December | 2011 | The Dynamo

Purple Raider fall short in 2011 Stagg Bowl

Posted on 22 December 2011 by Vince Van

photo/Fred Cockrill

With the lost of last year’s Stagg Bowl in the mind of the Purple Raiders, they will now have to wait another 12 months to redeem themselves. Friday night ended the same as it did the past two years as the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks won their fourth Division III National Championship in the past seven years. The two powerhouses have now played each other seven times, and each match it seems to always have one play that shifts the game.

Last season it was the long touchdown run on third down, but this year it may go down as the fumble that allowed the Warhawks to get their only touchdown in the third quarter as Whitehawks’ running back Levell Coppage punched the ball in from 1-yard out to take a 10-0 lead.Mount Union battled back by getting a field goal early in the fourth quarter to cut into the lead. However, the Warhawks countered with another field goal to push their lead to 13-3 in the fourth.

After two interceptions, the Purple Raiders put the game within reach thanks to an 8-yard touchdown pass from junior Quarterback Matt Piloto pass to senior wide reciever A.J. Claycomb with about four minutes left. Though the Purple Raiders got the ball back with just under two minutes left in the game, the offensive blues continued to hunt them as they fell short on fourth down, and handed the War hawks its third straight National Title.

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Preparing for Finals

Posted on 15 December 2011 by Josh West

Mount Union students have many different ways of preparing for one of the most stressful times of the semester: Finals Week.

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Seventh Heaven: Mount Union and Whitewater to square off once again in Stagg Bowl

Posted on 13 December 2011 by Matt Doyle

Photo\Ryan Baker

In the latest chapter to this ever building rivalry, the Mount Union Purple Raiders and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Warhawks will clash yet again in Salem, Virginia to fight for the Division III Football National Championship. This is the seventh straight year these two teams will clash in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl which will be in primetime for the first time since 2001. How contested has this rivalry been? Mount Union has outscored Whitewater by only 1 point in all the meetings combined: 171-170. The two teams have split their last 6 meetings in the National Championship and the Raiders are 5-3 all time in the series.

The Raiders and Warhawks arrive in Salem fresh off home victories against Wesley (Del.) and St. Thomas (Minn.) respectively. Mount Union is coached by Larry Kehres, who is in his 26^th season and a winner of 317 games. Kehres’ Raiders have won 20 consecutive OAC championships, and 10 national championships in 14 appearances. The Warhawks are coached by Lance Leipold, who is a UWW alum, is 81-3 in 5 seasons. Wisconsin-Whitewater has made the National Championship in each of Leipold’s first 5 seasons.

Both teams are led by high powered offenses and opportunistic defenses. The Raiders are paced by a balanced attack that has featured Matt Pilato (who threw for 4 touchdowns in the win over Wesley) at QB, and a multitude of running backs paced by Jeremy Murray, Blair Skilliter, and Jake Simon, and a trio of outstanding receivers in Jasper Collins, Chris Denton, and A.J Claycomb. Defensively, Matt Fechko, Nick Driskill, and Charles Dieuseul pace the Raiders vaunted pass rush and run defense units, while ball-hawk defensive backs Isaiah Scott, Alex Nicholls, and Alex Ferrara have recorded 14 interceptions between them this season.

The Warhawks are led once again by returning offensive standouts Matt Blanchard, who threw for 23 touchdowns this season, and running back Levell Coppage, who has rushed for over 2,000 yards on the year.

For those planning on attending the game, tickets start at $12.50 for the public while student tickets are $7.00, and all seats are reserved. The public can purchase Stagg Bowl tickets by using Ticketmaster or by contacting, Salem Civic Center, P.O. Box 886, Salem, Virginia 24153 (540-375-3004 or 888-VASALEM). The game can be viewed on ESPN 2, ESPNU, and ESPN3 with coverage starting at 7pm. Friday night.

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Send-Off Planned for Mount Union Football Team

Posted on 13 December 2011 by Callie Livengood

A send-off for the University of Mount Union football team and coaches was held Tuesday, December 13 at approximately 7 p.m. at the Wable-Harter Building, which is located north of Mount Union Stadium.

The team will be heading for Salem, Virginia to play in the 2011 Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl for the NCAA Division III National Championship against University of Wisconsin Whitewater on Friday, December 16 at 7 p.m. at Salem Stadium. The Purple Raiders will be vying for their 11th national championship at the Stagg Bowl. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2, ESPNU and ESPN3 and heard locally on the radio on WDPN 1310 AM and WRMU 91.1 FM.

