and he was looking for for a change too. And and so having having three guys, you know, on staff has been huge for me. Um, the school's been a lot of you know, really supportive. The facilities, I don't know if you've been able to see the facilities, but oh yeah, yeah. I mean, we kind of brag it out there a little bit, but uh we're we're really fortunate. And and again, the proximity being on 95 here in North Carolina, I think it's um you know, it's a it's a good place and and and the people here are solid. And admissions was fully on board and the president fully on board. I mean, I I can't thank you know Doug Cersei enough with just the way that he's he's grown the athletic department. And um, yeah, and and I I always tell families when we're recruiting like good people, yeah. I feel like we we recruit other good people. We're we're pretty honest here. Um, and and we've been able to just get great families. So it's um I feel really blessed, really fortunate that that we have turned this thing so quickly. Um, you know, we still haven't beaten Belmont Abbey and Mount Olive or North Greenville, but we've been hanging in there. And I I think that, you know, we're not young anymore. That's that's that's one of the things that we talk about right now, like within the theme within our program is like, you know, each year was trust the process with that first year because we we were recruiting these guys and we're like, hey boys, it's gonna buckle up. We have no field practicing at 9 p.m. at night and lift at six in the morning because that's what we could do. Um we were we were on like a wreck field for a while, and you know, those first guys really had to trust the process. And then we we we switched to dig in. And then when COVID happened, that really was like dig in, dig in. Um, and then ambitious, like how far can we take it? And and we, you know, we we almost beat Mount Olive in that third, third full season and and overtime, and we missed it, and then turned around and you know, lost to Belmont Abbey twice last year. But those coaches are, you know, I I can't say enough good things about the coaches in our conference and just what they're doing. They they don't make it easy.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Oh, without a doubt, without a doubt, coach. It's a great, great conference. So I guess my question then is based on that, what are your goals for this season for your team?

SPEAKER_00 11:30

You put me on the spot. We have uh winged on a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Um, I'm getting to that next, coach.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Uh you know, I I I think we're pretty we're pretty open to the idea like we want to play on championships on Saturday. You know, for us, it alternates. So last year was Sunday, this year it's Saturday. You know, we want to we want to get a chance to play for a championship. We were one goal away last year, and I don't want to be um ridiculous and and and say we're gonna win a championship, you know, every year. But I think that we've we've we've worked to the point where we want to be in that spot and and compete with those guys. And you know, honestly, that's why we, you know, I'd say it's that. And then also we we've always said, like every single team that's come through here, we're gonna push our limits and we're gonna we're gonna see how far we can take this thing. And you know, our our big theme this year is this is significant. Like what we're gonna do, it's gonna be a significant effort, it's gonna be a significant amount of resources and time spent, and we're gonna try to do something significant. So um, we're not, I guess I'm a little bit of like a wooden type follower where I'm not gonna say, oh, we're gonna win this or we're gonna do that. But I, you know, we want to win and we want to we want to get to that championship weekend in the conference.

SPEAKER_04 12:39

Yeah, and to do and to do that, those out of conference games have to be on the upper echelon type. So that guess that's why I guess you got wing gate coming in, you know, the first game. You put wing gate. What makes you put wingate on the first one?

SPEAKER_03 12:53

At least the second year in a row they played them first game.

SPEAKER_00 12:57

Yeah, and we scrimmaged them in the fall, too. I I think Coach Boyle's been incredibly um gracious just to to keep playing us. And um, you know, Seth Grimwood is actually uh we've got this Southern Maryland connection where I grew up. Uh we have boys on my team too. We all played for Lenny Casolino, who's a Long Island guy, and uh played in Maryland. And so we there's a bunch of us that track there's actually quite a few D2 guys doing good things out of that area. Um, and and so we yeah, I if you want to if you want to be the best, you got to play the best, right? And and so, you know, there's nobody who's more disciplined that I've seen and preparing their teams than than Coach Boyle. And so, you know, we we want to measure up against them every year and and and make a decision on, hey boys, it's it's coming. Like we're not we're not giving you guys a an easy win early in the season by you know putting a team out there that that we think we can beat. You know, it's it's uh and it's February with lacrosse, right? I mean, we're all who knows, you know. You end up getting one of those. Mike Murphy and I, you know, he's at Catawba now, but we used to talk all the time. He'd throw these crazy teams out there early. And then all of a sudden, year five, six, they they beat one of them and or they lost by one. And man, what does that do for the rest of your season? Uh Coach Barrett at at Belmont, you know, I think they only won a game or two, but then they ran the conference and obviously beat us too at the end. So um yeah, it's definitely to prep to prep the boys and and and and to see the best competition. I we we recruit these high high achievers. If we if we put a cupcake schedule out there, I think they would revolt, like they'd be upset with me.

