GAME OF THE WEEK
St. John's at Bethel, 1 p.m. Saturday: St. John's (5-4, 3-4 MIAC), playing in its regular-season finale, is looking for its fourth consecutive victory. Bethel (7-2, 5-2 MIAC), which is in a three-way tie for second place in the MIAC standings after a 24-17 loss to St. Olaf last week, is in a must-win situation if it hopes to be picked for an at-large berth in the Division III playoffs.
WEEK 11 STORY LINES
UMAC tiebreaker: St. Scholastica earned its second consecutive berth in the Division III playoffs in an unusual fashion. The Saints earned a share of the UMAC title with a 28-21 victory over Minnesota-Morris last Saturday. The Saints' victory -- coupled with Greenville's victory over Northwestern (Roseville) -- left a three-way tie for first. A drawing from a hat settled the matter. The Saints are idle this week. The Division III pairings will be announced Sunday.
Division III region rankings: Three MIAC teams are ranked in the Division III West Region rankings released Wednesday. St. Thomas, which clinched its third consecutive MIAC title and earned the conference's automatic berth in the playoffs with a 21-7 victory over Concordia (Moorhead) last Saturday, is ranked No. 3. Bethel is ranked No. 7 and Concordia (Moorhead) No. 8. Unbeaten Linfield (8-0) was ranked No. 1 in the region, followed by Wisconsin-Oshkosh at No. 2.
Mavericks return to top spot: MSU Mankato returned to the No. 1 spot in the NCAA Division II Super Region 3 rankings. The Mavericks, who were No. 1 in the initial region rankings two weeks ago before dropping to No. 2 in last week's rankings, are 10-0 after their 27-13 victory over Sioux Falls last Saturday. Three other NSIC teams are ranked in the region top 10: Minnesota Duluth (No. 6), Winona State (No. 7) and Sioux Falls (No. 9). The top six teams in the final region rankings, which will be announced Sunday, earn a spot in the Division II playoffs. The top two teams receive first-round byes.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Dajon Newell, RB, Augustana: The 5-10 sophomore from Lakeville is third in NSIC in rushing with 925 yards. Newell, who is averaging 6.0 yards per carry and has rushed for eight TDs, rushed for 138 yards on 13 carries -- his fifth game this season with at least 100 yards rushing -- in the Vikings' 73-35 loss to Winona State.
John Teigland, QB, Winona State: The 6-4 junior from Indianola, Iowa, is fourth in the NSIC with 2,433 passing yards. Last week, he passed for 330 yards -- in three quarters -- in the Warriors' 73-35 victory over Augustana. Teigland, who played in just two games last season because of injuries, has completed 167 of 281 passes (59.4 percent) and thrown 17 TD passes.
BY THE NUMBERS
45 Victories (in 50 games started) by Minnesota Duluth senior quarterback Chase Vogler.
60 Points scored this season by St. John's kicker Jimmie Mattson. Mattson is 42-for-42 on PATs and has kicked six FGs.
525 Passing yards (a school single-game record) by Winona State in a 73-35 victory over Augustana. The Warriors had a school-record 782 yards of total offense.
JOEL RIPPEL
resize text 
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters