WAVERLY, Iowa—The No. 12/12 Wartburg football team (12-0 overall) will host Aurora (11-1) in an NCAA Playoff Quarterfinal game Saturday, Dec. 3 at noon at Walston-Hoover Stadium. This marks the first time the Knights will host this round in program history, and first home game in the month of December in school history.

The Knights won the American Rivers Conference Championship, and the Spartans won the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NAAC) Championship for the automatic bids.

Click here for the complete bracket.

Tickets
$8 adults
$5 seniors/students/children (3-18)
Free: Children under 3
Gates open at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
Credit cards, debit cards, and cash all accepted.

Follow the Knights
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Click here for the live stats. 
 
Press Clippings
Click here to read the feature story on Thomas Butters. 
Click here to listen to Coach Winter's interview on Radio Iowa.
Click here to watch the story on KWWL.
Click here to read the feature story by D3football.com.
Click here to read the preview story from the Waterloo Courier.

The Series
Aurora holds the all-time series lead at 4-1, though the programs have not met since 1993. The Knights won that meeting 27-7.

Wartburg
This is the fifth trip to the Quarterfinal round in program history, and this is the 15^th appearance in the NCAA Playoffs for the Knights. 
 
Senior Hunter Clasen leads the team with 1,349 yards on the ground and 17 touchdowns. He is the 18th member of the 1,000 season rushing yards club. Senior Nile McLaughlin (Eldridge) has thrown for 2,576 yards and 22 touchdowns.
 
Drake George leads the receivers with 592 yards, and Thomas Butters leads the group with five TD catches.
 
Ben Bryant, who set the season record for punt return yards last year, leads the team with 20 punt returns for 317 yards. He also has 388 rushing yards for five touchdowns, and 145 receiving yards for two touchdowns.
 
Senior Owen Grover leads the defense with 86 tackles, and junior Nate Link follows with 80 tackles.
 
Senior Jordan Downing leads the team with 15.0 TFLs and 10.5 sacks.

Career Record Watch
Ben Bryant is third in punt return yards (666), fifth in average yards/punt return (14.5), and tied for fifth in punt return TDs (1).

Clasen is 10th in rushing TDs (27) and Cael O'Neill is tied for seventh in field goals (13).

Antonio Santillan is tied for fifth in interception return TDs (1), tied for sixth in assisted tackles (131), and eighth in total tackles (260). Downing is eighth in sacks (18.5) and tied for eighth in yards from TFLs (160).

Season Record Watch
O'Neill is tied for second in field goals (12), and fourth in PATs (50). McLaughlin is fourth in pass completions (221) and 10th in passing TDs (22).
 
Bryant is third in punt return yards (317) and fifth in average yards/punt return (15.9). Clasen is tied for fifth in rushing TDs (17), fifth in rushing yards (1,349), and tied for seventh in total TDs (17).
 
Downing is fourth in yards from sacks (80), tied for sixth in fumbles forced (2), and tied for fifth in sacks (10.5).

As a team, Wartburg is tied for first in punt return TDs (3), second in rushing TDs ( 38), tied for second in field goals (12), third in punt return yards (491), sacks (41), yards from sacks (294) and yards from TFLs (474), tied for third in interceptions (25), fourth in points (492), PATs (56) and total TDs (66), fifth in pass completions (229), seventh in pass receptions (229) and TFLs (95), eighth in rushing yards (2,584), 10th in passing yards (2,703) and pass reception yards (2,698).

Active NCAA Home Win Streaks 11/4
Alabama (FBS) – 20
North Central, Ill. (III) – 20
Wartburg (III) – 18
Montana State (FCS) – 18
Northwest Mo. St. (II) – 18
Georgia (FBS) – 18
Mary Hardin Baylor (III) – 17
Aurora (III) – 17
Notre Dame, Ohio (II) – 16

Wartburg has won its last 18 home contests, which dates back to September 29th, 2018 when Simpson defeated the Knights 37-36 in overtime.
 
Wartburg is 52-4 in the last 10 season at Walston-Hoover Stadium
 
The Knights have gone 51 games without losing at home in regulation. The last home Wartburg loss in regulation was to Coe on November 2, 2013 (24-10).

National Stat Rankings
Wartburg ranks in the top 50 of 26 national stat ranking categories. The Knights are: first in rushing defense (43.4), turnovers gained (40), and winning percentage (1.000), second in interceptions (25), turnover margin (2.17) and red zone defense (.476), third in scoring defense (7.2), eighth in fourth down conversion percentage defense (.241), fourth in fumbles recovered (15), fifth in team passing efficiency defense (86.52), eighth in total defense (212.3), 10th in third down conversion percentage defense (.266), 12th in team sacks (3.42), 13th in first downs offense (273), 14th in blocked punts (3) and punt returns (16.79), 16th in scoring offense (41.0), 20th in defensive TDs (3), 22nd in rushing offense (216.7), 24th in sacks allowed (1.00) and team TFLs (7.9), 26th in total offense (441.9), 31st in TFLs (4.33), 44th in passing yards allowed (168.9), 47th in blocked kicks (4), and 48th in kickoff return defense (16.17).

Individually, 11 players rank in the top 50.

Clasen is sixth in rushing yards (1,349), 13th in rush yards/carry (6.58) and total TDs (17), 14th in points (102), 20th in rushing yards/game (112.4), 30th in scoring (8.5), and 32nd in all purpose yards/game (133.17).

McLaughlin is fifth in rushing TDs (17), 31st in passing yards (2,576), 39th in passing TDs (22), and 48th in completions/game (18.42).

O'Neill is 10th in field goal percentage (.800), 13th in field goals/game (1.00), and 39th in points (86).

Parker Rochford is 11th in passes defended (1.6), and Downing, Justin Grieff, Grover and Trent Roling are 25th in fumbles recovered (2).

Grover and Rochford are 46th in interceptions/game (.4).

Bryant is sixth in punt returns (15.8) and Downing is 37th in sacks (.88).

Thane Alexander, Rochford and Kaleb Lamphier are eighth in punt return TDs (1).

Aurora
This is the seventh overall appearance and third-straight trip the NCAA Playoffs for the Spartans.

Jhe'Quay Chretin leads the team with 1,571 rushing yards and 14 TDs. Quarterback Josh Swanson has thrown for 3,297 yards and 51 TDs.

Trey Madsen has 944 receiving yards and 17 TD catches. Cameron Moore follows with 913 receiving yards and 10 TDs.

Marcellus Romious leads the defense with 99 total tackles and 14.5 TFLs.