Post by skrapheap on Dec 15, 2019 23:34:55 GMT -6
UW-Whitewater will play in the Championship game of the NCAA D3 Football tournament on Friday night.
It's first time the Warhawks have gotten to the final since Lance Leipold was hired to coach a D1 football program in Buffalo, NY, after the 2014 season. Kevin Bullis took over then, and while he had led the program back to the tournament multiple times in his previous four seasons as coach, it is only this year that the Warhawks have gotten back to the final.
Whitewater has made the final nine times previously, and won six.
This year may be one of the more impressive coaching jobs Bullis has done, as the Warhawks were not nearly as dominant as previous teams have been. They received an at-large tournament bid as they lost the WIAC title to UW-Oshkosh. While not overwhelming, the team has been good enough to win four games in the tournament. They eliminated the second-seeded team (Universe of Mary Hardin Baylor) on the road in the quarterfinals, 26-7, thanks to a strong defensive effort. They had to pull out a late win at home against St John's University (MN) in the semi-final, getting a late field goal to take a 35-32 lead and then stopped St John's to hold on for the win.
Their opponent in the final will be North Central College (in the Chicago area).
It's first time the Warhawks have gotten to the final since Lance Leipold was hired to coach a D1 football program in Buffalo, NY, after the 2014 season. Kevin Bullis took over then, and while he had led the program back to the tournament multiple times in his previous four seasons as coach, it is only this year that the Warhawks have gotten back to the final.
Whitewater has made the final nine times previously, and won six.
This year may be one of the more impressive coaching jobs Bullis has done, as the Warhawks were not nearly as dominant as previous teams have been. They received an at-large tournament bid as they lost the WIAC title to UW-Oshkosh. While not overwhelming, the team has been good enough to win four games in the tournament. They eliminated the second-seeded team (Universe of Mary Hardin Baylor) on the road in the quarterfinals, 26-7, thanks to a strong defensive effort. They had to pull out a late win at home against St John's University (MN) in the semi-final, getting a late field goal to take a 35-32 lead and then stopped St John's to hold on for the win.
Their opponent in the final will be North Central College (in the Chicago area).