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Letters to the Editor

Posted on 07 December 2011 by Dynamo Staff

DISCLAIMER: The following letters to the Editor are from students and DO NOT reflect the views of ”The Dynamo” as an organization

Letter from Abby Passaro: December 7,2011

Recently the senior editor, Ashley Beck, published an article titled “All for one, and one for Mount Union Football”. This article is irresponsibly written and completely ignorant. To begin, the grammar and use of linguistics is all wrong. An article so poorly written should never have been published. Next, you have every right as an individual to speak your mind, but you did so in an offensive way. Not only are you being offensive to the football players, but you are offending all those involved in athletics. Your statistics are completely wrong. To say there is only 25% athletics at this school is a major understatement. The athletic population is well over half the student population. It also exceeds that number when taking in to consideration the equipment managers, film crews, statisticians, student coaches, and especially all the athletic training students.

It may “bother you” that you are not recognized for your grades and your efforts that you put forth. However, it is rare that individuals are often recognized separately. You may feel you have done a part in this world and on this campus, but so has everyone that is a part of this football team and athletic population. They put more effort in to their daily lives then you ever will. They work hard, they practice, and they succeed not only as a football team, but they have academic lives as well. These athletes work hard academically on top of everything that they have to do. They have outstanding grades, because if they do not, they are punished for it. You, however, would not know this because you clearly have no sense of what they accomplish on a daily basis to get as far as they do. To say that they can skip class without punishment is ridiculous. There are always consequences for one’s actions and the athlete’s on this campus know that and they follow the same rules that apply to everyone else. To have you punish them for their efforts is unbearably rude. They bring a sense of family to this school. If you wish to not be a part of their enjoyment, then you have not right as a student to say anything about the team at all.

Also, you continue to call the other students on Mount Union’s campus “ordinary”. If all they are is “ordinary” then they don’t deserve to stand up for anything. Only the extraordinary deserve the best, because it is the extraordinary that make a difference. You, on the other hand, are not proving yourself extraordinary in any way with your comments and I would be insulted to call myself ordinary.

As far as finals go, if the football team makes it to the Stagg Bowl, they were instructed to take their finals before Tuesday December 13^th. They have managed to do this in the past with no issues. You, unfortunately, are complaining because you now have one less day of finals. Clearly you, Miss. Beck, need to learn to manage your time better because all of the athletes are managing their time just fine.

Respectfully,

Abby Passaro

Football Athletic Training Student

Mount Union Raider Fan!

Letter from Kelsey Ivancic: December 7,2011

I am writing in response to the article the senior editor of the Dynamo wrote about the Mount Union football team. I found Ms. Beck’s opinion about the Mount Union football team was poorly written, inappropriate, and downright insulting to the family of Purple Raiders. Ms. Beck was correct in the fact that Mount Union is primarily a college that revolves around athletics. The facts of the matter are that Mount Union starts off every academic year with well over 1,600 student athletes enrolled, and taking into account statisticians, film crew, equipment managers, student coaches, and athletic training students, well over 50% of the campus community are somehow involved in athletics. With this in mind, there is good reason why Mount Union is all about the sports. In all honesty, Ms. Beck fails to realize that if it was not for athletics, Mount Union would not be what it is today. It is because of the sports at Mount Union that people hear our name and want to apply here. It is because out athletic teams contain plenty of talent and win that alumni and others donate funds to the school that are used to rebuild the MAAC as well as other non-athletic venues such as Cope. It is also because our sport teams have winning records that lacrosse is being added as a varsity sport next year, contributing to the overall student population and the name of Mount Union Purple Raiders. I don’t see other departments on campus contributing to the influx of students and the prestige of the name of the University of Mount Union. It is clear that the University of Mount Union is what it is today because of our wonderfully talented athletes.