SPEAKER_04 14:28

Well, I always say iron sharp sharpens iron, right? So there you go. That's what the Barton Bulldogs want. They want to get in a Wingate Bulldog and to battle the Bulldogs, and that's what it takes, coach.

SPEAKER_00 14:40

We have iron sharpens iron over top of our doorway.

SPEAKER_03 14:43

So that's really yep, that's one of our things. And it probably doesn't even say Danny Moran under it.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Maybe we need to pencil it in. Don't do that.

SPEAKER_04 14:53

You you'll confuse your players big time. Oh, that's it's interesting. And um, you know, how many how many you have on the roster this year, Coach?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

Yeah, so we're sitting right about, we had a couple young men graduate early. We you know, we don't lose very many people. Um, we're sitting at like 53. Uh, we'll probably have 51 active on the roster. And you know, injuries come and go a little bit, but you know, 50's 50 was the goal when we first started, and and and we're there, you know, we're pushing just slightly over it. That I've got 55 lockers in the locker room, and I always say that we need at least one or two for coaches. So, you know, that's kind of that's kind of where we are. You know, and and and honestly, it makes practice easier. Um having having that group where we can scrimmage and and and put a scout team out there, and and um, I've learned so much since uh joining the Bulldogs and being here. We can practice different. And you know, I think that's one of the gifts of division two. We get a lot more time with our our our young men.

SPEAKER_03 15:52

Well, that's awesome, coach. I'll tell you what, I love watching your team. I actually got to watch them in a few fall scrimmages down when your field was not even complete. There were no stands there. I go back a year or two later to watch a game during the season, and I'm like, where did this come from? It's awesome. And not only the stadium, but your team is a lot of fun to watch. They they play really aggressive. I think they they give every team a challenge. And I I really believe that you guys are on that cusp of getting to that conference tournament championship for the conference carolinas. So we can't really thank you enough for coming on. It's been a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_04 16:29

You know what? Before we go, before you go, coach, I was just looking at your your schedule here, man. You've got some this is a really good schedule, coach. You know, with Mars Hill, Coco, you're going down to Florida to play PBA and Rollins. And then you got Lander, which is an up-and-coming team. Florida Tech is solid. Emmanuel Belmont Abbey in conference, uh, Mount Olive with their new coach, Lee's McCrae, come on, and then a tough North Greenville top it off. That's a great schedule, coach. I wish you all the best of luck with the Barton Bulldogs this year. You guys have been an up-and-coming squad over the last two, three years, and uh it's been a lot of fun to watch the uh growth of the program and we can continue success, coach. We really, we really do uh mean that from the bottom of our hearts. Uh thank you so much for coming on tonight.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Uh thank you guys. I appreciate it. I'm I'm so proud of my guys, and I can't wait to see what they're they're capable of this year.

Games to Watch this Week

SPEAKER_03 17:26

All right, Danny, let's move on and talk about the games of the week that we are going to watch.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

Yeah, we got a couple, we got a couple of games to watch. Not a whole lot yet, because the North hasn't started yet. Um they're not gonna start for another week or two, some of them.

SPEAKER_03 17:42

That's right. And but there's a good slate in the South that's coming up, starting probably by the time this podcast comes out, the games are already out there. There's one that's on Wednesday that's really intriguing for several reasons. Flaggler against Embry Riddle at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, right? Kicking off the season, and it's interesting because I think this is gonna be a close game. But as Coach Wims was on our podcast just a few weeks ago, he was giving you grief about not picking up last year against Flagler.

SPEAKER_04 18:20

Yeah, he did. He gave it to me, right? It right, and I deserved all of it. So I had to eat that crow. And you know what? Flagler's gonna be a better team than last year. They were last year was their inaugural season in Division II, formerly a club team, very well coached team, got a lot of studs. They're young, they're young, but they have some fourth-year players that were club players there, Kev. So Emory Riddle took it to him pretty good last year. So Coach Wims, you know, I I I apologize for that, but guess what, Coach? I got your back this week. Okay. I think I think Emory Riddle gets their first win against Flagler and in a closer game, in a much closer game.

SPEAKER_03 19:02

I'm I'm calling this, I'm with you, but I'm calling it's gonna be a one-goal game. That's and I would love to be down there. We talked to Coach Wims about that. Coach Wims, Coach Duncan. Unfortunately, I had to bring my daughter up to Hofster this weekend, so I couldn't trek down at St. Augustine. I have to work the rest of the day, so I couldn't make it down there, but it's already warmer down there than it is up in northern Virginia. I hope the game's gonna be great to watch, though. I will have it on streaming, guarantee it. Yeah, I'll I'll stream it as well.

