KALAMAZOO, MI(WKZO)-- After a long a nerveracking wait, former Western Michigan Wide Receiver and Kicker Jon Potter were drafter late in the seventh round. White with the 37th pick in the 7th round by the Jets and Potter with the 44th pick in the 7th by the Bills.
KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) – The schedule for the 2012 Western Michigan University football team was released on Thursday. New to the schedule are Eastern Illinois (Sept 8), Minnesota (Sept 15), UMass (Oct 6) and Buffalo (Nov 11). Two BCS schools return to the Broncos non-conference schedule, Illinois (Sept 1) and UConn (Sept 22) . The Huskies will be the first BCS School to play at Waldo Stadium since the 2007 season opener against Indiana. The Fighting Illini will look familiar as former Toledo Head Coach Tim Beckham takes over a program that lost 6 straight games to end the regular season after winning their first 6 games, including a 23-20 victory over the Broncos.
CommUniverCity Night will be Saturday, September 8th against Division 1AA Eastern Illinois.
The Broncos open MAC play on September 29 with Beckman’s former team, in a rematch of the highest scoring game in Division 1 during 2011. The following week UMass heads to Kalamazoo, as the Broncos celebrate the University’s 89th Homecoming Game. This will be the first matchup between the Broncos and the Minutemen.
For the first time since 2008, the Broncos will travel to Buffalo. The last 2 games for the Broncos against the Bulls have ended with an overtime victory for WMU.
After moving “The Battle for the Cannon” Game against Central Michigan to the 3rd game of the season in 2011, the archrivals will continue the rivalry on a more tradition date, November 3rd.
Western ends the season at home against Eastern Michigan on November 17th.
All 12 of the Broncos games will be on Saturday after playing games on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday last season.
2012 Western Michigan Football Schedule
9/1 at Illinois
9/8 Eastern Illinois - 21st Annual CommUniverCity Night
9/15 at Minnesota
9/22 Connecticut
9/29 Toledo *
10/6 UMass * - 89th Annual Homecoming Game
10/13 at Ball State *
10/20 at Kent State *
10/27 Northern Illinois *
11/3 at Central Michigan * - "The Battle for the Cannon"
11/10 at Buffalo *
11/17 Eastern Michigan *
11/30 15th Annual Marathon MAC Championship Game - Ford Field
* MAC Contest
KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) – During his senior year of high school, Flenard Whitfield had the difficult decision of choosing between playing college football or basketball. Whitfield was getting looks from Michigan, Florida and LSU’s football programs, and who could blame them. Whitfield’s 6’7 frame and 220 pound body were ideal for the tight end position in which he played so well for Martin Luther King High School in Detroit.
However, when it came down to it Whitfield ended up signing a letter of intent to play basketball at Western Michigan University.
Whitfield had a successful career as a Bronco, as he finished with over 1000 points and was named to the All-MAC Honorable Mention list twice. Now that his career is over as a basketball player, Whitfield is going to give football another try. Per NCAA rules, a student-athlete is allowed to compete in another sport if they're eligibility in another sport is exhausted without utilizing a redshirt year.
"This will be an evaluation process on the part of Flenard and our coaching staff this spring," commented head football coach Bill Cubit. "We know he is a very competitive person and taking these steps to earn a spot on this team shows that he wants to come in and help where ever and however he can. We see this as a win-win situation."
"I am excited," said Whitfield. "There is no part of my basketball career at Western Michigan that I would trade and I thank Coach Hawkins for everything he has done for me during my four years. I know there is a lot of work to do to begin to learn this offense and find my legs again on the football field. I am very grateful to Coach Cubit and the entire team for this opportunity."
Whitfield will enter the spring season as a tight end wearing jersey No. 84. All Bronco fans know him as No. 33 on the basketball court and fans of MLK HS remember him wearing No. 88.
WMU starts its spring season this Friday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., and will have 15 practices during the spring season culminating in the annual Brown & Gold Spring Game.
KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) – With less than a month and a half until the NFL Draft, 9 hopefully Broncos participated on Tuesday during Pro-day, held at the Seelye Center at Waldo Stadium, with dreams of someday playing in the NFL. Each of the 9 former Broncos took place in drills such as the 40 yard dash, bench pressing 225 pounds, along with specific position drills, looking to impress NFL scouts.
Headlining Pro-day was All-American and Bronco career leading wide receiver Jordan White. White became the first ever Bronco to be named a consensus All-American after leading the nation in receptions and receiving yards.
