Last Thursday, Penn State officially introduced its captains at a news conference in the Beaver Stadium media room. Josh Gaines, Sean Lee, Anthony Scirrotto, A.Q. Shipley and Derrick Williams were made available to the media.
In today’s edition of Morelli OnLion, we’ll begin taking a look at the captains. We’ll also check in on former Penn State wrestler Phil Davis and have our No. 9 moment of the year in Penn State athletics.
That’s a lot of ground to cover. We’ll start with the captains.
Penn State captain Josh Gaines met with the media last week.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated)
Captain’s Log: Josh Gaines
Gaines was one of the first captains that was brought out at the news conference last week. The defensive end racked up 40 tackles, five tackles for loss, and two-and-a-half sacks.
An unlikely choice for captain, Gaines appeared nervous at the news conference, but then loosened up.
He said that although he’s a captain, he said that he hasn’t changed the way he plays the game.
“I just feel like I’m doing the same things I’ve always done, trying to lead by example,” Gaines said. “If a guy is down, I try to help him up and pick him up. I’ve been doing this since I got here. They voted me captain for a reason so I’m just going to continue to do what I do.”
After back-to-back 9-4 seasons, Gaines said that he and the Nittany Lions are hoping for bigger and better things in 2008.
“Every team goes into the season saying national championship and every team goes into the season feeling good about what they have. But it doesn’t happen easily,” Gaines said. “You gotta work. You gotta go out every day. You gotta play hard. You gotta practice hard. You gotta train hard. You’re only as strong as your weakest guy.”
Gaines appears to be a good choice as captain. Only time, though, will tell.
Former Penn State wrestler Phil Davis made his MMA debut over the weekend.
(Photo courtesy of Blue White Illustrated).
Davis Does MMA
Former Penn State wrestler Phil Davis, who recently captured a national title at 197 pounds, was a four-time All-American.
Now, he’s making a career change — of sorts.
Davis has entered the world of MMA, or Mixed Martial Arts. He’s training at LionHeart Gym in State College under the watchful eye of Chad Dubin, himself a former Penn State wrestler.
“I’m willing to bet that (my wrestling background) gives me an advantage. I was at the top of amateur wrestling, now I’m at the lowest level of MMA. I’m not scared out of my mind, but I am nervous,”
Davis said at a news conference last week.
If he was nervous in his first professional bout, it didn’t show.
Davis won his first professional bout by knockout in 42 seconds.
That’s all it took to take down Kevin Wall. A short left took down Wall and the ref called the bout.
Davis could have tried his hand at Olympic wrestling, but opted for the MMA instead.
“I didn’t necessarily choose between wrestling and mixed martial arts, I had it in my mind for a while that I would do MMA,” Davis said. “I didn’t have anything more to prove in wrestling after I won the national championship.”
In MMA, competitions are held a boxing ring of sorts. Combatants start on their feet like boxers but are allowed to strike their opponents with fists covered with light opened-fingered gloves, elbows (although not downward with the point of the elbow), knees or kicking the feet.
Headbutting, eye gouging, hair pulling, biting, fish-hooking, attacking the groin, strikes to the back of the head, spinal area and kidneys, strikes to or grabs of the trachea and small-joint manipulation (control of three or more fingers/toes is necessary) are not allowed.
Davis seems like a natural.
Moment No. 9: Lady Lions Upset Duke
Our No. 9 moment of the year in Penn State athletics is the Lady Lions’ upset of the Duke Blue Devils.
In season that many of the Lady Lions would probably like to forget, there was one very memorable moment for the Penn State women’s basketball team.
All the stars aligned on the evening of Dec. 2, when the Lady Lions upset then-No. 10 Duke, 86-84, at the Bryce Jordan Center. Without a doubt, it was the biggest win of the season for the young Lady Lions and first-year head coach Coquese Washington.
True freshman Janessa Wolff canned a layup with less than a second remaining to give the Lady Lions the thrilling two-point win. Duke got
.5 seconds put back on the clock after officials reviewed the game tape.
However, its final shot missed as time expired.
It was a huge win for the Lady Lions and the program. That fact was not lost on Washington.
“It’s definitely a big win,” Washington said after receiving numerous high-fives and hugs after the game. “I think it’s probably the biggest win any of these players have experienced since they’ve been here. Our team hasn’t experienced a lot of this type of success, beating a team like this. Certainly the program has over the decades, but for this group of players, this is a big confidence boost.”
The Lady Lions were buoyed by a pair of career afternoons. Both Brianne O’Rourke and Mashea Williams had career highs. O’Rourke poured in 23 points while Williams had 22.
It was the third consecutive loss for national powerhouse Duke, which struggled under new coach Joanne P. McCallie, who has never won at the Bryce Jordan Center.
Duke was down in the contest, but never out. They kept coming and coming. But the Lady Lions withstood the rallies.
“We knew they’d make a run. They’re a very strong team, and they’ve got a lot of offensive weapons. They had four or five people in double figures,” Washington said. “We knew they would turn up the pressure.”
In addition to writing for gantnews.com, Chris Morelli is the editor of Blue White Illustrated, a magazine devoted to Penn State sports. He is also a regular on “Front and Center,” which airs on ESPN Radio in Altoona and State College. E-mail him at morellionlion@gmail.com.