SPEAKER_04 19:32

I'll definitely be watching it. Um good luck to those guys, and we have another Wednesday game, too, right? Shorter plays on Wednesday.

SPEAKER_03 19:40

They do. Coach Vance starts off his uh career uh first game out of the belt, same time, 7 p.m. against Oglethorpe. So that's those are the two that are kicking off. Young Harris is supposed to play Tusclone. That game has been canceled.

SPEAKER_04 19:54

Yep. I don't know why, though.

SPEAKER_03 19:56

We have we have I don't either. We have two though on the docket to kick us off, and then we move into here's the next interesting one, Danny. And Florida Southern's doing the same thing they did last year, they're doing it this year. They play games two days apart. Last year they played against SAC opponents. This year they're starting off with Peach Belt opponents, and they've got a game Florida Southern against Alabama Huntsville on Friday. And then they turn around, the mocks turn around and play Montevallo on Sunday. I think I think not only the fact that going back to back is tough, but if you remember last year, their first two games, they scored 44 goals.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

Yeah, remember you and I were you and I talked about it in a podcast. They were like, we're like, whoa, what happened with Florida Southern? And then we realized, hey, they were a really good team. Yeah, you know, you know what, they got two games, you know, in a three-day period, and they're both on the road, Kev. So that's not gonna be easy. They're both on the road, they're not in Florida, so they're gonna be on the road. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 21:06

And it's gonna be interesting to see who faces off. Yes, for Florida Southern now that Kevin Horowitz is gone. He gave me us. Yeah, it's right. He DM'd us after the top 20 came out and said Mr. Moran's got to put us up higher. That uh Coach Ward has brought some studs in to take over for him. So he's pretty confident that they're gonna do well at the face-off X again.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

Yeah, that's Kevin, you know, rooting for his squad. Uh, you can't blame him for that. But you know what? It's gonna be pretty hard to replace you, Mr. Horowitz. You did a really great job there for especially last year. So, you know, Kevin and I are definitely interested to see where Florida Southern who put who they put out at face off and what they do against two pretty good peach belt teams.

SPEAKER_03 21:51

Yeah, let's talk about that for a second. First of all, I think for Alabama Huntsville, this is exactly what Coach Doyle wants, right? His roster's now bigger. At 36, so he has that depth. He's going to need it against Florida Southern. And I think both them and Montevallo, this is kind of the game that they want to put their flag in to beat an unbelievably good Sunshine State team. Because to be honest, both those teams are really good, but they struggle being consistent against the tougher teams. They saw it, you saw it last year against some of the GLVC teams they played. They both want to come out this week, Alabama Huntsville on Friday, Montevallo on Sunday, and take care of business. They're going to be hungry. I couldn't agree with you more.

SPEAKER_04 22:36

You know, I think uh, you know, the Peach Belt, if they want to make noise, they got to win games like that. Okay. But Florida Southern, if they want to stay ranked, they got to win those games and win them handily. So, you know what? It's a real interesting uh test for Florida Southern. It's good, good test, you know, good to see what they're gonna bring to the table, especially at the face-off, man. And again, what they do against two pretty good, pretty good beach belt teams on the road.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

Exactly. Exactly. So let's move into some Saturday games. One game that I'm looking at, Danny, is Lenore Ryan against Maryville. Maryville started with a GL's GLBC opponent last year, and that was you Indy, and they lost first game. They're not one gonna want to do that this year. And but Maryville is a good team. Yeah, both squads are bringing back and returning a lot of key leadership roles and key individuals that they're gonna try to go head to head against each other.

SPEAKER_04 23:37

Yeah, you know, Maryville, you know, they're gonna have to play well because that Lenore Ryan team is is stacked. And and you know, Maryville's traveling out east. They're coming, they're coming down to Hickory to play. So it's an interesting. Um I I'm gonna probably watch that game if I can. If I can. If not, I'll probably watch it after it's played.

SPEAKER_03 24:01

Yeah, yeah, without a doubt. What other what other games you got listed for yourself? What are you looking at? Well, I'm looking at that Florida Tech Tampa game.

SPEAKER_04 24:09

Okay. Oh, yeah. I think that's a pretty good first game for both squads, to be honest with you. Florida Tech gave Tampa everything they could handle last year, came up short a little bit at the end. You know, Tampa's stacked from top to bottom, but that Florida Tech, so that's a ranked, you know, that's a top 20 game in the first week.

SPEAKER_03 24:33

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. You know, Florida Tech, like I said, I want to see what their defense looks like after losing a few folks. And, you know, Tampa will want to jump on them early because you do not want to give the Panthers hope.

