Live statistics: https://rockfordregents.com/sidearmstats/football/summary

Series: 14th meeting, Lakeland leads 12-1
Lakeland and Rockford meet for the 14th straight season in a series that has mostly been dominated by the Muskies save for one game three years ago. Lakeland has won the last two meetings, the most recent coming earlier this year with a 35-7 win on the road March 27 as part of the abbreviated 2020-21 season played in the spring. The Muskies took the lead on a Charl'Tez Nunnery-to-Mason Prunick touchdown pass just before halftime and pulled away in the second half in a game where the defense forced three Regents turnovers. Rockford's lone win in the series came Oct. 13, 2018, with a 37-20 victory on the road at Taylor Field. Lakeland is 6-1 at home and 6-0 on the road in a series that started in 2008, the first season of football in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

Lakeland last time out: Lost to Aurora 38-20 last week
A showdown for first in the NACC was a one-score game going into the fourth quarter, but the Spartans pulled away with two touchdowns late to clinch their second straight conference title and trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs. The Muskies scored touchdowns on their first two drives to take a 13-0 lead and came back to get within 26-20 after Aurora had scored 26 unanswered points. Lakeland outgained the Spartans 499-477 but was done in by three interceptions all in the second quarter, two of them in the Aurora end zone. Nunnery rushed for a career-high 157 yards and Brice Kensey caught 10 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns, while Shazon Crutcher led the defense with 13 tackles.

Rockford last time out: Lost at St. Norbert 77-7 Oct. 30
The Regents were idle last week and have had nearly two weeks to stew over an ugly game on the road when they committed six turnovers in a game that turned into a rout.  St. Norbert built a 35-7 halftime lead and then scored 42 second half points, including 28 in the fourth quarter. Rockford's lone score came on a touchdown pass by Jaelen Ray to Joey Owens to make the score 14-7 in the second quarter, but the Green Knights scored on their next two possessions and added another touchdown just before halftime. St. Norbert pounded away for 319 yards on the ground and Rockford was held to 201 yards of total offense, 181 yards below its previous season high.

About the Regents: Though it sits in a tie for the bottom of the NACC, Rockford has proven a dangerous team this year. The Regents have scored at least 34 points in six of their nine games and just a week before the St. Norbert game threw a scare into second-place Benedictine on the road, falling 41-34 only after the Eagles came from behind with 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Rockford is led by the record-setting passing combination of Ray and Owens. Ray ranks third in NCAA Division III in passing yards (3,011), and Owens ranks tied for second nationally with 80 receptions and has set a new NACC record for receiving yards (1,222). The Regents rank seventh in Division III in passing offense, but also rank near the bottom of D-III in turnover margin and in a number of defensive categories, including 233rd of 240 teams in rushing defense (262.9 yards allowed per game).

Last chance: Eighteen members of the Lakeland football team will be playing in or a part of their final games Saturday. Fifth-year seniors include Ezekiel Combs, Shazon Crutcher, Brice Kensey, Charl'Tez Nunnery, Mason Prunick, Larry Rivers and Trevion Smith. Fourth-year seniors include Rayshion Brumfield, Damarious Brown, Andrew Cardiel (out due to injury), Andrew Colley, Zach Cotton, Avery Luckett, Joseph Pegues, Jaylen Rido, Elijah Santiago, D.J. Tomlinson and Otis Watts.

Plenty to play for: The loss to Aurora left Lakeland out of the NACC championship chase going into its final game, but the Muskies still have plenty of goals they can accomplish in the season finale. For one, a win gives Lakeland an 8-2 record and its best season winning percentage since also finishing 8-2 in 2003. Eight wins also would tie for the most by a Muskies team since the 1997 team finished 10-0.

A number of individual school records and milestones are also within reach. Larry Rivers needs 87 yards rushing against Rockford to tie his single-season mark of 1,375 yards set in 2019, and he needs one touchdown to tie and two to pass Pat Curran's single-season record of 21 touchdowns scored in both 1967 and 1968. Rivers also is eight points shy of Curran's season record of 128 points set in 1967.

Kicker Peyton Domangue also enters the game two extra-point kicks shy of the single-season record of 47 point-after-touchdown kicks set by Peter Cebulka in 1996. In the milestone category, Brice Kensey needs 167 yards receiving to become just the third Muskie to top 1,000 yards receiving in a season and also is 125 yards short of becoming the school's eighth to top 2,000 receiving yards in a career. Quarterback Charl'Tez Nunnery also is 165 yards short of becoming the sixth to top 3,000 yards of total offense in a season.

Offensive machine: Lakeland enters its final game averaging 503.7 yards of total offense per game, a number ranking seventh in all of NCAA Division III. Should the Muskies maintain their average, they will become the second Lakeland team to average better than 500 yards a game and to top 5,000 yards of total offense for a season. The team would join an exclusive club currently inhabited by only the 2017 team, which set school records with 551.5 yards per game and 6,067 yards of offense for the season.

Sack champ: Otis Watts picked up a sack against Aurora, his 12th of the season and giving him at least one sack in seven of nine games this season. He almost certainly will finish the season leading the NACC in sacks, with his 12 sacks double his nearest competition. The senior also ranks third nationally in D-III in sacks, two behind leader Korbyn Personett of Monmouth (Ill.), and his 85 yards of losses in sacks is second nationally behind Tucker Spence of Huntingdon (Ala.) with 110 yards. Watts's 1.33 sacks per game also ranks sixth in all of Division III.

The Larry-and Brice-Report: Lakeland running back Larry Rivers was limited to 93 yards against Aurora, snapping his streak of eight consecutive 100-yard rushing games and keeping him at 21 100-yard rushing games for his distinguished career. He also slipped back slightly in several national categories, but still ranks in the top 10 in eight different NCAA Division III areas, including third in total touchdowns (20), points scored (120) and points scored per game (3.3). He also is sixth in total rushing yards (1,288) and all-purpose yards (1,530), seventh in rushing yards/game (143.1) and rushing touchdowns (17) and eighth in all-purpose yards/game (170.0).

Rivers is not the only Muskie offensive performer to be ranking high in the national statistics. Wide receiver Brice Kensey also is currently listed third in Division III in receptions /game (9.0) and receiving yards/game (119.0). However, those numbers include a statistical error currently crediting Kensey for playing in the season opener which he missed due to an early season injury. Upon correction, the senior's actual numbers would be 10.5 receptions and 138.8 receiving yards/game, both leading Division III.