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CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Mount St. Joseph University football team has advanced to the NCAA Playoff for the second consecutive season and will head to suburban Chicago to take on the Thunder of Wheaton College. The Lions earned their spot in the playoff as the champion of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference for the second straight year. Wheaton earned one of the four at-large bids to the Playoffs after a 9-1 regular season in which they only lost to #1 North Central.
WHEN THE LIONS HAVE THE BALL
The Lions have the nations third best offense statistically, led by quarterback
Josh Taylor who just captured his second consecutive HCAC Offensive Player of the Year award. Under offensive coordinator
Caleb Corrill they put together the finest season in MSJ history. The Mount comes into Saturday averaging 57.5 points per game (a school record) and 565.1 yards per game (a school record) both of which are good for the third highest total in the nation this year.
The rushing attack for the Lions has been the bright spot over the last few weeks, senior running back
Mariano McKenzie carried the ball 22 times for 202 yards and 2 scores in the Lions 68-20 win over Rose-Hulman last week. Taylor is also an effective runner, and
Jackson Gifford,
Devin Holt and Johnny Rager all add depth in the backfield.
They have a talented group of pass catchers for Taylor, led by
Cornell Beachem Jr. and
Joey Newton. They also rely on tightend
Gary Powell III,
Kadin Pollard,
Ari Turner and
Austin Brock to make big plays down the field.
The Wheaton defensive unit allows only 21.1 points per game, the unit is led by Johnny Eller who has 59.0 tackles on the season and a pair of interceptions. They boast nine different players who have registered a sack this season. led by Peter Johanik who has a team-high 7.0. Five different players have registered an interception led by a trio of players with two.
WHEN THE THUNDER HAVE THE BALL
The Lions have relied on creating turnovers much of the season, they are fourth in the nation this season in force turnovers (29). They are tied for second in the country with 21 ints on the season. As a unit they come into the game feeling good after shutting down the high-powered Rose-Hulman offense in the HCAC Championship game a week ago. The Fightin' Engineers came in avergaing more than 44 points per game and the Lions held them to 20.
They have a talented group up front led by
Decklan Brophy,
Jack Tucker and
Brady Buller. That group will be in for a tough game as Wheaton's offensive line averages nearly 298 lbs across the board. The linebacker group all three of which landed on the first team All-HCAC list,
Nate Owens,
Anthony Wright and
Brady Pierce will all have to be big for the Lions in run support in the game.
The secondary is still coping with the loss of
DeShawn Starks, but they should get
Austin Price back in a bigger role in this one. Price had missed a couple of games but returned to play in a limited role against Rose a week ago.
Devon Donawerth has been the stalwart in the backend, providing leadership to go along with his outstanding play.
Wheaton will look to lean on the nation's eigth leading rusher in Giovanni Weeks, who enters the game with 1308 yards rushing. The Thunder will try to ride their massive offensive line to lean on the Lions defense and keep the Lions high-powered offense on the sideline.
KEY TO THE GAME
Turnovers, the Lions will need to take care of the ball in this one, in their lone loss at Hope they turned the ball over two times. As stated they also force alot of turnovers but Wheaton does not turn the ball over, quarterback Ben Thorson has thrown 30 TDs and has yet to throw an interception