SPEAKER_04 24:50

No, I think you know, Tampa's gonna try to want to prove that Florida Tech, hey, you don't belong on the same field with us. But you know what, Florida Tech, let's see what they got. Especially, like you said, defensively, let's see what they can do. And you know what? Maybe Florida Tech can catch Tampa early in that season, like you know, some coaches like to do. Get a good team early, get them, you know, where they're maybe not as sharp and not as uh ready, but you know, JB Clark's gonna have those kids ready.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

So yeah, I think that's what Florida Tech's gonna want to see if they can get them when they're not sharp, but that means Florida Tech is gonna have to be sharp too. So yeah, it's it's gonna be talk about it right out of the bat, uh a Sunshine State out of conference, in-conference game, right? They don't count this in their conference, you know, wins and losses, but this is a great game. The other one I've got, oh go ahead. They're both ranked, you know.

SPEAKER_04 25:44

So it's a top 20 game, man. First week of the season. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 25:50

Yeah. The other one on Saturday that I'm looking at, Danny, is Undy versus Lake Erie. Last year, this was the first game for Lake Erie. They played Undie, but Undie had already played Lenore Ryan. So can you can Lake Erie? We both think that Lake Erie is going to be an improved team this year. Can they catch them off guard with this first game? Because it's their first game for both teams this year. No, we'll see. We'll see what the weather's like, right? Well, both teams are used to bad weather, so they're pretty even there.

SPEAKER_04 26:27

But uh I think you know, I think weather plays plays a part in it. It's gonna be chilly out there. Yeah, you know, they're playing at U Indy, so you know, Lake Erie, like you and I, we both agree that they're gonna be improved, but they're gonna have to play really, really well to be a very good U Indie team. And um again, Lake Erie's on the road on that. It's not it's a difficult task to go on the road and without to play the Greyhounds in U Indy. So, but you know what? Should be a pretty decent matchup. That should be a pretty decent game to watch. Yeah, yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_03 27:01

Well, those are the ones for Saturday, and we talked about the Sunday games, Florida Southern against Montebalo. Those are probably the ones that I'm looking for this week. Any others for you?

SPEAKER_04 27:10

No, that's about it. You know, it's um get that first week in and see where we go from there. Get some teams uh with some stats and some records going on after Saturday and Sunday. So we'll have a little uh better idea of where some teams are going to be heading and what they're looking like on Monday. So that's about it for me as far as games to watch this week. Again, it's early, only teams really in the south. Some GLVC teams getting out there. Again, most of the north northeast teams don't start till another week or two, another two weeks,

DII News

SPEAKER_04 27:46

actually.

SPEAKER_03 27:47

Yeah, yeah. So, all right, so let's move on. We do have some D2 news to go over, several different things. Let me start off with this one. Virginia State University has hired a head coach for their men's lacrosse program. It actually happened, Danny, way back August 29th, and our crack research team missed it.

SPEAKER_04 28:09

Again, it was sleeping again, it was sleeping on the job again.

SPEAKER_03 28:14

We gotta we gotta get them to do this full-time instead of just part-time. That's the goal. Yeah, so his name is Sean Church. He was the head coach of Monroe Community College. They had the top 10 finished every season he was there for community colleges. He played at both Onondaga and Salisbury, so you know he knows what it takes to win championships. Oh boy, oh boy, yes, sir, 100%. So it's it's gonna be really cool to add another HBCU next year into Division II with UDC. That is just awesome. And the other thing is just to go through with Virginia State, there's other new D2 programs next year that we've kind of gone through a little bit. That's William Jewell, Saint Thomas Moore, Sacred Heart, and Tiffin all coming in next next year.

SPEAKER_04 29:03

Tiffin, Tiffin. Yeah, that's the first I'm hearing about that.

SPEAKER_03 29:07

Yeah, they're coming into the GMAC.

SPEAKER_04 29:09

Where did you get that information? Oh, oh wise one, oh omniscient one.

SPEAKER_03 29:16

Oh, sometimes sometimes our crack research team does the right thing. Actually, I did find that out, and we actually had some uh we had some listeners give us that information. They DM'd that with Sacred Heart. Like, do you know about Tiffin too? I'm like, Yeah, I do. Tiffin. See, that's what I love about our listeners, man. They keep us honest.

SPEAKER_04 29:33

That's cool because here I am. I gotta listen to you more often because here I am. I'm like, Tiffin, I didn't know. So so we're gaining five more squads, Virginia State, five more squads, St.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Thomas More, Thomas More, Sacred Heart, okay, Tiffin.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

And Tiffin. So we lost two this year, but we're gaining five next year. So D2 grows by three teams. Yeah. Yeah, it's just awesome. It's just awesome. And we have Malone starting this year, right? And who else starting this year? Oh, Bridgeport. Bridgeport, that's right. That's right. So, man, division two is just growing, man. Just keep growing and growing and growing.