Perhaps the most insulting aspect of Ms. Beck’s article is that she believes the athletes are treated superiorly to other students without consequences. If Ms. Beck were to open her eyes, she would see that the student athletes work harder compared to students who are not involved in athletics. Here is how a normal day looks for a football player: wake up early to lift and watch film, classes all day, treatments if they are injured, practice for about 3 hours, film sessions after practice, club meetings, and finally around 9 p.m. homework. This is not just a normal day for a football player, but also for any other student athlete and others involved in athletics. This is a busy life, one of which most students cannot handle. As an athletic training student, I have seen firsthand how much effort the athletes put into their sports and into their academics. I believe I have forgotten to mention that the majority of the student athletes maintain a GPA of 3.0 or higher; I would like to see Ms. Beck uphold those academic standards while also balancing sports, leadership roles, and a social life.

Ms. Beck’s biggest complaint is that final have been moved because Stagg Bowl has been moved up a day. I don’t think Ms. Beck should complain considering she has an entire week to take her finals. On the other hand, the athletes and athletic training students must works twice as hard to complete all finals within a two day period. I would like to challenge Ms. Beck to do that and see how she fairs. It was presumptuous of Ms. Beck to say that moving of exams would not be done for any other sport, but this in entirely false. The same would have been done for any other team. In fact, one could say that exams were moved to accommodate what Ms. Beck called “ordinary students” so that they may watch the game. Ms. Beck needs to look at the real facts and think again before she goes bashing the Purple Raiders because if it wasn’t for the sports, there would be no Mount Union.

Very Respectfully,

Kelsey Ivancic, Athletic Training Student and Proud Purple Raider Fan

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All for one, one for Mount Union Football

Posted on 07 December 2011 by Ashley Beck

When people ask me what college I go to and my response is Mount Union, their immediate reaction is usually “oh, purple raiders” or “football.”

Let’s face it, our school is known primarily for its football team and it seems to be the only thing that for which people recognize us. That bothers me. I work very hard, and have for the past 3 years, to maintain good grades, take part in extra-curricular activities, and obtain leadership positions in clubs. And yet, because I go to Mount Union, none of that matters. The only thing that matters is the football team.

That being said, our school took worshipping our football team to a whole new level this year. The administration decided that it was best for everyone if they simply moved finals so that academics wouldn’t get in the way of the football team going to the Stagg Bowl. Let me reiterate that so it sinks in: they changed our final schedule so that ACADEMICS didn’t get in the way of the football team and their attempt to win a championship.

Perhaps I’m incorrect or off-base somehow, but I was under the impression that we go to college to learn and become more educated young people, not to play a sport where concussions and head injuries run rampant.

Approximately 25% of Mount Union students play a sport. That includes all sports at the school, not just football. We are a school that is very sports-oriented but what are the odds that if the women’s soccer team had a game that interfered with finals, the administration would change the finals schedule for them? My guess is that it wouldn’t even be a thought in their heads.

So how is that fair? Now, you can argue that there are a lot more members of the football team then either soccer team and that’s a fair argument, but at the same time, shouldn’t we have fair treatment for all Mount sports? Otherwise we are telling all other teams that they are second-class citizens when compared to the all-powerful football team.

And if sports around here are not being treated equally, what happens to the rest of us? What about the other 75% of students who are not part of a sports team? We don’t get to miss class with no consequences. We don’t get to leave early because of games or show up late because we had a match last night and overslept. We get no special treatment and therefore we are just average. Non-sport playing Mount students are just part of the ordinary masses who are given no exceptions or no special treatment. We are plain, boring, basic. And just think, us ordinary folk are the ones who now have to take an exam on Sunday night because of the 25% of athletic elite. Does that make sense? I don’t think so.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against football players or the team as a whole. It’s not their fault that administration treats them differently. Plus they do provide us girls with some nice eye-candy around campus and something to do on weekends if you’re into it.

But I do think that the administration really crossed the line this time. Maybe it’s time for us ordinary people to stand up for ourselves and take the school back from the football team.

For the letters to the editors Click Here

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College Democrats

Posted on 07 December 2011 by Samantha Severo

Next year is a big year in politics. The 2012 Presidential Election will be as exciting as ever. Will Barack Obama get re-elected or will someone else take his place to try to fix our country? Only time will tell. Until then, how can students become more informed, involved and how can they make a difference?

The College Democrats is an organization here at Mount Union that raises awareness of issues in politics today.

All that is required to be a part of this group is an open-mind. “Anyone is more than welcome to join,” said Kaitlin Jeffreys, President of The College Democrats. “While we are a democrat organization, we have a couple members now that identify as independent and enjoy being devil’s advocate in discussions we have about political issues.”

In the past, the organization has held thought talks, friendly debates and have had informational speakers come in to teach students among other things.

