While the high school football playoffs crown their State Champions on Friday and Sunday, the MSR team is bringing you additional playoff football on Saturday. Live, from the press box at Ray and Sue Smith Stadium in Holland, MSR will be on the call for the Second Round NCAA Division III Football Playoff game between Hope College and UW-La Crosse.

GAME INFO:

NCAA Division III Football Playoffs – Second Round

Hope College (9-1, 6-1 MIAA) vs UW-La Crosse (7-2, 5-2 WIAC)

Game Time: Saturday November 29, 12:00 ET

Free Live Audio: Michigan Sports Radio

 

HOPE COLLEGE

The Flying Dutchmen are back in the postseason for the second straight season. Last year, they won their opening game against Aurora before falling to North Central in the third round. The second round victory was the school’s first-ever win in the postseason (1-6). This year, they took second in the MIAA, with their lone loss coming amidst controversy in a 29-26 defeat to Alma College. Since that defeat, hope has won six straight games, five by 20+ points. Two of those wins came in rivalry routs of Calvin (52-0) and Kalamazoo (56-21).

Hope has outscored their opponents by an average of 46.4-15.0 this season. Alex Thole has completed 72% of his passes, racking up 2,640 yards and 20 touchdowns. The Flying Dutchmen average 5.5 yards per carry, with three rushers exceeding 500 yards on the season: Trey Goike (556), Kal Motter (521) and AJ Martel (503). Jonny Rohen-Blanton is the top receiving threat with 819 yards on the season.

Defensively, the Flying Dutch are anchored by MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, Liam Danitz, who has 13 sacks. Other All-Conference first-team honorees include H-Back Seth Luhmann, offensive lineman Rob MacAleese, defensive lineman Caleb Paarlberg, cornerback Austin Harvey, safety Owen Graham, and kicker Caden Balkon.

 

UW-LA CROSSE

The Eagles are back in the playoffs for the fifth straight season, as one of the four playoff qualifiers from the WIAC. La Crosse has won at least one playoff game in each of the past two years. La Crosse has beaten several strong teams, including Carnegie Mellon (38-14), UW-Whitewater (23-20), UW-Oshkosh (44-13) and UW-Stout (31-14). Their two defeats came against fellow playoff qualifiers UW-Platteville (38-21) and UW-River Falls (41-7).

La Crosse is outscoring opponents at an average of 30.2-20.3. Kyle Haas completes about 69% of his passes, racking up 1,756 yards and 16 touchdowns. Gabe Lynch leads the ground game with 541 yards and six touchdowns, but six different Eagles have scored rushing touchdowns. Jack Janke has been a dominant receiving threat, as the junior has 895 yards and 10 touchdowns on 65 catches.

Henry Walsh has a team high 4.5 sacks on defense, while Sam Baumgard and Trent Mullen each have three interceptions. All-WIAC first-team honorees include offensive lineman Dain Walter, running back Gabe Lynch, wide receiver Jack Janke, defensive lineman Christian Powell, defensive back Trent Mullen, kicker Michael Stack, and punter Ethan Tranel.

 

FIRST MEETING

This is the first meeting between these schools. Hope has played three other WIAC schools with a 1-3 all-time record. The lone win came in 2002 against UW-Platteville. La Crosse has only played one MIAA team, defeating Albion in 2021.