SPEAKER_03 30:18

Yeah. Okay. Next piece of news. This just broke a few days ago. That shorter will also be joining Conference Carolinas in the 2024-2025 season. Young Harris dropped that news a while back. So that's two Peach Belt teams that are going to join the Conference Carolinas. That brings them up to nine teams by the 2025 season. Big difference now. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So then it leaves the Peach Belt. Peach Belt will be could be down to four if other teams don't come in. But look at the four they've got Montevallo, Uah, Lander, and Flagler.

SPEAKER_04 30:58

Four great squads, man. Yeah. What a what a conference tournament that's going to be. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I would love to see other peach belt conference programs pick up lacrosse. That's all I'm going to say.

SPEAKER_04 31:14

Yeah, me too. Because I like that conference. I just think, you know, the South, that that's that it's the one place where lacrosse is growing like crazy. And if we can get you know that conference to get them going, you know, another two or three teams in there would be phenomenal.

SPEAKER_03 31:29

It would. It would. I'd love to see him at least get back up to six and even grow it more. I'd love to see him up at nine. Yeah. Nine, ten. That would be awesome. Okay, Danny, one last piece of news. And I think it's the best news that we're going to talk about. You remember talking about Ryan Scoble and Scoble's army during our first season, right? Sure. Absolutely. Well, Coach Ryan O'Hagan, he's the associate head coach at Mercyhurst. He sent me a note saying that 20 months after receiving his heart transplant, you remember that he had the complications on the field. Yeah. You had to bring him to the hospital. They didn't know what it was. And all of a sudden it turned into not only having, you know, something wrong with his heart, like you know, needed blockage or whatever, he needed a transplant. He has been cleared after 20 months after that heart transplant. He has been cleared for contact sports. That's amazing. He becomes only the second person ever to be cleared for contact sports after receiving a heart transplant. Wow. Wow. But it gets better. They had a scrimmage last week against Cleveland State. He played for 15 minutes. Awesome, man. Awesome. And he ended up picking up a ground ball and causing a turnover. Got himself in the stat book.

SPEAKER_04 32:56

Awesome. That's a great hold on. Round of applause to Ryan Scoble, right?

SPEAKER_03 33:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:04

That's amazing, young man. That's just phenomenal. I'm so happy for him. So happy for his family, his mother and father.

SPEAKER_03 33:12

Yeah, what they had to go through. You remember talking to Coach Ryan when we had him on, and the whole thing they had to go through, not only with him but his dad and his mom having to deal with that. And it's just amazing the resilience, the persistence, the fortitude to not only go through that surgery, but come back and play.

SPEAKER_04 33:31

That's great. What a great kid, huh? What a phenomenal kid. What a great story. Thank you for telling that story. I'm I'm thanks, coach, for DMing us and letting us know about Ryan. And we're so happy for him, aren't we, Kevin? We're just that's that's just thrilling and exciting news and just makes a man all warm and fuzzy inside sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 33:51

Yeah, I get chills just thinking about it. It's just awesome.

Victor Powell

SPEAKER_03 33:55

All right, let's move on. So I am really excited about talking with our next guest in our first player spotlight of the 2023 season. This is a defender that we watched shut down top players last year. He's a beast! He is second team all-American last season, and he's first team preseason All-American by USA Lacrosse this season, and that is Victor Powell of the Lenore Rhine Bears.

SPEAKER_04 34:28

Welcome about for that scattering of applause, huh? That's right.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

So let's welcome him. And hey Victor, how you doing? I'm great. How are y'all doing tonight?

SPEAKER_04 34:37

Good. Victor Powell from the Lenore Rhine Bears. Man, let me tell you something. I love watching you play, brother. I love watching you play. High energy. If you're like the energizer bunny, man, just high energy from beginning whistle to the last whistle. You're just an amazing player. So glad you took the time to talk with the two knuckleheads from in the crease tonight. Appreciate it. I appreciate y'all having me on.

SPEAKER_03 35:01

Now, this is great. This is great. So let's just start off with some of your stats from last year. I mean, they're incredible. 49 ground balls, 29 cost turnovers. And like Danny said, it's not just that, it's what you do on the field with your energy. So, how do you build on that success from last year to this year?

SPEAKER_02 35:19

I mean, I just kind of like, I mean, our captains are, I like to start with them. Like the captains, they just really lead us in the right direction. I just feed off from them. And then I like to feed that off onto the younger kids too, especially the freshmen. So we just like to, I mean, I kind of see us ever since I've been here. I'm a junior now. We've kind of been underdogs. Everyone, like we were talking about before, the rankings, like everyone just kind of doubts us. So I just kind of feed off of that, too.

