Around District 11 with Pam and Guy: Military Bowl

Tagged under: District 11, Gameday Hub, News

Guy Smith | January 3, 2024

We always enjoy feedback from readers at RTRYFBAR@aol.com.

Back for our 26th, and final blog of the season, as we have averaged one “PA Football News” blog per every other week for 2023.

Between Christmas and New Year’s, we went to the Military Bowl in Annapolis, MD. This was our third time at this particular bowl, at two different locations.

Guy’s final tally for 2023 was 67 football games. The breakdown was 42 high school varsity games, 9 high school junior varsity games, 4 high school all-star games, 4 GEFA 8-man semi pro games, 3 NCAA D2 college PSAC games, 3 NCAA bowl or national championship tournament games (a D1, a D2, and a D3), 1 NFL game, and 1 WFA women’s semi pro tackle football game. Pam went to all but six of the games.

Guy’s final sporting event count in 2023 was 229, most ever. Only auto racing, with 81 total, topped football in the count. We saw four college sports for the first time: Fencing, acrobatics & tumbling, cricket, and women’s wrestling. We have our sights set on rowing and curling for 2024. Guy swears he’s not going to over 200 events in one year ever again.

The Military Bowl made its debut in 2008, when it was the first bowl game of the season and was played before Christmas. Wake Forest defeated Navy. The game was played at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC.

We first went in 2011 when the game was still being played at RFK Stadium. Guy had first gone there in 1996 for both men’s and women’s Olympic Soccer pool play. He saw the Ghana men defeat Italy 3-2, and the Norway women defeat Germany. Pam and Guy were also at RFK stadium for the “National Grand Prix” featuring the American LeMans Series. Guy returned in 2014 for the GRC Rallycross race there as well. The venue is now defunct.

Our 2011 Military Bowl game visit was played on a very cold December day into night. It was one of the wildest games we ever saw, with Toledo defeating Air Force 42-41. The crowd of 25K filled less than half of the stadium.

When the game was moved to the much smaller capacity Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in 2013, we returned for a second Military Bowl as Marshall beat Maryland 31 to 20 in Maryland’s final game as a member of the ACC.

We had also purchased tickets to the game in 2021 but that game ended up being canceled only days before kickoff due to COVID.

There are three bowl games within day-trip driving distance of us. Besides the Military Bowl, there is the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium, and the Fenway Bowl in Boston. We’ve been to the former, but not the latter. Despite not yet having gone to Fenway for football (we’ve been there for baseball of course), we opted for another trip to the Military Bowl with our friend Mary who lives nearby.

The stadium seats around 35,000 and the place was full. I believe the announced crowd topped 38,000. Still, we had little trouble with traffic either in or out, nor with parking. Very well organized.

Unfortunately, the forecast called for a100% chance of rain. Surprisingly, it did not seem to deter any of the large crowd from attending or enjoying the game.

The game pitted the Virginia Tech Hokies of the Atlantic Coast Conference, who entered the game with a barely bowl eligible 6-6 record, against the 23rd ranked Tulane Green Wave, the American Athletic Conference runner up who entered the game with an 11-2 record. The crowd was decidedly on the side of the Hokies, not surprising as Virginia is much closer to Maryland than Louisiana.

Of special interest to us were a pair of Bethlehem Freedom High School graduates on the Virginia Tech roster, offensive linemen Braelin and Kaden Moore. Guy spent nearly 30 years teaching at Freedom, but retired in 2015, before the Moores arrived at the school. But we had seen them play for the Pates a number of times.

In quite the coincidence considering there were 38,000 at the game, sitting in the row directly behind us in the very same section was none other than Freedom head football coach Jason Roeder, who was of course cheering for the team with two of his former players on the roster. Jason taught with Guy at Freedom for a number of years before Guy’s retirement.

Jason spotted us before we spotted him. His initial comment: “This is a lot nicer than Allentown Central Catholic JV!”, referring to Percy Ruhe Park, where we had spoken earlier this season. That park had no usable seats, the scoreboard was broken, the concession stand was closed, and the bathrooms were locked.

