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Belton, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team has already clinched a postseason berth, now the Cru will look to close out a fourth consecutive undefeated regular season with a road game at Mississippi College this Saturday. UMHB will take on the Choctaws in a 1:00 PM kick off at Robinson-Hale Stadium in Clinton. A Cru victory would also give UMHB the American Southwest Conference Championship.
The Cru comes into Saturday's game with a 9-0 overall record and a 5-0 mark in ASC play and UMHB is coming off a 65-10 win over East Texas Baptist University last Saturday. That win earned the Cru tenth consecutive NCAA Division III National Championships appearance. Mississippi College is 4-5 overall and 4-1 in ASC play after the Choctaws dropped their first conference game of the season in a 42-28 loss to Louisiana College last Saturday in Pineville, Louisiana. UMHB will bring a 43-game regular season winning streak into Saturday's game and the Cru has won 31 straight ASC contests. Both of those streaks date back to a 17-14 defeat at the hands of Mississippi College in Clinton on October 17, 2009. The Cru has already guaranteed itself a postseason berth and a share of the ASC title, but the outright ASC crown, a likely #1 seed in the NCAA Division III Championships and a fourth consecutive undefeated regular season certainly provide plenty of motivation for UMHB going into Saturday's game.
"I think we are in a really good place as a team right now with the way we are playing and the way our players prepare for each game," Cru Head Coach
Pete Fredenburg said. "We still have several of our goals out in front of us and we need to keep our focus and work to get better every day if we want to reach our very high expectations. You don't want anything to mess that up, and we know that we have to get ready to play a tough opponent because we will get Mississippi College's very best shot on Saturday."
This will also be the final ASC contest between the two teams with Mississippi College transitioning to NCAA Division II. UMHB leads the all-time series between the two teams 13-2, but both of the Choctaw victories have come in Clinton, including a 28-0 whitewashing of the Cru in the inaugural meeting between the two teams in 1998 to go with the 2009 victory.
Saturday's game will also be broadcast live on K101.7 FM and through the station's web site with the pre-game show starting at 12:30 PM. UMHB will provide live video streaming for the game with the video stream available by clicking here:
http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/umhb.portal. Mississippi College will provide live statistics of the game, you can also find that link on the UMHB Athletic Department web site at
www.cruathletics.com.
