Advance tickets for Saturday's NCAA Football Playoff game between Capital and Mount Union will be on sale Tuesday from 1-6 p.m. and Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. in the athletic department offices on the second floor of The Capital Center. All seats at Mount Union Stadium are reserved seats and tickets are $8 for adults, $4 for students with an ID and NO PASSES are accepted. Tickets will also be available Saturday when the gates open at 10:30 a.m. at Mount Union Stadium in Alliance, Ohio.
Another rematch as No. 4 Capital hosts North Central in NCAA Second Round
Capital University hosts the Cardinals of North Central (Ill.) College in an NCAA Division III Football Championship second-round game Saturday at noon in Bernlohr Stadium.
It is a rematch of the 2005 first-round NCAA playoff game that the Crusaders won 21-19 in Naperville, Ill.
How we got where we are today
Capital, ranked No. 4 in the nation, moved to 10-1 and matched its school record for wins in a season with a 32-14 victory over Wittenberg University in a first-round game last Saturday in Columbus.
Capital senior quarterback Rocky Pentello (Columbus/Westerville South) had a career-high 423 passing yards and fellow senior Mike Niedzwiecki (Norwalk/Norwalk St. Paul) had a career-high 12 catches for 232 yards, as the Crusader offense generated a season-high 566 yards.
North Central (9-2) also tied its school-record for wins in a season and exacted a little revenge with a 35-6 win over Concordia (Wis.) University last Saturday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Cardinals fell to Concordia, 30-24 in double overtime, in their season opener. Senior quarterback Kam Kniss threw three touchdown passes and freshman runningback Dominic Sulo ran for a game-high 92 yards in the win.
North Central won its first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championship in 48 years to claim an automatic berth into the NCAA Football Championship.
Follow the game live
Fans in Central Ohio can listen to Capital football live on the radio on the flagship station of WFCO 90.9 FM or on WXOL 1550AM and simulcast online everywhere at www.capitalcrusaders.net. This week the broadcast starts with the Capital Countdown pregame show at 11:30 a.m. Veteran Columbus broadcaster Randy Rhinehart will handle the play-by-play along with Capital alumnus David Lewis '71 on color and Matt Waddell on the sidelines.
Postseason history
Capital is 3-2 and making its second-straight and third-ever appearance in the NCAA Football Championship. Last year, Capital was the only team to win two road games to reach the national quarterfinals, where Mount Union rallied late in the fourth quarter to beat the Crusaders, 34-31. Capital's other NCAA playoff appearance came in 1987 when then-coach and now athletic director Roger Welsh led Capital to its only OAC championship. Capital lost its first round game, 52-21, at then-NCAA Division III football member University of Dayton. Capital hosted and won the 1970 Stagg Bowl with a 34-21 victory over Luther (Iowa) College, but the NCAA did not start a championship playoff or make the Stagg Bowl the championship game until 1973.
North Central is making its second-straight and second-ever appearance in the NCAA Football Championship. The Cardinals are 1-1 in post-season play notching the program's first win last week against Concordia (Wis.).
Scouting the Cardinals
North Central features an all-everything quarterback with a deep receiving corps, a talented runningback and an opportunistic defense.
Senior quarterback Kam Kniss is the CCIW's most prolific passer and 15th all-time in NCAA Division III in passing yards leads the offense. He has 29 touchdown passes and just seven interceptions. His favorite target is fellow senior Eric Stuedemann who has 72 receptions for 870 yards and a touchdown, while freshman runningback Dominic Sulo has over 1,000 yards rushing with nine touchdowns on the ground.
The defense has allowed only 15.9 points per game with 22 sacks and 20 interceptions. Senior linebacker Chris Bazant leads the team in tackles, junior defensive end Eric Schmidt has 6.5 sacks, while defensive backs in senior Tim Bellazzini and sophomore Tyler Venier each have five interceptions.
Up Next …
The winner of this game moves to the North Region final against the winner of a matchup between No. 1 in the nation Mount Union College and No. 18 Wheaton (Ill.) College in Alliance, Ohio.