Wartburg Will Host Football Playoff Opener

Wartburg will open the NCAA Division-III football playoffs at home this weekend.

The fifth-ranked Knights will host No. 20 St. Thomas (Minnesota) in the first-round of the national playoffs. Kick-off is set for noon Saturday at Walston-Hoover Stadium in Waverly.

The winner plays a second-round game against either St. John's (Minnesota) or St. Scholastica (Minnesota) on November 29th at a site to be announced.

Pairings for the NCAA Division-III football playoffs were announced late Sunday afternoon (November 16, 2014). For the complete bracket, click here.

Wartburg will be making its 11th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and eighth under Head Coach Rick Willis. The Knights have six all-time post-season wins, including a 41-7 upset of 14th-ranked Illinois Wesleyan in the first-round of the 2013 playoffs.

Saturday's game will be the first-ever meeting between Wartburg and St. Thomas.

Wartburg (10-0) capped its fourth perfect regular season in program history with a record-setting 81-21 win over Loras on Saturday (November 15th). The Knights earned an automatic bid to the 32-team tournament by winning the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) championship for the second-straight year.

St. Thomas (8-2) received an at-large bid to the playoffs after tying for second in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) with Concordia-Moorhead and Bethel. Wartburg posted a 31-14 win over Bethel on September 13th.

Both teams feature high-powered offenses that are led by junior quarterbacks. Wartburg's Logan Schrader (Killdeer, Ill.) has thrown for 2,574 yards and 27 touchdowns while completing 155 of 241 passes with five interceptions. John Gould (Mendota Heights, Minn.) has started the last 14 quarters for St. Thomas. In nine games, he's thrown for 1,145 yards and 14 TDs while completing 81 of 117 passes with four interceptions.

Wartburg has scored 40 or more points in eight of its 10 games this season, while the Tommies have tallied 45 or more points in six of its 10 contests.

Both teams set school records with the number of points they scored during the regular season. The Knights tallied 453 points and scored 40 or more in eight of their 10 games. St. Thomas totaled 457 points and scored 45 or more six times.

The Tommies have a 66-9 record over the last six seasons with one Stagg Bowl (national title game) appearance, one trip to the national semifinals, and two other quarterfinal appearances. They played for the national championship in 2012.