BOX Baseball - Game 42 vs. Arizona

Game 42- Laura went 6 innings on the mound, but it was her work in the batters box that helped the BOX take out the D-backs 6-2.

Trailing 1-0 in the 2nd, Ken led off the inning with a single. Laura tried to lay down a sacrifice bunt, but ended up beating it out for a single. A rattled Micah Owings allowed the next 3 BOX hitters to reach base and by the time the inning was over the BOX had batted around and scored 5 runs.

Laura pitched her way out of jams in the 1st, 4th, and 5th innings before leaving the game in the 6th with elbow pain.  Greg and Bill allowed one hit over the last 3 innings to finish the game.

Final Score-

Diamondbacks 2

BOX 6

WP: Laura (5-2)

LP: Owings (4-3)

Woodyard 3-4 r rbi sb

Joey 1-4

Matt 1-4 rbi sb k

Kaylor 0-4 r rbi

Ryno 2-4 2b 2r rbi

Dave 2-4 2b 2rbi

Werley 0-4 k

Ken 1-3 r

Laura 1-2 r

Grogg 1-1

Laura. 6ip 8h 2er 8k

Greg 2ip 1h 3k

Bill S. 1ip 1k

BOX Football - Game 1 vs. Cincinnati

It's 74 degrees on the last weekend of August (suck it global warming!) at Stade BOX Left as the 2010 season gets underway.  Kaylor is highlighted in the pregame show as a key for Cincinnati's D.

1st quarter -
Jay kicks off to start the year!
Woodyard comes up with our 1st trick play of the year... Cinci is about to pick up a 1st down when Bob dives at the RB's ankles causing him to jump backwards to avoid the tackle. In the course of jumping backwards the RB jumps back behind the 1st down marker and runs out of bounds... BOX football is smart! Followed by a 3rd down stuff.
PJ is back! and doesn't get hurt on his first run of the year!
Dammit. Cincinnati has scouted my favorite play (send everyone right, scramble the QB left.) Punting time.
Jay drops his 1st punt of the year at the 2.
WTF!!! Woodyard forces a fumble at the 2... Cinci O-lineman scoops it up and rumbles for 33 yards.
(this game better get less exciting soon, too many notes.)
Hold on a minute, there's a booth review: Turns out the runner was down! back to the 2.
All-American Joey has the 1st INT of the year. A leaping one-handed grab.
BOX takes advantage of the TO to score the first TD of the year! Nick to Jandy from 10 yards out. 7-0 BOX.
Jay apparently took leg steroids over the summer and is bombing kick-offs into the endzone.
End of the 1st, still 7-0.

2nd quarter -
Ryno knocks down a pass at the line. The Cinci QB must be very short.
Herbstreit says once you find the hole, you should just keep pounding it in there.
So we do. Methodical drive leads to PJ from the 2. 14-0 BOX.
Cinci responds by once again going 3 and out.
We go for it on 4th and inches at midfield and BAM! PJ gets stuffed. Hope this doesn't get the Bearcats fired up.
Oops. Bearcats angry. Bearcats smash BOX D. 14-7. The Cincinnati TD was scored by unfortunately named I. Pead.
Uh oh. Nick throws his first pick of the year after a Cinci LB puts on a jet pack to grab a ball 6 feet over his head.
Crap. Long TD pass = tie game. 14-14.
Driving down field to try to take the lead at the half, Nick takes a big sack and we've got our 1st injury of the year!
Nick has a bruised elbow. Laura nails a 34-yard FG as the half ends. BOX 17-14.

3rd quarter -
2 plays into the 2nd half and Nick is down again.
3 and out.
After MRBaum drops what would have been a pick-6, Corso explains that he has lousy hands (that's what she said!)
Nick must be ok cause he's back in after a Cinci punt.
4th and inches from the same point on the field, Corso starts questioning my manhood if I don't go for it. Obviously, we punt.
Jay punts it out of bounds inside the 1. Up yours Corso!
Cincinnati goes play action and completes a 99-yard TD pass. Up mine! Cincinnati 21-17!
Another INT gives Cinci the ball back in BOX territory. Officially worried now.
BOX dodges a bullet when the Cinci FG hits the upright and bounces away.
At the end of 3: Cincinnati 21-17.

4th quarter -
It's the return of the Flying Phillipino! (Only this time it's more like the Falling Phillipino) PJ from 1-yard out. BOX leads 24-21.
Everybody's All-American!!! Joey takes the next Cinci play back for a TAINT! 2 TDs in 13 seconds. BOX 31-21.
Cinci marches right back and scores: 31-28.
After slamming our way to 3 running 1st downs with PJ and Dave alternating carries. Nick hits Werley on a little curl that Werley turns into a 31-yard TD reception! BOX 38-28. 2:34 to go.
The D steps up big time and forces 4 straight incomplete passes. Two of the passes were knocked down by Dime Back Ryan Levine. Good thing The Monkey talked him out of transferring to Illinois.
Now to kill the clock.
PJ is named Russell Athletic Supporter of the Game.
Laura drills a 32-yard FG. 41-28 BOX leads with :52 left.
Mike drops his 2nd INT of the game but otherwise the game ends without incident.
Joey's Pick-6 is the play of the game.
Final Score: BOX 41 - Bearcats 28. The BOX takes home the Cin-Day Road Memorial Road Kill.

Click here for Game One Stats.

Check back later for video highlights.