SPEAKER_03 35:45

Who doubts you? That's what I was gonna say. I don't think any team in Division 2 doubts with Lenore Ryan brings up.

SPEAKER_02 35:54

Those rankings seem a little disrespectful, but we'll we'll show we'll show them this year.

SPEAKER_04 35:57

Well, we didn't have you on that deep in the rankings, we had you right up there at number two. So tell us what's life like at Lenore Ryan and and being part of such a great program. Tell us what it's like.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

I mean, it's awesome, honestly. Just the community around us, like there's such a sports community. Everyone comes and supports us, and Coach P has just built a great program around here, and we just feed off everyone showing out to the games, and every like every sports team cares about each other, so it's pretty nice. Like, we all support each other. We'll go to a basketball game, football game, and they'll come support us too. So it's pretty nice.

SPEAKER_03 36:33

That's awesome. So, what made you pick Lenore Ryan? I mean, obviously, now that you're there, you know what it's like, but I'm I'm sure you got looks by many other schools. So, how did you bring it down to Lenora Ryan?

SPEAKER_02 36:47

Honestly, just like the location and everything that like they were offering. Like when I was still looking at schools, they were building a new uh weight room, just finishing it up. So that was a big reasoning. The coaches, of course. I mean, I've I feel like I have great relationships with all the coaches and just this the location and how everything, how everything was.

SPEAKER_04 37:06

Now, coming from Huntingtown, Maryland, right? Yes, sir. You got a lot of lacrosse goes down in that area. Um, how old were you when you started playing? Were you young?

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Uh well, honestly, I started out playing T-ball and then I kind of got converted over after just one of my dad's friends said, Hey, have your uh me and my brother have him come play lacrosse and try it out and see how they like it. So probably about six or seven years old.

SPEAKER_04 37:32

Wow. So yeah, that's right out of the gate, pretty much. That's what they do here on Long Island, you know, they get them, they get them early, you get them going early. So, you know, growing up in Maryland and playing a lot of lacrosse, um, went to which high school did you go to? Huntingtown high? Yes, sir. And how was the lacrosse team? I'm sure pretty good with you and a couple of other boys out that school out.

SPEAKER_02 37:53

We were we were solid. We weren't like, I mean, it was a public school, so we weren't like comparing to Landon or any of those schools, Calvert Hall. But I mean, we had a decent conference. I mean, once we got into the uh like the state tournament run and everything, we played a lot better team. So it was it was good, solid across.

SPEAKER_03 38:10

Yeah, that that's interesting. So I'm I'm close to you. Um, my son played high school across in Northern Virginia, which they don't get many looks from D1 programs because it's all the it's all the private schools, just like you pointed out, right? And the the Maryland schools, like you said, there's Episcopal, there's schools in the Northern Virginia area. So, and like Danny and I talk about all the time, like D2 does not get the love that that it deserves. You are the quality type of player that could play easily at the D1 level. So tell us what makes in your mind division two special.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

I just think division two is special just because you know, everything they always kind of forget about us, like Coach P was saying earlier. I just I mean, we can play the cross at a high level too. We like we played VMI last fall, we competed with them. We played a couple other schools that we competed with. I just think we can hang with some of the good D1s and good D threes as well.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

100%. I you know, Kevin and I have gone back and forth many, many times, and we talk about the caliber of players in Division II. I think there's a boatload of Division I caliber players scattered all over Division II. In every single conference, there's teams that have one or two, you know, studs on that team that could possibly play Division I. But again, Division II is like the redheaded stepchild. Nobody gives it any love. And here we get we get to talk to guys like you who just rip it up. All American, all sack, all region. You know, you're a hell of a player, man. I love watching you play. I love watching you play. I love those high-energy, physical, go get them kind of guys. And that's what you are. And you're a division one caliber player in my eyes.

SPEAKER_03 39:58

So just uh before we get to the the your special round with uh Victor there, I got one more question for you. We talked about your success from last year. Do you have any specific goals for this year?

SPEAKER_02 40:11

Um, well, yeah, obviously. Conference tournament, national championship, all that. But like Coach Pete started uh telling us last fall, it's one game at a time. Like each team we play is just a roadblock. We have to get by. Like, we're not like focused on one game at a time, we're not focused on the big picture, and then we'll get there when we get there. Yeah, SAC's tough, man.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

Just being in conference in the SAC alone is a tough conference. And like, even with like guys like Newberry coming up and you know, Coach Murphy at Catawba now, that that program's definitely gonna change and it's gonna be for the better. And uh, I just think the whole conference as a whole is just an amazing conference, especially those top three, four teams Wingate, LR, Limestone, and you know what? Anderson's making noise now a little bit with Cam Weeks up there, and they got a couple of All-Americans. So the SAC is just an amazing conference, and you get to play in that every year. And what do you think about the Sack?

