Lakeland University will try for its second perfect mark in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in the last three years when it hosts Rockford University for it regular season finale Saturday at noon at Taylor Field.
The Muskies (7-2 overall, 5-0 NACC) have already clinched at least a share of their fourth straight conference championship and their third consecutive trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs, and they'll look to wrap up the outright NACC title and match their 6-0 mark in league in 2015. Lakeland will do so on Senior Day, with 12 players to be honored before their final home game, and once again brings the No. 1-ranked offense in Division III into the game.
The Muskies downed Concordia Chicago 49-13 last week, as Dezmon Eddie (So.-Alexandria, La.) set a school single-game rushing record with 308 yards, the third-most yards rushing by any player in Division III this season. The Muskies rushed for 418 yards as a team, with freshman Larry Rivers (94 yards) also nearly topping the 100-yard mark. Lakeland built a 35-0 halftime lead and also got considerable help from a defense that forced four turnovers and added 10 passes broken up and five sacks among 15 tackles for loss.
Rockford (1-7 overall, 1-4 NACC) lost to Kalamazoo (Mich.) 13-6 in a low-scoring non-conference game last week. The Regents tied the game in the fourth quarter on a Eric Mackey's 15-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Hausladen, but the Hornets responded with the go-ahead score with 6:58 left and then held after Rockford drove down to the Kalamazoo 4-yard line in the final minutes.
Lakeland is a perfect 9-0 all-time against Rockford entering this game and won last year in Rockford 52-30, in both teams' regular season finale. The Muskies overwhelmed the Regents in the first half, building a 50-0 lead, before Rockford scored 24 points in the third quarter to put a brief scare into Lakeland.
Lakeland will provide live stats and live video for the game at
http://www.lakelandmuskies.com/muskieslive. Lakeland students Nathan Golownia and Austin Hansen will call all the action.
For the rest of Saturday's game notes please click
here.
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