While Coach Roeder was spot on about the chasm of differences in the facilities, he got us to thinking. If nothing is done to change the status quo, the once prestigious bowl games, those not part of the playoff structure, will become not much more than glorified JV games.

Looking at the “Opt Outs Tracker” on a sports betting website, we counted just shy of 400 players choosing not to play for their teams in the bowl game. Ridiculous. The irony is that one player can be injured and the NCAA deems that reason enough to keep an undefeated power five conference champion out of the playoffs for the first time ever, but then seven “Transfer Portal” players opt out from the four playoff teams and that has no influence.

The Allentown Central Catholic JV game was free to watch, but the Military Bowl cost the two of us just shy of $300 for a pair of tickets and prepaid parking. Big difference. Those partisans from each school may not have cared as long as the backups wore the right color uni and their helmet had the correct logo, but people like us that had no ties to either team and just wanted to see a quality division one college football game, the “opt out” epidemic will play a serious role on whether we want to continue to support the college football bowl games. We just saw an NCAA D2 national championship playoff tournament game last month, it only cost ten bucks each, and every player was honored to be taking part. Yet despite all of the above, the game was a virtual sellout anyway, so why change a thing?

There are some parallels to high school football. Just as the NCAA “playoffs” have rendered non-playoff bowls “meaningless” to some, including a lot of players, so has the PIAA greatly expanded playoff structure all but ruined the Thanksgiving Day games. We have to wonder if there will be a time when high school players “opt out” of the state playoffs after receiving some sort of scholarship commitment from the college of their choice.

Tulane had a much better record at 11-2, and were nationally ranked where Virginia Tech was not, but the Green Wave were playing without their quarterback, two wide receivers, a tight end, plus their head coach, thus becoming the underdog.

We got lucky in the first half, as the game stayed competitive, Tulane giving it “that old college try,” as they say. And the rain, at least compared to what was predicted, stayed away for the most part for that first half. Save for a muffed punt that led to a VT TD and a VT goal line stance on defence, Tulane could have been up at halftime.

During the mid-game break, the rain returned and it rained hard and steady for the entire second half. Tulane tied it at 17 early in the third quarter. But Virginia Tech was the favorite, and looked to be the better team. The difference may have been time of possession. The VT offense kept grinding it out on the ground, ending up with over 350 yards rushing, and the Tulane defense spent a lot of time on the field chasing them down. As the game wore on, those rushes were for more and more yardage per play. When a QB rushes for 178 alone, that’s a problem. The Hokies outscored the Green Wave 24-3 over the last 25 minutes.

When it got to be 41-20 with under ten minutes to go, we sloshed our way to the car and headed home.

Overall, our third Military Bowl was for the most part another positive experience. Yes, we were wet, but we have been at this long enough to know to bring a complete change of clothes for the four-hour ride home. The Navy has a nice stadium, and we had good seats. The fact that we were soaked by the end is apropos for the number of football games we attended in rainy conditions this season. After all, that’s why it’s called “Football Weather.”

GUY & PAM “BLOG YEARS” FOOTBALL SCORECARD: 2021 – 2023

2023: 67 games. 2022: 58 games. 2021: 59 games. Blog Years Total: 182 games / 101 Different

PIAA District 11 Schools (48 Different)

1-48. All 47 D11 football schools plus a second stadium for Executive Education, who played multiple home games at two locations (Muhlenberg College and Lafayette College) not already included for another D11 team.

D11 Alternative JV Game Sites (7 Different). 49. Allentown Central Catholic Vikings JV (Percy Ruhe Park), 50. Bethlehem Catholic Golden Hawks JV (High School), 51. Blue Mountain Eagles JV (East Field), 52. Freedom Patriots JV (FHS Turf Field), 53. Lehighton Indians JV (Old Football Stadium), 54. Nativity BVM Green Wave JV (High School), 55. Pocono Mountain West Panthers JV (Old/West Grass Field Stadium).