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Uh I mean, honestly, I think it's probably the best conference in D2. It's just high-level competitiveness. I I like playing like that every game. And then I just fun to compete in.

SPEAKER_03 41:21

I'd have to agree with you. Yeah, without a doubt. So, Danny, now that his vocal cords are warmed up, do you think he's ready for the uh rapid fire round?

SPEAKER_04 41:33

I don't know. We're gonna have to figure that out. So, Victor Powell from Lenore Rhine Bears, defenseman, all-American, all-everything guy. What a great first guest you've been tonight so far for the 2023 season. I'm gonna throw some questions at you, and you just rapid fire come out and just whatever's first on your mind. What do you say? You ready to have some fun? Yes, sir. I'm ready. Yes, sir. Oh, man. Coach, you did right. Mr. and Mrs. Powell, you did right. You know, they're calling me sir.

SPEAKER_03 42:05

It has nothing to do with what we look like on camera either, Danny. That was my dad, sir.

SPEAKER_04 42:10

I'm Danny. You call me Dan, that's fine. All right, here we go, Vic. Favorite TV show, Yellowstone. Yellowstone, favorite actress. Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 42:20

Um, what's her name? Performers movie. What was her name? Uh actress. Actress. I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 42:33

Okay, we'll pass on. We'll pass on that one. All right, favorite ice cream. Cookies and cream. Cookies and cream. Oh, that's a good one. I love that. We gotta think about that though for a second, folks. You gotta think about that. You gotta look at that favorite ice cream comes popping right out. Okay. Favorite, favorite breakfast food. Ooh.

SPEAKER_02 42:56

Good omelet. I like a good omelet.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

Ah, yeah, me too, man. I love omelets. Okay, you ready? You and your brother, who's better looking?

SPEAKER_02 43:06

Come on, you don't have to ask that question.

SPEAKER_04 43:10

You're looking at next question, ladies. Ladies and gentlemen, we gotta we got a looker, okay? He's definitely a good-looking kid, this Victor Powell. And he says he's better looking than his brother Donnie. So um we're gonna have to get Donnie on at the end of the season and and we'll make that determination. Not that there's anything wrong with that. Okay, here we go. Next question runs or lifts? Lifts for sure. Xbox or PlayStation? Xbox. Favorite class at LR since you've been there.

SPEAKER_02 43:43

Have to be a sports management class with Joe Smith. He's a great teacher, great professor.

SPEAKER_04 43:49

Okay, I was just gonna ask for favorite professor. Joe Smith. Joe Smith, all right, Professor Smith, you got a shout out on In the Crease. That I think that's a first, okay. Yeah, I like it. Okay, here's my here's a couple of my favorite. Who's the funniest kid on the team?

SPEAKER_02 44:06

Josh Wright, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 44:08

Josh Wright. Why is he so funny? What makes him funny?

SPEAKER_02 44:11

He's just a funny kid. He's the one who really brings a lot of the energy to practice in games, too. And he's just a great kid.

SPEAKER_04 44:16

Funny kid. Kid you want to sit next to on the bus on those long rides? Definitely. All right. Shout out. Okay. Who's the most athletic on the team? A kid that can like do it all, you know, just unbelievable. Play basketball, bowling, you know, one of those guys. Who's that guy?

SPEAKER_02 44:34

Uh freshman Landon Parker's up there. I don't want to say this, but my roommate Colton McCracken, he's definitely up there too.

SPEAKER_04 44:40

Oh, is he next to you right now? No, he's not that's so funny. Okay. Favorite lacrosse memory since you've been at Lenore Ryan. Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 44:55

When we beat Tamba in the quarterfinals.

SPEAKER_04 44:58

Oh, that was a good game. I thought you were gonna say meeting coach. I thought you were gonna say meeting coach paradigm the first time. This is so much fun. Okay, who's the fur who's the one kid on the team you would not let date your sister?

SPEAKER_02 45:17

Oh that's a tough question. Let me think about that.

SPEAKER_04 45:26

He's thinking folks.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

You're gonna give us three names. All right, here we go. Colin McCragan.

SPEAKER_03 45:34

There, oh, that's good.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

Uh Patrick Shoemaker. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

And Patty Boy. John Paulus, Fogo. There we go.

unknown 45:47

All right.

SPEAKER_02 45:53

They're a little. I gotta watch them sometimes. Yeah, I know.

SPEAKER_04 45:56

That's funny. Okay. Last one. Give us your best impression of Coach Paradigm.

