The series between the Muskies and Red Devils has a long history, one that was renewed several years ago after an 11-year absence and has since added some colorful chapters since Eureka joined the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in 2018. Lakeland won last year's matchup 26-17 at home at Taylor Field, as Robby Michael scored on TD runs of 58 and 47 yards as the Muskies built an early 20-0 lead, and then Jayson Wilder salted the game away with a 54-yard interception return for a touchdown with 17 seconds left. 

A year earlier the Muskies won 45-16 in Eureka, Ill., in a game where Charles Kobe tied an NCAA Division III record with three blocked punts in a single game. The prior two games were shootouts, including Nov. 2, 2019 when Eureka held off Lakeland 50-49 in Illinois to snap the Muskies' 13-game winning streak in the series. The year before Lakeland won a wild one, edging the Red Devils 56-55 at Taylor Field as Michael Moreau scored the go-ahead touchdown with 56 seconds left in the game. The score capped a rally from a 21-0 deficit just 3:44 into the contest and gave Lakeland its first lead of the game, and the Muskies held on after Eureka scored a touchdown with 18 seconds left but missed an ensuing two-point conversion attempt to take the lead. Lakeland also pinned Eureka with its lone regular season loss that year as the Red Devils won the NACC regular season title and NCAA Division III playoffs berth.

The two teams met every year except for one from 1962-2007, missing only 1979, and the two were members together of the Illini-Badger Football Conference from 1976-2007 and also the Gateway Conference in the 1960s. Only Benedictine (55 meetings) and Concordia Chicago (54) have played Lakeland more than Eureka's 49 times.

Lakeland last time out: Lost at #11 Aurora 70-14 last week
The Muskies became the latest victim of the powerful Spartans, who hit the 70-point mark for the fifth time in NACC play in remaining undefeated. Robby Michael rushed for a touchdown and threw for another to Kaeden Calcari, but Aurora opened up a close game for a quarter by scoring 28 points in the second quarter for a 35-0 halftime lead. The Muskies actually had more success than most NACC teams have against the Spartans this year, as their 14 points scored and 316 yards of offense both were the most by a conference team against Aurora this season. Lakeland's defense also recorded nine tackles for loss including three sacks, also high marks for NACC teams against the Spartans this season.

Eureka last time out: Lost at Benedictine 41-21 last week
The Red Devils lost contact with the Eagles in the third quarter after a close first 30 minutes and dropped their fifth straight game after a 4-0 start to the season. Eureka held a 14-7 lead midway through the second quarter and was still tied until Benedictine scored with just over a minute left in the first half for a 21-14 halftime lead. The Eagles then scored 20 straight points to start the second half before the Red Devils received a touchdown run from Angel Garcia for their final score. Garcia finished with 99 yards rushing and ran for three touchdowns and Kaeden Frazier completed 14 of 22 passes for 133 yards to lead Eureka, but Benedictine churned out 579 yards of offense in the decisive win.

About the Red Devils: Eureka got off to an excellent start to its season, including a victory over St. Norbert to move to 4-0 overall and 2-0 in the NACC. The Red Devils ran into Aurora in their next game and have struggled since, competitive against most teams but dropping five straight, including serving as Concordia Chicago's lone win so far this season. The alma mater of former president Ronald Reagan, Eureka is in its fifth year in the NACC as an associate member for football and has a 17-23 record in conference. Head coach Kurt Barth is the winningest coach in program history with 70 career wins at the central Illinois school located just east of Peoria.

Milestones reached, in sight: Lakeland wide receiver Kolby Cohen caught two passes for 82 yards last week against Aurora, and those numbers pushed him over 1,000 yards receiving in his Muskies career. Cohen has 58 catches for 1,015 yards and seven touchdowns in his three years.

Lakeland also has a number of players who can reach milestones with a big game against Eureka. Running backs Jatron Bevly and Devon Harris are both just short of 1,000 career yards rushing, with Bevly entering with 892 career yards and Harris 886 yards. Neither has had a 100-yard game this season but both accomplished the feat multiple times last year. Quarterback Robby Michael also is 102 yards from 3,000 passing yards in his Muskies career, as well as 101 yards from hitting the 2,000-yard mark this season. Michael also recently passed 1,500 yards rushing in his career and has 1,570 yards on the ground in his nearly two years as a Muskie.

On defense, cornerback Jayson Wilder has been held without an interception this season, but with a pick on Saturday would accomplish the feat of at least one interception in five consecutive seasons. Linebacker Karlis Ozols is one-half of a tackle for loss shy of 25 TFLs in his career, and both Charles Kobe and Jake Leclaire are two TFLs short of 20 tackles for loss in their careers. Kobe also needs seven tackles to reach 100 tackles in his collegiate career.