BOX Football - 2010 Schedule

Week 1 - vs. Cincinnati (rivalry game)
Week 2 - vs. Miami (OH) (rivalry game)
Week 3 - at Louisville
Week 4 - vs. Tulsa*
Week 5 - at UTEP*
Week 6 - vs. UCF*
Week 7 - vs. Houston*
Week 8 - at ECU*
Week 9 - bye
Week 10 - at UAB*
Week 11 - vs. Tennessee
Week 12 - vs. Southern Miss*
Week 13 - at Marshall*

*Conference USA game

7 home games vs. 5 road games including 5 of the first 7 at home. Hopefully we get off to a good start, or we're in trouble.

I could see us losing vs. UCF or Houston, at ECU, and vs. Tennessee. Too many other losses and The Monkey may be looking for another job next year.

BOX Football 2009 - One last look back

Just to give you an idea of how the BOX Football posts will work.  Here's a look back on our final game of 2009, when an undefeated BOX team took on West Virginia:

#4 BOX vs. #14 WVU

This is the highest ranked team we've played all year... that should work out fine.

1st quarter:
WVU takes the opening kick off and marches right down field. D tries to lay out lots of big hits which leads to lots of WVU leaping over would be tacklers.
D finally holds up once WVU gets inside the 5. 3 plays inside the 5, 3 stuffs = 3 points on WVU FG. 3-0
Bad news right away on offense, I hoped PJ would be back for this game but his abdominal tear is still 1 week away from being healed.
1st play of the game... down goes Dave.
It's only the wind knocked out, Dave returns 2 plays later.
We move the ball 50 yards down field but lose a fumble on an option play. Uh oh.
Katy K. sack leads to WVU punt. She's really turned it on the last couple of games.

2nd quarter:
Louie makes a catch and lands directly on his head. WVU is physically abusive so far.
2 straight sacks = BOX punt.
Uh oh-er. Screen pass + CB blitz = long WVU touchdown. 10-0
The BOX takes a page out of the WVU book... a couple of passes to running backs moves us downfield. Dave rumbles in from 7 yds. 10-7.
WVU runs the same RB screen and only a desperation wrestling match allows me to barely shove the RB out of bounds.
WVU 4th down conversion on the next drive leads to the most infuriated development of the day... WVU has a old-timey redneck complete with coon skin cap on the sidelines cheering them on.
The redneck is doing a handstand. Not good. 17-7.
The redneck is drinking moonshine from a jug. INT return for a TD makes it 24-7. All the things that went right during the season are going wrong now.
and now the redneck is doing one-arm push ups as they drive down for another FG before the end of the half. 27-7.
Well, the good news is we get the ball first in the second half. The bad news is we have to play the second half.

3rd quarter:
TD! Oh shit, it's for West Virginia. They're just blitzing the shit out of us then intercepting the desperation throws. 34-7.
Summing up the day thus far, Werley drops a TD pass when it hits him in the wrong part of the hands.
4th and 22 conversion to Mike! Followed by Dave's 2nd TD run of the day. Nick punches in a 2-pt run. 34-15.
And we force a 3 and out! Here comes the BO... d'oh. 1st time I've seen this all year, Greg drops a fair catch. WVU recovers. The miracle is ovah.
The "strip ball" option for defense is completely worthless. We had two big stops on D only to have facemask penalties called. BOOOOOO.
Halfback screen again... to quote Hudson: "Game over man. Game over!" 41-15. This is like when Hawaii made a BCS bowl a few years ago.
3rd INT for a TD on the day. Time to pull the starters. 48-15.
They have a guy with 5 sacks.

4th quarter:
Guh... 20-yard 3 down conversion to Mike until... fumble. WVU ball. I've started drinking.
Running a lot of no-huddle = everyone tired = Joey gets a 3rd down reception (and then decked.)
Also due to crazy no-huddle - T-Bird playing center, Louie playing guard. I think the team is broken.
Dave has his 3rd of the day. 48-21
Happiest moment of the day: the WV running back who has killed us all day (who's still in the game BTW) just got hurt. I hope you die.
Icing on the cake... one more fumble by Nick (his fatigue meter was in the red the entire 4th quarter.)
Final score WVU 45 - BOX 21

What a disappointing end to our dream season.

7(!) turnovers to 0 is going to make it tough to win a game, especially when all 3 INTs were returned for touchdowns. Can't wait for next year's effort at a more difficult schedule.

Bah.

BOX Football - 2010 Preseason Honors Announced

NCAA Football 2010 Season - Coming off an incredibly successful 2009 season (13-1, Conference USA Champs) the Dayton BOX is ready to begin their 2010 season. They've been installed as the Pre-Season Conference USA favorites and ranked #22 in the country.

You can look back on the 2009 Season here.

Several BOX players received Pre-season honors:
Joey Brennan    CB    1st Team AA, 1st Team C-USA
Matt DiMarco    CB    2nd Team AA, 1st Team C-USA
Dave Payerle    RB    1st Team C-USA
Ryno Miller    DT    1st Team C-USA
Mike Baum    FS    1st Team C-USA
Bob Woodyard    SS    1st Team C-USA
Laura DiMarco    K    1st Team C-USA
Nick Morgan    QB    2nd Team C-USA
Ray Voelker    CB    2nd Team C-USA
Greg Raffio    KR    2nd Team C-USA

The BOX will open their 2010 season against Cincinnati.  You can follow the entire 2010 BOX football season at this blog for game notes and at this spreadsheet for stats.