SPEAKER_01 46:03

Brings the juice. He brings the juice. Brings the juice. Is that what something that he says a lot at practice? No, he's just always on us, always telling us to get our energy up, and then we feed off of him too.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

He always has his funny moments too. Like it was my freshman year when he had COVID. He came back, and one of our uh kids on the team that were hurt, they were on the speaker and they played uh that Eminem song, Guess Who's Back?

SPEAKER_04 46:32

Oh, that's that's funny. Well, Victor Powell, we thank you so much for taking the time and coming on In the Crease with us tonight. You're a hell of a player. We we wish you nothing but the best of luck this season. I'm gonna be watching you like I always do. You're a heck of a player. And uh go get him here this year, kid. Go get him, man. It's gonna be fun to watch it.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

I appreciate it. Thank you for having me

Final Thoughts

SPEAKER_02 46:53

on.

SPEAKER_04 46:54

Danny, that was great having Victor Powell on. Yeah, kid's great, man. What a great player. He stands out to me, Kev. The first time I saw him play, I was like, wow, this kid is very good. And then I watched him again, and then I watched him again, and I said, Wow, this kid is something special. And you know what? And it was a great first player to have on our first uh player spotlight for the 2023 season. We thanked Victor for coming on, and yeah, um, you know what? And it's gonna be uh uh a little bit of somebody's opinion on who's better looking, either him or his brother died.

SPEAKER_03 47:32

So I also found it I loved it when we asked him about going to Lenore Ryan, and he said, Yeah, we're underdogs. I'm like, dude, yeah, coaches got you brainwashed well. That you got to that chip on your shoulder, that's awesome. And then he talked about when you asked him about goals. I really loved how he talked more about team goals, you know. That he kind of talked about that and then he backed it up and said, But we're more worried about the first obstacle, the first roadblock. Though I thought that was really kind of interesting now how they're thinking, and and so uh it was great, it was great having him on. But before we go, Danny, can you believe the feedback we've gotten on our top 20 episode?

SPEAKER_04 48:13

Yeah, we've got some couple of coaches who called in, some former players, some players, some parents.

SPEAKER_03 48:20

We're getting it from all players, coaches, parents, fans, some happy with us, some throwing darts, probably deservedly so. And I think there's one message, Danny, that encapsulates them all, and it came from Coach Nick Cotter of Newberry. And I'll just the the very beginning, I'll verbatim quote shots fired, Mr. Stenstrom, Mr. Moran, beer's on me. I think that capsules that captures what a lot of people are thinking. Either they loved us or they hated us. And I think that's awesome. Well now, Coach Coller's a smart man, you know.

SPEAKER_04 49:04

He's a smart guy.

SPEAKER_03 49:05

Yes, he is. Yes, he is, yes, he is, and he writes great emails too. That's all I'm gonna say. But what I love in the end is the passion of all the fans toward their teams and the insight they gave us. Some of them gave us insight like that. We didn't talk about certain players, they're bringing in this person, that person. I think that's just awesome when they do that. It was just a lot of fun getting all those messages.

SPEAKER_04 49:29

Well, you know what, Kevin? I think you and I come off as you know, approachable. You know, we we ask people, hey, what what ideas do you have? Hey, any information you got, and they come up and they're doing it, they're get engaged with us, and now they're part of the program, you know, in a way. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_03 49:46

Yeah, they can take over as the crack research team. That's right.

SPEAKER_04 49:49

There's been a lot, you know. Surprisingly, there's surprisingly been a lot. So the listeners, uh, you guys have been great. We love you guys. Um, you you have some sense of humor. Some people have some great senses of humor out there. They they say some stuff about us, and and it's just been a ton of fun. And and I'm glad that the listeners are engaged.

SPEAKER_03 50:12

Yeah, I am too. And uh all I'd say is keep them coming. Like as we do these episodes, if they're games we should be mentioning to watch, or games that you go see and you want to give us several listeners who said, Hey, I'm probably gonna go to this game and I'll let you know how it went. We had that happen last year, and we would love that feedback this year because the more eyes out there and the more that we can talk about the games, the better off we are.

SPEAKER_04 50:37

Absolutely. I agree, I agree. It's been fun, and you know what? And people feel like they can be part of the show, and we're not afraid to bring up a name or throw it out their way, or you know, give them a shout out. It's been fun that way, and I'm glad, like I said, I'm glad that the listeners are uh are engaged and and giving us feedback, even former players and players and stuff. It's been fun, man. Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 51:00

So just a shameless plug. People keep on subscribing, keep on sending it out to all your friends, let them listen in. We want to try to keep building this and and really get the word out about D2. I couldn't agree more with you, Cad. And with that, Danny, that's a wrap. That's a wrap.