Next game – Southern Oregon University NAIA FCS Semifinals @ Reinhardt University
Ken White Stadium
Kickoff: 1.30 PM EST
Written by Jordan Williams & Todd Fidler
The second-ranked Reinhardt Eagles advanced to the 2017 NAIA Football Championship Series Semifinals after outlasting Mid-South Conference member Georgetown (Ky.), 17-10, Saturday afternoon inside Ken White Field at University Stadium. It now put the Eagles at 11-0 for the season and two quarter final wins in two years. Reinhardt now looks to make history getting to their first National Championship final. Reinhardt was able to overcome an early 10-7 deficit and hold Georgetown scoreless in the final three-plus quarters, as its top-ranked defense held the Tigers to only 198 total yards – more than 200 yards below the Georgetown’s season average. Coach James Miller said after the game “Really proud of the kids as they showed a lot of fight today on both sides of the ball.” This type of fight will be needed moving forward for Reinhardt as tougher opponents are still to come.
Southern Oregon University
SOU is currently the fifth ranked team in the nation with a record of 12-0 after beating the number four ranked team Lindsey Wilson. Southern Oregon played in the quarter finals for the fourth time in the last six years on the 11th of November 2017 against Lindsey Wilson in a first time match up for the programs. Lindsay Wilson was unbeaten with an 11-0 record going into this game with the end score being 34-29 to SOU. The game was hard fought for the two regulars in the NAIA national tournament with southern Oregon moving to the semifinals for the first time in program history. Southern Oregon has some very dangerous players to look out for. Tanner Trosin, the Frontier Conference Offensive Player of the Year who has been looking very sharp in the National tournament finishing 25-of-38 with 279 passing yards and nine rushes for 58 more in the quarter Final matchup. The two defensive threats in linebacker Devvon Gage recording a team-high 12 tackles in the last game was joined with senior safety Keegan Lawrence who made 11 tackles also in the last game and both have been consistent all year.
Match Up with Raiders
Southern Oregon, who will participate in the semifinals for the first time in program history, stands in the way of Reinhardt and its first trip to the NAIA Football National Championship. Southern Oregon in their fourth National tournament run are said to be a team that specializes in being sent out on the road and leaving a trail of broken hearts. This trip is not like many of their other away games. They are travelling to an unbeaten Reinhardt team with only one loss on home soil in the last three years falling in the National quarter finals last season. Southern Oregon have won six consecutive postseason road games since 2014 so the team will have confidence looking for the shared interest to compete for a first National Championship. Reinhardt have very strong kicker which is actually where 80 of the points for this season has come from which Oregon will have to look out for. Montralius Mosely has been a beast with an average of 57.27 yards a game this season as a freshman. Reinhardt has only given up 20 points against in the national tournament compared to their high scoring of 56. Oregon has outscored Reinhardt in the last two games with 89 but have let pass 53 during. Reinhardt is very strong defensively and will look to take down the strong offense of Southern Oregon.
Predictions
Both teams unbeaten come into this game full of confidence and ready to make history. Reinhardt has the home advantage which puts them in the driver seat with everything in place to move on to the finals. With the road success of southern Oregon I believe they can go into this game with real drive to come and upset the eagles. Head coach of Southern Oregon Charlie hall said in the last game ” we stopped a big-time running back and made them a little more one-dimensional than they wanted to be,” with the running back being Reinhardt’s highest point scorer on offense I’m sure the Raiders may feel they can come and shut down the talent from the eagles. The same could also be said for the eagles. With the quarter back at Oregon southern being their strength and with the eagles producing 7 sacks in their quarter final the Eagles should be confident they can limit SOU to very little like Reinhardt have done with every team this season. With the success of Reinhardt in the past 2 years and a large freshman influence from players such as Dylan Wiggins and Montralius Mosely this year, losing in the semifinals previously is something this team wants to overcome. I think Reinhardt and strong favorites to come out at ken white field on Saturday and take Reinhardt to their first National championship.
The other Semifinal sees Morningside #3 (Iowa) (13-0) at Saint Francis #1 (Ind.) (12-0), 12 p.m. EST on the 2nd of December.
