Game NotesBelton, Texas – For the 12
th straight season the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor football team will be playing football on the Saturday after Thanksgiving as the Cru plays host to Huntingdon College for an NCAA Division III National Championships Second Round Game this Saturday. UMHB will face the Hawks in a 12:00 PM kickoff at Crusader Stadium with a berth in the National Quarterfinals on the line.
The Cru comes into the game with a 10-1 overall record after posting a 37-19 victory at Hardin-Simmons in the opening round of the playoffs last Saturday in Abilene. UMHB improves to 26-13 all-time in the playoffs with that win and will be playing the 40
th postseason game in school history this weekend. The Cru were American Southwest Conference tri-champions after going 4-1 in league play to share the league title with Hardin-Simmons and East Texas Baptist.
UMHB will be facing Huntingdon for the first time. The Hawks are also 10-1 on the season and posted the first playoff win in school history with a 38-27 victory over Hendrix College last Saturday. Huntingdon won the USA South with a 7-0 record in league play. This will be just the third postseason game in program history and the Hawks will be facing an ASC program for the second time in those three games. Huntingdon lost to then ASC member Mississippi College in the opening round of the 2009 playoffs. The two teams also have a pair of common opponents this season, with the Cru and the Hawks both having wins over Louisiana College and Belhaven University.
"They are very well-coached and do a nice job in their system from what we have seen so far," Cru Head Coach
Pete Fredenburg said. "They run some things we really haven't seen before. They change their splits on the offensive line and use a lot of formations to create an advantage. We have to make sure that we get lined up correctly, but we still have to be able to play fast. You can't worry so much about lining up that you don't go out and just let it fly."
While these two programs have never faced off, UMHB does have experience with teams from the USA South. The Cru is 3-1 all-time against that league. UMHB split a regular season series with Christopher Newport in 2006 and 2007. The Cru beat North Carolina Wesleyan in the Second Round of the 2007 NCAA Division III National Championships and added a win over Christopher Newport in the First Round of the 2010 postseason.
UMHB will enter the contest ranked #10 in the country by the AFCA and #13 in the nation by D3football.com. Huntingdon College was receiving votes in both of those polls at the end of the regular season.
For more information on parking, traffic flow and game day events, please visit the following link:
http://www.umhb.edu/stadium/game-day-information/#directions-parking. There will be parking reserved for Huntingdon College fans in the parking lot at the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and College Drive. Hawks fans are encouraged to enter the stadium through ticket window #3 at the southeast corner of Crusader Stadium.
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 11:30 AM. UMHB will provide live video streaming and live statistics for the game with links to both available by clicking here:
http://portal.stretchinternet.com/umhb/. Tickets are still available and the ticket windows are scheduled to open at 10:00 AM on Saturday. Reserved tickets are $12. General admission tickets are $10 for adults and $4 for students. The stadium gates will open at 10:30 AM on Saturday. Tickets left at Will Call will be available for pickup at Ticket Window #2 on the home side.
