We’re down to eight, as the regional finals are set to kickoff in less than 24 hours. Reviews of the second-round action, quarterfinal previews, unsettling police blotter news from Delaware, and more after the jump.<\/p>\n
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Mount Union Bracket<\/strong> (6)Alfred 34, at (2)Cortland State 20<\/a><\/span> Final preview: (6)Alfred at (1)Mount Union<\/span> Wesley Bracket<\/strong> at (2)Mary Hardin-Baylor 69, (3)Thomas More 7<\/a><\/span> Final preview: (2)Mary Hardin-Baylor at (1)Wesley<\/span> North Central Bracket<\/strong> at (2)Wisconsin-Whitewater 45, (3)Trine 31<\/a><\/span> Final preview: (2)Wisconsin-Whitewater at (1)North Central<\/span>
\nat (1)Mount Union 31, (4)Delaware Valley 3<\/a><\/span>
\nMount Union (12-0) steamrolled the Aggies behind 181 rushing yards from Jeremy Murray. The Purple Raiders will move on to their final home game of the season, while Delaware Valley finishes their campaign with a 9-3 record.<\/p>\n
\nMaybe Alfred (10-2) was underseeded after all. The Saxons pulled off their second straight upset, knocking off the Red Dragons behind 186 yards on the ground from freshman Austin Dwyer. Cortland concludes their year 10-2.<\/p>\n
\nAlfred finds themselves in a position many eastern teams have over the years: standing between Mount Union and the semifinals. It’s only fair to note that every time Mount Union has had a matchup against an east region team in this situation, they’ve won. Indeed, Mount Union hasn’t lost to a team other than Whitewater since October 2005. Alfred’s going to try and slow this game down on the ground, and they do have a strong offensive line to help them do that, but as much as I admire the Saxons’ tenacity I think this game is going to be a blowout.<\/p>\n
\nat (1)Wesley 44, (5)Montclair State 7<\/a><\/span>
\nWesley (11-0) erased a lot of doubts about whether they deserved their seed as they crushed Montclair, allowing the Red Hawks only 113 yards of total offense on the day and relying on turnovers to help pad the score. On the game’s seventh play, Wolverine CB Marcus Wilson picked off a Tom Fischer pass and ran it back 52 yards for the score, and Wesley never looked back. Montclair ends the year with a 10-2 mark.<\/p>\n
\nMary-Hardin Baylor (12-0) remained unbeaten with a resounding defeat of the Saints. It looked bad at the start, as UMHB fumbled on their own seven-yard line on the first offensive play of the game. However, Thomas More lost three yards on the drive, which ended with a blocked field goal, and the Crusaders took over from there. UMHB had 769 yards of offense on the day while limiting Thomas More to 259. The Saints, previously unbeaten, end the season 11-1.<\/p>\n
\nThis has the potential to be crazy. Both teams can obviously put points on the board, and Wesley has a hellacious defense. UMHB’s defense has also appeared to be stern, but they do have serious questions which have not been answered by playing several teams with questionable offenses. Perhaps the key question in this game is whether the arrest of four Wesley players for burglarizing dorm rooms over Thanksgiving break will serve as a distraction… or as motivation. The players in question aren’t important cogs, so I expect that Wesley will prevail here in a high-scoring affair.<\/p>\n
\nat (1)North Central 28, (4)Ohio Northern 9<\/a><\/span>
\nNorth Central (12-0) struggled early, but were able to overcome it and easily handled the Polar Bears. The game was scoreless until just under three minutes to go in the first half, when the Cardinals finally found the end zone; they scored again before halftime to essentially ice the game. Ohio Northern heads home with a 10-2 record on the year.<\/p>\n
\nSkepticism about the Thunder’s schedule made most people expect the Warhawks (12-0) to run away with this one, but Trine had the game tied at 31 as late as four minutes into the final period. Whitewater’s Lavell Coppage carried the ball 38 times for 300 (yes, 300) yards, which is only his second-best career rushing performance. (He had 386 in 2009 against Eau Claire.) UW-W’s Aaron Rusch broke the WIAC career receiving yardage record in the contest, as well; he now has 3,640 career yards. Trine suffers their first and only loss of the season, ending with an 11-1 record.<\/p>\n
\nWe could talk about North Central’s incredible defense and Whitewater’s sometimes lack of same. We could talk about Whitewater’s explosive offense and North Central’s fairly pedestrian one. I don’t think it’s going to matter; I think the key factor in this game is that Whitewater, the nation’s #1 ranked team, is so pissed off about having to go on the road this week they can’t see straight. The Warhawks should win this one.<\/p>\n