BC Picked First In ODAC Football (DN-R)

The Daily News-Record - By Matthew Stoss

SALEM – Bridgewater College’s Michael Clark didn’t have a prepared speech for his live Internet debut at the Old Dominion Athletic Conference’s preseason football gathering Tuesday, but he did have one advantage over his fellow coaches.

He was the only one wearing a tie.

It wasn’t a bad fashion choice, considering that the Eagles once again were in the spotlight during Media Day festivities at the Salem Civic Center – and not just because the event was carried live to fans via a link on the ODAC’s Web page.

The league’s coaches picked Bridgewater, the ODAC’s dominant football school since 2001, to regain the conference championship after a lapse in 2006. The Eagles edged out defending champion Washington & Lee, 45-42, in the preseason poll, and collected five first-place votes to the Generals’ two.

Clark, not surprisingly, downplayed the poll.

"[Rankings] mean a lot more to people on the outside than to the people in-house," Clark said.

Nationally, BC is ranked 17th by Street & Smith’s, but the Eagles did not make the Top 25 in the more prestigious D3football.com poll.

W&L is the only other ODAC team ranked, checking in at No. 25 in Street & Smith’s.

Clark, meanwhile, reminded reporters that Bridgewater can’t claim conference supremacy until it atones for last season’s two costly losses.

"Until October, I have to live with the fact that there are at least two people in this room better than me," the 13th-year coach said.

He was referring to Emory & Henry and Guilford. Both beat Bridgewater last year, handing the Eagles their only two losses of an 8-2 campaign and ending their run of five straight ODAC titles. Worse, the losses kept BC out of the Division III playoffs for the first time in sixth years.

Bridgewater did get a consolation prize of sorts. It handed Washington & Lee (7-4) its only league loss. W&L finished 5-1 in the conference to snag the ODAC’s automatic playoff berth, while the Eagles went 4-2 in the league.

"The tolerance for error in this conference is non-existent," W&L coach Frank Miriello said.

The rest of the preseason picks had Guilford (6-4, 3-3) third, followed by Emory & Henry (6-4, 4-2), Hampden-Sydney (4-6, 4-2), Catholic (3-7, 1-5) and Randolph-Macon (2-8, 0-6).

A primary reason for Bridgewater’s favored preseason status is experience: The Eagles return 29 seniors, by far the highest of any ODAC team. W&L has the next most with 16. Guilford has the fewest with eight.

"I get more scared every second when I hear these guys report on what they’ve got coming back," Miriello said.

For BC that includes senior quarterback Jeff Highfill – a second-year starter – who is part of an ODAC bulging with returning signal callers.

"It’s a league of quarterbacks," Miriello said. "It was a few years ago and it is again this year."

Miriello returns ODAC Rookie of the Year R.J. Varner, who passed for 1,101 yards and completed 61 percent of his passes in eight games. He threw eight touchdown passes and eight interceptions.

Guilford brings back Josh Vogelbach, who led the league in passing last season. The junior threw for 3,394 yards and completed 57.3 percent of his passes with 32 touchdowns, but he was picked off 26 times.

The only team not returning a quarterback is Emory & Henry, which graduated Todd Woods.

"That makes for exciting football," Clark said of the surplus of experienced QBs.

But Vogelback will be throwing to all new hands. The Quakers lost their top two receivers in ODAC Offensive Player of the Year Chris Barnette and Micah Rushing. They combined for 1,597 yards and 17 touchdowns.

Highfill had the best completion rate in the league at 59.9, while throwing for 1,723 yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions.

The Eagles also return the ODAC’s fourth-leading rusher in Phillip Carter and a trio of 2006 first-team all-conference selections: cornerback Earl Chaptman, safety Desmond Jalloh and offensive lineman Keaton Culver.

Overall, the Eagles return nine All-ODAC selections, including Carter and leading receiver Brandon Copeland. Both were second-team choices. Highfill received honorable mention.

Despite his program’s tradition and experience, Clark picked another team No. 1 in the ODAC.

"I didn’t vote for Bridgewater because Washington & Lee is the champion until someone takes that away from them," he said.