“We, along with the Political Science honorary and the Ralph and Mary Regula Center for Public Service and Civic Engagement held a voter registration drive for students here at Mount Union,” said Jeffreys. “We think it is important to be involved in politics and believe voting is the cornerstone of this involvement. Many students took note and did either register to vote or send in an absentee ballot request form.”

The College Democrats meet once a month, scheduling their meetings around what other events and activities are taking place. Pay attention to Ennouncements to find out when their next meeting is, or contact Kaitlin Jeffreys at jeffrekn@mountunion.edu with any questions.

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Holiday Gift Guide

Posted on 07 December 2011 by Katelyn Chef

All is merry and bright—but holiday gift giving can be a real fright. To dancing sugar plum delight there is an end in sight. Rest a little easier this season of giving. It is a one stop shop with this 2011 Holiday Gift Guide. Everything is covered from sweets for granny to gadgets for guys…take a peek inside.

Any woman would be charmed to receive an Altruette charm and matching bracelet under the tree this year. What makes these gems extra special? They are charity charms. Each charm represents a certain charity and 50 percent of the proceeds go toward that particular charity. For example, there is a panda charm for the National Wildlife Fund or an apple charm for donorschoose.org which provides school supplies for children. These dainty charms are featured in this month’s Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine.

The charms vary from sterling silver to 14-kt gold. Tucked inside the box comes a card telling of the charity for the recipient. Co-creator, Lee Clifford states, “[Each charm tells two stories]: one about you and one about a good cause.” It’s a prime example of the gift that keeps giving. Get theses beauties at altruette.com.

Get ready to fill loved one’s hearts with desire with the new Kindle Fire. Digitialtrends.com is praising the Kindle Fire, stating, “Amazon has upped its game with the Kindle Fire. The device is the most focused tablet on the market.” It’s a super sleek and oh so chic pad for those bookworms on that longing list. The sight confers that this tricked out device has a 7-inch LCD screen and is priced at $200.00. The tablet is meant to resemble the size and feel of an actual book. Digitialtrends.com is reporting that the new Amazon Kindle gives the user the feel of scrolling through their personal bookshelf. Bookmark the Kindle Fire on Amazon.com.

Satisfy gift recipient’s sweet tooth with a scrumptiously packaged gift of French macaroons from Laduree. Cupcakes seem so passé compared to these Parisian sweet delights. Certainly, they’ll have everyone drooling with glee… Oh la la. The partydress.net states that macaroons have a crisp wafer-like shell with a sweet crème center…flavors are abundant. Lauree’s macaroons come in a variety of flavors; Pistachio, Chocolate, Coffee, Caramel with Salted Butter and more.

“The existing range of macaroons is always the starting point when a new one is created…” states Laduree.com. A package of eight macaroons boxed in flashy hounds tooth paper is tres magnifique for anyone this time of year. Visit laduree.fr/enscene for these satisfying stocking stuffers.

Gifting does not have to get those holiday bows in a twist, not when giftinggrace.com has men, women, babies and pets covered. Personalized monogram wallets starting at $30.00 is the perfect present for the men on anyone’s gift list. If a wallet is not needed then a fresh echo-friendly cork inspired iPad case is a modern giving approach for him. She’ll love a personalized cashmere scarf starting at $48.00 arraying in colors of off white to berry. Giftinggrace.com has reason for shoppers to be merry.

A fun, fresh donut maker is perfect for the baker in one’s life this Christmas. Babycakes has created the ultimate donut maker ideal for anyone who loves to indulge in a fluffy treat. The babycakes donut maker creates six donuts in four minutes plus it has health benefits too. The donuts are baked not fried making the dessert guilt free. Babycakes.com informs that the donut maker includes all the accessories, tips and baking recipes to guarantee decadent donuts for all this season. The babycakes donut maker retails for $24.99 — Bon appetit!

Last, but not least do not leave our four legged friends out in the cold this time of year. Yes, pets deserve a gift on Christmas too! Luckily, designer Jonathan Adler has some stylish ideas to keep pets both warm and content. What better way to express some pet love than wrap up a Jonathan Adler knit scarf and matching knit bone? The Adler knit scarf and bone gift set retails for $32.00 found on giftinggrace.com. Fido will be oh so pleased.

Yes, it’s starting to look a lot like Christmas…happy giving!