Wildcats & Valor Meet in NAIA Championship Series 2nd Round Action
MCKENZIE, Tenn. –The No. 7 Bethel University Wildcats will meet the No. 9 Valor of Evangel University Saturday in Wildcat Stadium at 1 p.m. in the second round of the NAIA Championship (FCS). Gates will open at 11:15 a.m.
The game will be the 500th game in program history.
It will be the first meeting ever between the two programs.
Bethel received an At-Large bid while Evangel qualified by being the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Kessinger Division Champion.
The Wildcats were 10-1 on the season while Evangel was undefeated at 11-0.
Bethel is 22-2 in the last 24 games the program has played.
Bethel finished the regular season at 10-1 and 5-1 in league play. The Cats were 6-1 in home action and 4-0 on the road on the season.
It will mark Bethel's seventh appearance in the NAIA FCS Playoffs. They last appeared in 2022. Bethel is 3-6 all-time in the FCS. Prior to 2018, Bethel had not appeared in the championship series since 2012. The No. 7 ranking is third best to when the Cats were ranked No. 3 in 2018 and No. 4 in 2022.
It will mark Evangel's eighth appearance and first since 2005 in the series.
Game Coverage:
Listen:
WEIO, 100.9 and at https://streamdb6web.securenetsystems.net/v5/WEIO
The Countdown to Kick-off Show begins at 12:30 p.m.
Live video: https://bethelathletics.com/WildcatVision
https://www.bethelathletics.com/sports/fball/2023-24/boxscores/20231125_uv90.xml
Tickets & Fan Attendance:
Purchase tickets in advance at:
https://www.bethelathletics.com/tickets
Tickets can also be purchased digitally at the gate. It will be a cashless gate.
Gates open at 11:15 a.m. (CST)
Admission 10.00
Student 5.00
12 & under free admission
(NAIA passes only)
Evangel, located in Springfield, Missouri is 11-0 on the season.
Bethel is one of two MSC teams to make it to the playoffs. Georgetown is also in the field.
Bethel's Joaquin Collazo III has 33 touchdown passes on the season. That is best ever by a Wildcat quarterback. Nolan Chowbay held the Bethel record for most in a season at 30 while Sam Castronova had 28 in 2018. Collazo has 3, 102 passing yards this year. That is second only to Chowbay who had 3,232 in 2021.
JD Dixon has 1, 101 receiving yards which is best ever in a season. Dixon has 67 receptions on the season with 16 of those being for touchdowns. His 16 touchdown receptions are the most ever in a single season. Dixon is the all-time leader in career receiving yards with 3, 218.
Jaylen Taylor has 60 receptions this season. Ten of those have been for touchdowns.
Avont Burrus has caught 35 passes with four of those being for touchdowns. Fourteen different players have caught passes this year for the Wildcats. Eight different players have touchdown receptions. The Cats have passed for 36 touchdowns while giving up eight on the year.
Martize Smith leads Bethel in rushing yards with 658. The Wildcats have rushed for 23 scores while the defense has yielded just ten on the season.
Six different Wildcats captured MSC Player of the Week Awards. Collazo won the award five times. He has won the award nine times during his career.
Andrew Welch has 97 points this year. It is the most ever in a season by a Wildcat kicker.
The Wildcats average 44.6 points per game and yield just 12.6 per outing. Bethel averages 451.4 yards in total offense per game. The defense yields 219.4 per contest. The Cats average 288 yards in the air and 163 on the ground.
The Cats have scored 42 touchdowns on 59 Red Zone possessions this year.
Bethel has 37 sacks this season and is led by Jerwin Young who has six on the year. Bethel's defense has 20 interceptions this season.
Demetrice Gilbert has 17 career interceptions which is the most in program history.
Xavier King finished the regular season with 18 career sacks which is a Wildcat record.
Brian Hughes leads the squad in total tackles with 73.
Bethel's defense posted 89 TFL's during the regular season.
Collazo III was named the MSC Offensive Player of the Year. It is the second straight season Collazo has captured the award. Eight Wildcats were named to the MSC 1st Team All-Conference squad. Eight Wildcats were named to the 2nd Team All-Conference unit. Jay Bright was named the MSC Assistant Coach of the Year. For complete details on all those receiving honors visit the football page at https://bethelathletics.com/sports/fball/index
Sixteen Wildcats were named to the MSC All-Academic team. Andrew Welch was Bethel's Champions of Character recipient.
Coach Michael Jasper is in his fifth year as head coach of the Wildcats. He is 36-15 at Bethel.
The Valor arrives in McKenzie at 11-0. This marks Evangel's first playoff game since the 2005 season, when they defeated McKendree in the first round and fell to Morningside in the second round.
The Valor averages 31.3 points per game. They yield 14.9 points per game.
EU averages 419.5 yards per game. They yield 262.7 yards per game.
Evangel has scored 30 times in 48 of their Red Zone possessions.
The Valor defense has 25 sacks on the year.
Eric Williams has 733 rushing yards for Evangel. He has nine touchdowns. Evangel has 19 rushing touchdowns and has given up 11 on the season. They average 174.1 rushing yards per game.
Quarterback R J Wakley has thrown for 2, 616 yards and averages 237.8 per outing. He has thrown for 27 touchdowns and been intercepted 12 times.
Evangel receiver Dillon Hester was named the KCAC Offensive Player of the Year.
Bradley Myers was named the KCAC Defensive Player of the Year. He leads the NAIA in tackles and tackles per game. Myers's 139 tackles rank 7th most in program history in a season.
Chuck Hepola is in his eighth season at Evangel and is 52-30. He earned his third conference Coach of the Year honors as he was named KCAC Coach of the Year. Defensive Coordinator Jeremy DeSoto was named the KCAC Assistant Coach of the Year.