After White was done impressing the 12 NFL scouts that attended pro-day, White spoke with WKZO.com’s Colin Windecker and Zeke Trezevant.
Cleveland, OH (WKZO) – Kent State scored the first points of the game and never looked back as they led from start to finish, eliminating the Western Michigan men’s basketball team from the MAC Tournament with a 76-72 victory Thursday night.
“This is a tough one to take”, Coach Steve Hawkins said following the game. “This game pretty much epitomized our entire year. We didn’t make this easy on ourselves at times.”
The Broncos trailed by as much as 12 in first half but the cut the deficit to 5, 35-30 after the first 20 minutes of play.
The beginning of the 2nd half saw Kent start on a 17-7 run and eventually increased their lead to 19 with 8:02 remaining in the game.
After Matt Stainbrook was ejected for elbowing Kent St. guard Michael Porrini, the Broncos responded by going on a 15-2 run but were never able to get the game closer than 3 points.
2011 MAC Player of the Year Justin Greene had 23 points for the Golden Flashes, who will now play Akron on Friday in semifinals of the MAC Tournament.
Demetrius Ward topped the scoring charts with 16 points for the Broncos.
While a postseason tournament bid isn’t out of the question, it is unlikely the Broncos will get an invite and most likely the loss against Kent State should be the final game for the Broncos this season.
GAME NOTES: 5 Broncos finished with double figures in points. Ward (16), Whitfield (14), Hutchenson (13), Douglas (11) Stainbrook (10)…Douglas had 8 assists for Western…The Broncos were outrebounded by Kent State 34-30…Kent had 44 points in the paint. WMU had 28.
CLEVELAND, OH (WKZO) – After defeating Northern Illinois 71-54 in 2nd round action of the MAC Tournament, the Western Michigan men’s basketball team has moved on to the quarterfinals where they will face Kent State. Kent St. went 20-10 and 10-6 in MAC play including a 78-73 overtime victory over the Broncos. The winner between the Broncos and Golden Flashes will take on defending MAC Champs Akron in the semis.
3 Keys To Victory
1. Senior Leadership – In the first round against Ball State it was Flenard Whitfield. Against Northern Illinois it was Mike Douglas. In each of the first two games of the MAC Tournament a senior has led the team in scoring and shown leadership when it has been needed. Between Whitifled, Douglas and Demetrius Ward they know that their next loss will signal the end of their collegiate career and each would like to extend their time as Broncos.
2. Finish Strong – In their previous matchup against Kent, the Broncos held a 5 point lead with just over two minutes remaining but Randal Holt hit back-to-back 3 pointers to force overtime. Western must find a way to close out if they hold the lead late. Mike Douglas did not play in the first matchup against Kent. His presence in the lineup could be the difference maker in a close game.
3. Productive Bench – Coach Hawkins did a great job with his player rotation against Northern Illinois that fatigue shouldn’t be an issue for the Broncos on the 2nd half of a back to back. Only 2 starters played more than 30 minutes and Hawkins used 7 players off the bench. The bench will be asked to play big minutes again tonight against Kent to help keep the starters fresh.
Interesting Stat: 30. The number of consecutive victories against MAC West opponents for Kent State. Their last loss came on Feb. 2nd 2008 against Toledo.
Matchup To Watch: WMU Flenard Whitfield Vs. KSU Justin Greene. Greene, the 2011 MAC Player of the Year and 2 time First Team All-MAC Selection, is averaging 13.6 points per game and 6.7 rebounds. He is the only active MAC player with over 1000 points, 100 steals, and 100 blocks. In their previous matchup Whitfield had 18 points and 11 rebounds against Greene. Whitfield must have a similar night against Greene for the Broncos to have a chance to upset the Golden Flash.
CLEVELAND, OH (WKZO) -- Mike Douglas had 19 points and 7 assists to lead the Broncos past the Northern Illinois Huskies 71-54 to advance to the next round of the MAC Tournament.
This is the 3rd time this season the Broncos have beaten the Huskies.
“The first 20 minutes of the game we looked like a lot of teams that take the floor for the first time in Cleveland, even though we’ve been here before”, Broncos head coach Steve Hawkins said. “I don’t know if it was jitters but we weren’t as aggressive as we needed to be. We settled down in the 2nd half and our rebounding and our defensive really picked up.”
The Huskies started the game with an early 7-2 lead but that lead was short lived. WMU chipped away at the early deficit and by the halfway mark of the first half the Broncos had tied the game at 16 after Brandon Pokely drilled a 3 pointer.
