Hoping quarters can pay off big
Muhlenberg plays for berth in D-III semifinals, while Kutztown eyes spot in D-II
Muhlenberg College football coach Nate Milne doesn’t look at Saturday’s NCAA Division III quarterfinal against 13-time national champion Mount Union (noon at Alliance, Ohio) as a challenge.
“We see it as an opportunity,” Milne said. “This is an opportunity for our players to measure themselves against the gold standard and see where we are.
“We think we’re a pretty good team and we know Mount Union is a pretty good team, so it’s a tremendous opportunity for our players to showcase their talents and see what we’re made of.”
The Purple Raiders, ranked No. 4 in the nation, are led by quarterback Braxton Plunk. He threw four TD passes, including three during a 24-0 run that rallied Mount Union to a 45-35 win over Johns Hopkins last Saturday.
Plunk finished 21-for-36 passing for 256 yards against Johns Hopkins, a Centennial Conference rival of Muhlenberg. His 305 completions lead all Division III quarterbacks, his 40 touchdowns rank fourth nationally and his 3,815 yards are third in the nation.
Of course, 13th-ranked Muhlenberg has its own record-breaking quarterback in Michael Hnatkowsky. He has completed 287 of 402 passes for 3,582 yards and 44 touchdowns. The TD total is third-best in the country, and the Philadelphia native and William Penn Charter product has 12,414 passing yards and 141 TDs in a storied career.
This is the third consecutive season Muhlenberg (11-1) has reached the quarterfinals. In 2018, it lost to Mount Union 38-10 after scoring a touchdown in the first 3 ½ minutes and being held to a field goal the rest of the way.
In 2019, the Mules beat Salisbury
(Maryland) 24-8 in the quarterfinals but were routed at home by North Central (Illinois) 45-14 in the semifinals.
“Have we taken one more step — that’s the question,” Milne said. “We’ve made an Elite Eight before and we’ve made a Final Four before. But have we closed that gap between the national championship contenders and us? Are we in that next tier of elite programs?”
Asked about what it will take to win, Milne talked about an elephant.
“The old saying goes, ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ And the answer is one bite at a time,” Milne said. “We’ll have to go after these guys one play at a time, just like we do with each and every opponent. Our focus doesn’t change.
“We’re going to focus on what Muhlenberg does well, and we’ll see if that’s good enough on Saturday.”
Seeing film of Mount Union’s win over Johns Hopkins was helpful because the Mules previously played the Blue Jays.
“We actually saw a team on film that we played and know, so we can measure their kind of talent level,” Milne said. “When we played Del Val last week [a 14-0 win], we hadn’t played anyone who played them, so it was hard to judge their talent level and gauge the things they were doing. This week we have a better feel for our opponent, a better feel than we had for Del Val and especially our first playoff game against Framington State because we never have crossover [games] with the New England schools.”
Division II quarterfinals: Kutztown vs. Shepherd
Kutztown has already seen Shepherd University, its NCAA Division II quarterfinal-round opponent at 12:05 p.m. on Saturday at Andre Reed Stadium.
The Golden Bears (11-1) beat Shepherd 37-29 on Sept. 25 in West Virginia.
Kutztown, which has already tied a school record for wins in a season, is making its first appearance in the national quarterfinal and is going for its 11th straight win following a 29-26 loss to IUP on Sept. 11.
Following a bye in the first round of the NCAA D-II Tournament, Kutztown mustered just enough offense in a 10-7 win over New Haven in the second round to advance to what is considered the Super Region One championship game.
“I’m really proud of all these guys,” Kutztown coach Jim Clements said after the win. “It’s awesome to be able to play for the Super Region One title after we didn’t make it out of this game back in 2019. The guys worked extremely hard preparing these last two weeks and played really well today.”
In addition to Clements, who was named coach of the year, the Golden Bears had 13 players earn All-PSAC honors this season. The PSAC first-teamers included offensive lineman Albert Glasgow (Huntingdon Valley/Archbishop Wood) and Devin Hannan (Belle Vernon), wide receiver Jerome Kapp (Barto/Boyertown), defensive lineman Ryan Meyers (Hellertown/Saucon Valley), linebacker Amani Justice (Salem, New Jersey), defensive back Nick Palmer (Montville, New Jersey./Bergen Catholic) and punter Dean Krcic (Saylorsburg/ Pleasant Valley).
Shepherd (12-1) has the top-ranked offense in Division II and is coming