D11 Related–Special Events, Sub Regional, or Former EPC teams (6 Different). 56. Easton vs. Phillipsburg @ Lafayette College (Thanksgiving Day Game), 57. New Hope-Solebury Lions: D1-3A (Sub Regional), 58. Abington Heights Comets: D2-5A (Sub Regional), 59. Wyoming Valley West Spartans: D2-5A (Sub Regional), 60. Hazleton Cougars: D2-6A (Sub Regional) 61. Phillipsburg Stateliners (Former EPC).

All Star Games with D11 Players (6 Different). 62. Colonial vs. Schuylkill League All-Star Game, 63. Lehigh Valley All-Star Football Classic, 64. PSFCA East vs. West Small School All Star Game, 65. PSFCA East vs. West Big School All Star Game, 66. PSFCA Pennsylvania vs. Maryland Big 33 Game, 67. Schuylkill League All-Star Game.

Out of District Playoff Game Sites with D11 Teams (8 Different). 68. (G) Dunmore High School (Northern Lehigh Bulldogs), 69. Bald Eagle High School (Allentown Central Catholic Vikings), 70. Steelton-Highspire High School (Northern Lehigh Bulldogs), 71. (G) Governor Mifflin High School (Pleasant Valley Bears), 72. (G) Delaware Valley High School (Whitehall Zephyrs), 73. Northeast High School Supersite (Nazareth Blue Eagles), 74. Kutztown University (Northwestern Lehigh Tigers), 75. Cumberland Valley (Northwestern Lehigh Tigers).

Pennsylvania State Finals (6 Different). Both Hershey and Cumberland Valley. 76. 1A State Championship, 77. 2A State Championship, 78. 3A State Championship, 79. 4A State Championship, 80. 5A State Championship, 81. 6A State Championship.

NCAA D2 PSAC Colleges (11 Different). 82. Bloomsburg Huskies, 83. Clarion Golden Eagles, 84. East Stroudsburg Warriors, 85. Edinboro Fighting Scots, 86. Kutztown Golden Bears, 87. Lock Haven Bald Eagles, 88. Millersville Marauders, 89. Shippensburg Raiders, 90. Slippery Rock, The Rock, 91. West Chester Golden Rams, 92. Mansfield Mountaineers Sprint Football (former PSAC).

NCAA Bowl Games / National Playoffs / or NFL (7 Different*). 93. (G) D3 Delaware Valley Aggies, xx–D2 Kutztown University Golden Bears, xx–D2 Slippery Rock, The Rock, 94. (G) D3 Susquehanna River Hawks, 95. New York Jets, 96. New York Giants. 97. D1 Military Bowl.

GEFA 8-Main Semi Pro (4 Different). 98. Wilkes Barre Warriors (The Bog), 99. Snyder County Spartans (East Snyder Park), 100. Dauphin County Comanche (Koons Park), 101. Lancaster Cyclone (Manor Middle School).

Other / Not Classified (5 Different). NCAA D1 Rutgers Scarlet Knights, NCAA D 1AA Lehigh Mountain Hawks, WFA Harrisburg Havoc, Selinsgrove High School (PIAA Playoffs), Fleetwood High School Tigers.

D11 Related / PSAC Missing Active (8). WILKES-BARRE WOLFPACK: 2022-23 D2-6A Subregion team, WILLIAMSPORT MILLIONAIRES: 2022-23 D4-6A subregion team. PSAC CALIFORNIA VULCANS, PSAC GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS, PSAC INDIANA CRIMSON HAWKS, PSAC MERCYHURST LAKERS, PSAC SETON HILL GRIFFINS, PSAC SHEPHERD RAMS (WV).

Missed for Now (6). Nazareth Blue Eagles JV (Played a game at the middle school in 2021 when the main field was used for a varsity soccer playoff game), Cardinal O’Hara (North Schuylkill Playoff Game 2021), Berks Catholic (Pine Grove Playoff Game 2022), Trinity (Executive Education Playoff Game 2022), South Philly Supersite (Northwestern Lehigh Playoff Game 2022), Germantown Supersite (Whitehall Playoff Game 2022).

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews