Last week, Lakeland defeated Rockford 31-6 for its sixth straight victory. Lakeland has relied on its offense much of the season, but the defense led the way for long stretches against the Regents. The Muskies held the guests to 35 yards rushing on 38 attempts and just 173 yards for the game while also piling up six sacks. Michael Whitley led the offense with 277 yards passing and 87 yards rushing, accounting for four touchdowns and also setting a new Lakeland single season record for total offense. Kezlow Smith caught three touchdown passes from Whitley among his 10 receptions for 114 yards, and his 13 TD receptions this season tie the school single-season record set by Matt Pawlyk in 2008.
 

Benedictine stayed on track for this weekend's season-ending battle of NACC unbeatens by rallying to defeat Aurora 32-24. Benedictine fell behind 17-0 in the game's first 7:38 but battled back, finally taking the lead on a 41-yard touchdown run by Derek Miles on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Eagles added an insurance touchdown with just over a minute to play and won their sixth straight game. Ryan Sample threw for 292 yards and two touchdowns, withstanding three interceptions, while Elijah Walker caught five of his passes for 125 yards and a score.

This is the 48th meeting all-time between Lakeland and Benedictine, the most-played series in Muskies' history and one that dates back to when Lakeland was known as Mission House College and Benedictine was named St. Procopius College. The Muskies hold a 27-20 lead in the all-time series, though the Eagles won last year's meeting with a 16-0 victory in Lisle, Ill., in both teams' season finale.

This also will be the second straight year in which the two teams have met with the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference title on the line. The Eagles' win over Lakeland last year resulted in a three-way tie between the two teams plus Wisconsin Lutheran for first in the NACC standings. The three teams all went 1-1 against each other in league play, and the tiebreaker eventually came down to point differential between tri-champions in their games against each other, with a maximum of 21 points differential allowed per game, per conference tiebreaker agreement. Benedictine and Lakeland both finished with a +10 differential in the tiebreaker, ahead of the -5 for WLC, meaning the tie reverted back to the head-to-head winner between the two tied teams, putting the Eagles in the playoffs. Lakeland finished one point out of the playoff spot; if they had lost by just 15 points to Benedictine instead of 16, it would've been the Muskies in the playoffs last season.

Saturday also marks the return of former Muskies head coach Kevin Doherty, who is now the offensive coordinator/director of football operations at Benedictine. Doherty coached Lakeland the last eight years, winning 40 games to tie for second in school history in career wins.

Saturday also will be Senior Day for 15 members of the Lakeland football team, including 13 senior players plus student assistant coach Alexander Newman and team manager Matt Taff.

Live video, audio and statistics for the game will be available from Lakeland College at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/lc/. Baxter Colburn will call the play-by-play.

For the rest of Saturday's game notes please click here.