No Small Task
The Javelinas received a first round playoff bye this year, but making up for that good fortune is who they are playing, Northwest Missouri State. The Bearcats have been the Kings of Super Region 4 for the past five years winning five straight Regional Championships and last season’s National Championship.
The Bearcats have not lost in regional play since a 50-36 loss at Pittsburg State on November 27, 2004. Even more imposing is Northwest’s record against Lone Star Conference opponents in the playoffs, a perfect 7-0.
Double Digit Wins
With their 38-24 win over Southeastern Oklahoma, the Javelinas picked up their 10th victory of the season. The Hoggies have now won at least 10 games in a season on 16 occasions. The first double digit victory season came in 1959 when the team went 12-1 en route to winning their first NAIA National Championship. The last time they recorded at least 10 wins came in 2003 when they went 11-2, won the Lone Star Conference and advanced to the NCAA Division II Semifinals.
Lincoln’s Way
Senior wide receiver Ryan Lincoln saved the best game of his career for the season finale. He opened up the game with a 47-yard reception on the team’s first offensive play and finished it off with a 56-yard touchdown run on his final play with two seconds left in the third quarter. He finished with five catches for 120 yards and a touchdown and two carries for 64 yards and a touchdown.
For Lincoln, it was his third game with at least 100 yards receiving on the season and eighth of his career. He has now scored at least one touchdown in each of his last four games and is tied with Jonathon Woodson for the team lead with eight touchdowns. In his last five games he has 152 yards rushing and 454 yards receiving. He is already the school record holder for career receptions with 205 and moved into second place in career receiving yards with 2,832 passing up Dwight Harrison.
Lincoln has already set career highs for receptions (60), total touchdowns (8), rushing touchdowns (4) and rushing yards (170). He also leads the team with 739 receiving yards this year.
Meet Mr. Sanders
Junior linebacker Marcus Sanders has been outstanding this season leading the team in tackles and Saturday was no different as he recorded a season high 11 tackles in just three quarters of action. He has a career high 72 tackles this year and 181 in his career.
Against Southeastern Oklahoma, Sanders played an important role in limiting Baylen Laury to just 55 yards rushing on 23 carries. He entered the game averaging over 125 yards per game and 7.0 yards per carry.
Postseason Awards
The Javelinas garnered a number of awards when the Lone Star Conference released its annual post season offerings. They had four LSC South Division First Teamers, 10 Second Teamers and five others earned Honorable Mention.
Senior Tressor Baptiste was named the Linebacker of the Year while also earning First Team honors. Joining him on the First Team defense were safeties DeIra Glover and Corey Robertson and nose tackle Johnny Tivao. Both Glover and Robertson earned Second Team honors in 2009.
The offense placed four players on the LSC South Second Team. Wide receiver Ryan Lincoln earned his third straight nomination. Running back Jonathon Woodson made the squad despite only starting the final five games of the year. Offensive lineman Colby Lowrie and Trent Perkins were also selected.
The defense had four starters earn Second Team honors; linebacker Marcus Sanders, defensive end Matt Romig, corner back Derrick Thomas and rover Kendrick Matthews.
On special teams, place kicker Christian Brom and deep snapper Derek Tesch each earned Second Team honors.
Running Down a Record
The Javelina defense against the run has been nothing short of outstanding this year. They held their first five opponents to less than 50 yards rushing and are still first in the entire NCAA Division II in rushing yards allowed per game.
The team is currently holding opponents to 54.0 yards per game on 2.1 yards per carry. The Lone Star Conference record for fewest rushing yards allowed per game in a season is 48.5 by Texas A&M-Commerce in 1952. The current Javelina record is 60.7 yards per game and 1.9 yards per carry both set in 1989 when John Randle was stuffing opponents.
The Hogs have held opponents to under 100 yards rushing per game in 13 prior seasons. They are a combined 117-33 with nine conference championships in those years.
Previous Meeting
The last time the Javelinas and Bearcats squared off came in the season opener which the Javelinas won 16-7. In that game the Hoggies sacked the Bearcats seven times and held them under 200 yards of total offense.
The Javelina offense was led by quarterback Nate Poppell who made his first career start in that game going 26-for-38 for 258 yards and a touchdown. It was one of two games all year that the team was held under 100 yards rushing. There are three Javelinas; Delashuan Dean, Matt Romig and Fred Winborn, who had an impact upon that game, but will not be suiting up this week for a variety of reasons.
Ball Control
The Javelinas have been outstanding when it comes to ball control this year. They have won the time of possession battle in eight of 11 games this year.
They held the ball for 8:56 longer than the Bearcats did in the season opener and will likely use the same approach to keep the ball away from the explosive Northwest offense. The Javelinas hold an average time of possession advantage of 9:00 over their opponents this year.
Running Wild in the Top 25
The Javelinas entered the 2010 season ranked 16th by the American Football
Coaches Association and 13th by D2Football.com. They moved up to #6 in the
AFCA poll and #5 in the D2football.com
poll after their win over #1 Northwest
Missouri State. They have been ranked
in both polls ever since the first week of
the 2009 season.
Six straight wins have propelled the Javelinas to fourth in both polls, a season high. This is the 11th straight week they have been ranked in the top 10.
Setting Records
Quarterback Nate Poppell is closing in on a school record that has been broken in 2008 and 2009. Billy Garza became the first Javelina to complete at least 200 passes in a season with 209 in 2008 and 225 in 2009. This year, Poppell heads into Saturday’s game with 212 completions on the season.
The school record for most pass completions in a season by the entire team is 239 in 2008. Poppell has combined with Daniel Ramirez to complete 229 passes this year. It appears likely that the individual and team records will both disappear on Saturday.
Poppell needs 385 yards passing to set the school record for most passing yards in a season which is also held by Garza who had 2,787 in 2008.
In the National Rankings
Since joining the NCAA Division II
back in 1982, the Javelinas have played
exactly 210 games as a ranked team and
have played 84 games against ranked opponents.
The Javelinas are 159-51 (75.7%) alltime as a ranked team. They have played
41 games as the #2 team and are 30-11
(73.2%) in those contests. The team is
21-3 (87.5%) when ranked #4 and has a
winning record at all spots except when
ranked #23 where they are 0-2 all-time.
The Javelinas are 49-36 (57.6%)
against ranked opponents since joining
Division II. They are 37-15 (71.2%)
in home games and just 12-21 (36.4%)
when traveling. When they are the higher
ranked team they are 29-16 (64.4%) and
they are 20-20 (50.0%) when they are
ranked lower than their opponent.
The Brom Bomber
Senior place kicker Christian Brom continues to put up big time numbers in the kicking game for the Javelinas. In the final game of the regular season he kicked a career long 49-yard field goal in the first half.
Brom is now 13-for-19 for the season on field goal attempts. The school record is 16 field goals in a season set by Walter Rule in 1985. Brom is 34-for-51 in his career, good for second all-time. He is currently ninth in career points with 237 and needs six more to move into eighth place.
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