Two free throws from Flenard Whitfield put Western up 24-22 with 5:29 remaining in the first half and after that point the Broncos never trailed. However, Tony Nixon made a 3 pointer as the buzzer sounded ending the 1st half, giving the Broncos just a 3 point lead, 31-28.
“We knew we didn’t play the best we could during the 1st half”, Mike Douglas said. “Coach got on us in the locker room and we just turned it on.”
The Broncos turned it on hardcore in the 2nd half and put the game out of the way, after going on a 17-1 run over a 6 minute period to put themselves up 56-38 with 10:06 remaining.
In the second half, Demetrius Ward became the 2nd Bronco this season to eclipse the 1000 point plateau for his career. Flenard Whitfield also topped 1000 career points earlier in the season. Ward finished with 13 points.
The Broncos will now face Kent State on Thursday in the quarterfinals. Kent St. finished the season 20-10 and 10-6 in MAC. The Golden Flashes defeated WMU 78-73 on February 4th in overtime.
GAME NOTES: WMU shot only 34.5% in the 1st half, but improved in the 2nd half shooting 14-24 (58.3%)…Brandon Pokely had 12 points, all in the first half. Pokely was in the starting lineup for the 2nd straight game…Matt Stainbrook was 1 point and 1 rebound away from a double-double…Tony Nixon scored 11 points for the Huskies…With the win WMU improves to 14-19 and NIU falls to 5-26.
KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) -- It wasn’t the prettiest of games but at this point in the season, an ugly win is better than a season ending loss.
Behind a balance scoring attack from the Broncos, which saw 5 players finishing in double-figures, the Western Michigan men’s basketball team advanced to the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament with a 69-63 victory over Ball State Monday night at University Arena. With the win the team is now headed to Cleveland for the next round of action.
“Interesting game,” Coach Steve Hawkins said. “We started off slow, they started off hot. We had to battle back and dealing with foul trouble, that become an interesting game to manage. We had to start juggling things and I thought our bench was excellent tonight.”
Flenard Whitfield led the team in scoring with 12 points but was limited to only 1 rebound as he battled foul trouble in his final home game as a Bronco.
“He’s (Whitfield) is a difference maker,” Hawkins said. “We were pretty happy with being up 3 at halftime with Whitfield being in foul trouble.”
WMU did lead at halftime 33-30 but it was the Cardinals who looked sharp early as they opened the game on a 6-0 run and increased their lead to 15-6 WITH 12:55 remaining in the first half.
It didn’t help the Broncos that in addition to Whitfield’s foul trouble that Mike Douglas also picked up 3 early fouls and was limited to only 9 minutes in the first half.
After Whitfield and Douglas departure to the bench, it was the Broncos turn to make a run. Behind a productive Broncos bench, with much of the scoring coming from Shayne Whittington, WMU responded by going on a 17-4 run to take the lead 23-19. The team teams traded the lead the rest of the 1st half and the Broncos entered halftime up 33-30.
The beginning of the 2nd half saw much of the same, as the Broncos continued to pour it on Ball State, scoring the first 6 points of the half and eventually increasing their lead to 45-35.
Ball State then scored 10 straight points to tie the game at 45 with 10:14 remaining.
WMU increased their lead back up to 7 with 6:19 left in the game. Ball State chipped away at the lead but never got it any closer than 2 and as the final horn sounded ending the game, so did the Cardinals season.
Jesse Berry had 19 in 27 minutes off the bench for the Cardinals. But it was the Broncos defense on Ball State’s leading scorer and rebounder Jarrod Jones who was held to only 8 points and 6 rebounds that made the difference.
The Broncos now head to Cleveland for the quarterfinals of the MAC Tournament. They will play Northern Illinois at 7pm on Wednesday. WMU beat Northern in both meetings this season, 77-68 on January 11th in Kalamazoo and 78-53 on February 15th in DeKalb.
GAME NOTES: Brandon Pokely made his 2nd start on the season for Nate Hutchenson, who was out due to team reasons, finished with 5 points and 6 rebounds in 33 minutes. Hutchenson will be available for the next game against Northern Illinois…Coach Hawkins picked up a technical foul in the first half. Matt Stainbrook also picked up a technical in the 2nd…Stainbrook finished with 10 points and 9 rebounds…WMU out shot Ball St 49%-37% and outrebounded the Cardinals 35-26…Austin Richie had 10 points for the Broncos off the bench…Dan Loney had 6 points and 5 boards for the Broncos as well…With the win WMU improves to 13-19 on the season.
KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) -- On Monday night at University Arena the Western Michigan Men’s basketball team opens the MAC Tournament in first round play against Ball State. The Broncos enter the tournament as the 8th seed after finishing the regular season with a 6-10 conference record.
This is the first season under the new tournament format that has been widely unpopular throughout the MAC. In previous seasons the top 2 teams in each division would receive automatic byes to the quarterfinals. This year all teams are seeded based on conference record with the top 2 teams receiving byes all the way to the semifinals. The 3rd and 4th seeds receive byes to the quarterfinals. Teams that do not receive a bye will have to win 5 games in 6 days to become MAC Champion.
If the Broncos beat Ball State on Monday, they would face the winner of Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois in Cleveland on Wednesday at 7pm.
MT PLEASANT, MI (WKZO) -- Central Michigan held the Broncos to 3 points over the final 6:43 en route to a 76-70 victory Friday night.
Trey Zeigler had 22 points for the Chips, who trailed 67-60 before ending the game on a 16-3 run. All 3 of the Broncos points during the run came from the free throw line.
Four Broncos had 10 or more points, led by Flendard Whitfield’s 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 blocks. Matt Stainbrook was dominated in the first half grabbing 10 rebounds and finished the game with 11 boards to go along with 12 points.
WMU scored the first 9 points of the game and took a 36-33 lead into halftime. Central outscored the Broncos 43-34 in the second half.
With the loss Broncos fall to 12-19 (6-10 MAC). Western will play either Ball State or Miami (OH) in the first round of the MAC Tournament on Monday at University Arena.
KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO) – Darrell Lampley’s layup with 1 second to go was the difference as the Eastern Michigan Eagles defeated Western Michigan 54-53 on Senior Night in Kalamazoo.
For the 5 Bronco seniors Flenard Whitfield, Demetrius Ward, Mike Douglas, Muhammed Conteh and Caleb Dean, this wasn’t the way they wanted to go out at their final home game at University Arena, but they know they have more important things to focus on now, like Central Michigan on Friday and the MAC tournament next week.
“You have to have a short memory”, Broncos forward Flenard Whitfield said. “We have practice tomorrow, then we go to Central, our rivals, at their place and we have to beat those guys.”
The Broncos trailed 26-25 at halftime after J.R. Sims made a 3 pointer as time expired in the first half.
During the 2nd half, the Eagles pulled out an 8 point with 16:16 remaining in the game, but the Broncos stayed resilient and were able to tie the game at 50 with 1:03 left. EMU then regained the lead 52-50 with a Derek Thompson layup.
But with 16 seconds left Whitfield made a basket and was fouled. After making the foul shot the Broncos were up 1 before Lampley made the winning shot.
GAME NOTES: Mike Douglas topped the scoring charts for the Broncos finishing with 15 points. Whitfield had 14, Ward 5, Conteh 4, and Dean did not play…The Broncos shot the ball 47.5% from the field but were only 4-18 (22.2%) from 3 point land…Lampley had 15 points for the Eagles…WMU struggled from the free throw line, making only 11 of 20 attempts…After only turning the ball over 5 times in the 1st half, WMU turned it over 10 times in the 2nd half…The Broncos next game is Friday night in Mt. Pleasant against Central Michigan. The game was originally scheduled for Saturday but was changed last week. Tip-off is set for 7pm.
Wednesday night at University Arena is Senior Night, as the Western Michigan men’s basketball team takes on the Eastern Michigan Eagles in a MAC West showdown. Flendard Whitfield, Demetrius Ward, Mike Douglas, Caleb Dean and Muhammed Conteh will suit up for the final time at home as members of the Broncos basketball team.
This will be the second matchup of the 2011-2012 season between the two directional in-state rivals. In their previous meeting on January 21st EMU came away with a 62-59 victory in overtime. Nate Hutchenson had a game high 21 points including a 3 pointer as time expired to send the game into overtime.
The Broncos are coming off an 83-74 defeat at the hands of the Toledo Rockets this past Saturday. The loss dropped their record to 12-17 and 6-8 in MAC play on the season. With a win over EMU on Wednesday, the Broncos would secure themselves of at least an 8 seed in the upcoming MAC tournament, guaranteeing them a 1st round home game. WMU would need to win their final game of the season at Central Michigan and need a loss by EMU at Toledo for a share of the MAC West Title.
The Eagles (13-16, 8-6 MAC) are led by senior guard Darrell Lampley (13.3 points per game). Game time on Wednesday is set for 7pm.
