WAVERLY, Iowa-- The No. 10/11 Wartburg football team (10-1 overall) will host No. 21 Bethel (10-2) in the Third Round (Sweet Sixteen) of the NCAA Playoffs on Saturday, Dec. 7 at 12 p.m. The Knights won the American Rivers Conference Championship for the automatic bid and the Royals earned an at-large bid.The Royals are ranked in the D3football.com poll but not the AFCA poll. 

Tickets

• $10 adults
• $7 seniors/students/children (5-18)
• Free: Children under 5
• Ticket window will open at 9 a.m.
• Gates will open at 10:30 a.m.
• No passes accepted.
• Wartburg students: Student Senate and ETK will cover the cost of tickets for Wartburg students. Please show your Wartburg ID at the east gate. 

Follow the Knights
The game will be televised on ESPN+ (subscription required). 
Click here for the live stats.
Click here for the live audio, provided by KWAY.
Click here for the complete bracket. 

The Series
Bethel owns the slim lead at 5-4 and is 3-1 in NCAA Playoff meetings. The last playoff matchup was in 2018 in Minnesota. The Knights won the regular season game last season in Arden Hills, 16-0. Of the 24 teams the Orange and Black have faced in the Playoffs, they've now faced Bethel five times. The next highest is UW-Whitewater at four meetings, Saint John's three times, and Linfield and UW-La Crosse twice.

Media Availability
Coach Winter


Student-athletes


Click here to read the game preview story from D3football.com.

Wartburg
This is the 17th appearance and third-straight in the NCAA Playoffs in program history for the Knights. The Orange and Black are 18-16 in the NCAA Playoffs. Wartburg is 52-3 in the last 10 season in Walston-Hoover Stadium and is 10-1 in its last 11 playoff games at home. 

Wartburg earned the automatic bid with its third-straight American Rivers Conference Championship. This is the third time that the Knights have qualified for the NCAA Playoffs for the third-straight year.

Dawson Rud leads the team on the ground with 1,024 yards and nine touchdowns. Six teammates join him above 100 yards with Joey Anderson follows at 294, Carter Markham at 233, Ben Bryant at 203, Leo Dodd at 178, Bricen White at 157, and Levi Pingel at 120.

Rud became the 20th player in program history to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a season. This is also the third-straight year the Knights have had a 1,000 yard rusher.

Quarterback Markham is 113-177-4 and has thrown for 1,416  yards and 13 TDs. 

Carter Henry leads the receivers with 34 catches for 501 yards and six touchdowns. John McConohy follows at 323 yards, Jagger Schmitt has 321 yards, Drake George  has 300, Dylan Swanstrom at 275,  and Justis Bachman at 104.

Keenan Tyler leads the defense with 100 tackles. Conner McDonald, Christian Nunley, and Jake Walker all have 6.0 TFLs and McDonald leads the team with 3.5 sacks.

Cael O'Neill is 45-48 in PATs and has nine field goals. 

Career Record Watch 
George is first in pass receptions (193), sixth in pass reception yards (2,280), and sixth in pass reception TDs (20). Carter Henry is seventh in pass reception yards (1,977), pass receptions (130), and in receiving TDs (18).

O'Neill is first in PATs (170), second in field goals (31), and sixth in points (268). Ben Bryant is first in punt return yards (1,005) and punt returns (83). 

Parker Rochford is tied for first in interception return TDs (4), tied for third in interceptions (18), and tied for seventh in pass breakups (26).

Nate Link is tied for seventh in fumble returns (2) and Justin Grieff is seventh in quarterback hurries (9). 

Season Record Watch
O'Neill is ninth in PATs (45) and tied for seventh in field goals (9). 

Grieff is tied for sixth in fumble returns (2).

National Stat Rankings
The Knights are ranked in the top 50 in 19 various national rankings. They rank sixth in defensive touchdowns (6), sixth in rushing defense (52.1), seventh in turnover margin (1.36), ninth in winning percentage (.909), 11^th in turnovers gained (26), 15^th in passes intercepted (16), 17^th in punt return defense (2.36), 17^th in rushing offense (213.5), 21^st in fourth down conversion percentage defense (.290), 21^st in fumbles recovered (10), 22^nd in red zone defense (.636), 26^th in scoring defense (15.1), 27^th in blocked punts (2), 28^th in red zone offense (.878), 33^rd in first downs offense (238), 41^st in team passing efficiency (159.09), 42^nd in scoring offense (35.1), 44^th in completion percentage (.646), and 50^th in third down conversion percentage (.455).
 
The Knights have five individual athletes who rank in the top 50 in various national rankings.
 
Dawson Rud ranks 28^th in rush yards per carry (6.24), 34^th in rushing yards (1,024), and 47^th in rushing yards per game (93.1).
 
Cael O'Neill ranks seventh in field goal percentage (.818) and 41^st in field goals per game (.82).
 
Kennan Tyler ranks 50^th in solo tackles (5.1) and 50^th in total tackles (9.1).
 
Ben Bryant ranks 28^th in punt returns (10.2)
 
Justin Grieff ranks 34^th in fumble recoveries (2).

Bethel
The Royals are in the NCAA Playoffs for the fourth-straight year. 

Aaron Ellingson leads the tem with 919 rushing yards and 18 TDs. Quarterback Cooper Drews has thrown for 3,353 yards for 40 scores. Joey Kidder and Micah Niewald co-lead the receivers with 109 catches each. Kidder has 1,270 receiving yards for 18 TDs and Niewald has 1,132 yards for 10 scores.

Matt Jung has 91 tackles and Caden DeWall has 25 TFLs with 19 sacks.