By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com

Call it Groundhog Day for Concordia (Wis.) and North Central, but the two conference champions will be playing the same game over again when they take the field Saturday in the first round of the playoffs at Wisconsin Lutheran’s Raabe Stadium in Milwaukee.

On Sept. 9, it was Concordia’s second game and North Central’s first game in Naperville, Ill. when the Falcons beat the Cardinals 30-24 in double overtime. The thrilling victory, one called one of the biggest in school history for Concordia, propelled the Falcons to a perfect 10-0 season. The loss knocked North Central out of the Top 25 but the Cardinals managed to find themselves after a second loss to Wheaton, capturing the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin’s automatic bid.

When both teams hit the field, both coaches said it will be a new start and the September game is in the history books.

"We just didn’t block and tackle well that day," said North Central coach Jim Thorne. "We’re hoping to make it look a lot more like football this time. They’re a very good team. They’ve got lots of speed and huge linemen on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. It’s going to be a real challenge and we’re glad to have an opportunity to show that we can play better."

Concordia coach Jeff Gabrielsen said he didn’t think the first game, played two and a half months ago, would give Concordia any kind of emotional edge.

"I think in the playoffs it’s a little nicer if you play someone you haven’t played before just for the excitement," Gabrielsen said. "It couldn’t have been a more even game the first time around. If we had played a couple of weeks ago it may have meant more but [the first game] was light-years ago. It was their first game, our second game and now we’re into our 11th game. That’s something they remember on paper, but it’s not as fresh in the mind as you might think."

Both coaches agreed the one of the big keys to the game will be Concordia’s running game and North Central’s ability to stop it. It was Concordia’s run game that managed to keep the Cardinal’s pass-happy offense at bay in the first contest.

"We’ve got to run the ball," said Gabrielsen. "If we can’t run the ball, we’re in the wrong offense. We must have some run success for us to be in the game. The success in the run game will give us some success in our passing game. If we run the ball, we can chew up some clock and keep their high powered offense off the field."

Thorne, likewise, said stopping Concordia’s running attack will be a top priority for North Central’s defensive unit.

"They ran it all over the place against us the first time," Thorne said. "We made many adjustments and we actually ended up the No. 1 rushing defense in the conference giving up only 89 yards per game during our seven conference games. Hopefully we learned how to tackle a little bit. We want to slow down their run game a little bit so we’ve been working hard this week just like I’m sure they’ve been working hard."

Gabrielsen said North Central has looked strong in the second half of the season and games, like it’s 27-0 victory over Augustana, has the attention of his football team.

"I think North Central’s playing really well right now," Gabrielsen said. "They’re playing a lot better and have made a couple of adjustments with their personnel and hopefully we’re doing the same. I think both teams have progressed through the season."

Thorne said last year’s first round loss, 21-19 against Capital, was a building block for his team this year. He said he will see Saturday how much his Cardinals have moved forward.

"The players were very hungry to try to get back," Thorne said. "It’s been 46 years since North Central had won a conference title. Our guys got it done this year. We’re tickled to death, but they’re not satisfied. They still want to play more football. They’re having fun and we’re fairly healthy."

No disappointments for Mount St. Joseph

If the Mount St. Joseph Lions were disappointed about losing to Thomas More the final game of the season and losing out on a possible home game Saturday in the first round of the playoffs, you’ll never hear it in the voice of coach Rod Huber. Mount St. Joseph, the champions of the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference, will travel to suburban Chicago to take on nationally-ranked Wheaton in the first round playoff tilt.

"We feel pretty fortunate that we’re one of 32 (Division III) teams still practicing football today," Huber said. "There is no disappointment on our end at all. We don’t think like that. We’re looking so forward to being in Chicago this Saturday and playing Wheaton College, a great program and somewhere we’re hoping to take our program in the very near future. We consider it a huge challenge."

Speaking of Groundhog Day, this is a repeat of the 2004 first round matchup between the two teams, where Wheaton beat Mount St. Joseph, making its first-ever trip to the playoffs, 31-7. Huber said he has about 15 players who were part of that team and that experience may prove to be beneficial.

"We went over the old video and scouting reports and noticed that it was very similar," Huber said. "We were able to see what we did work for us and what didn’t work for us and how to tweak our game plan. They have some better personnel in some spots and we have some better players in spots. They are a very good ball club that’s very physical. We never claimed going into this thing that we were going to be a 10-0 team, but our kids fear nothing."

Huber said, though, this is only the beginning for a program that was 0-10 as recently as 2001, but in the last three seasons is 28-4, including playoff games.

"This program was built on adversity," Huber said. "We’ve overcome a ton of adversity to get to this point. First we started to recruit players that came from winning programs. These kids know that football is a 12-month proposition now and it was never like that before. They get in the weight room year around. The commitment and attitude of the players were the biggest changes we saw. And winning, like losing, is contagious."

Huber said he hopes to spread that winning disease around the Lions locker room for at least one more game.