Lakeland University Muskies (2-6 overall, 2-4 NACC)
at Eureka College Red Devils (2-6 overall, 1-5 NACC)
Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025    1 p.m.
Pete FioRito Stadium at McKinzie Field
Eureka, Ill.

Lakeland/Eureka Game Notes   PDF

Lakeland University faces one of its longest-running football rivals when it travels to take on Eureka College Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Eureka, Ill.

Broadcast Information
Live video: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/il/eureka/organization/22891/eureka-college/video
Live audio: https://www.eureka.edu/ec1031 EC 103.1 is the Eureka College campus radio station and will provide a live audio broadcast of the game that will simulcast with the video stream. Matthew Swan and Andrew Danehl will call the game.
Live statistics: https://www.eurekareddevils.com/sports/fball/2025-26/ boxscores/20251108_16e2.xml

Series: 52nd meeting, Lakeland leads 37-13-1 The series between the Muskies and Red Devils has a long history, one that was renewed seven years years ago after an 11-year absence and has since added some colorful chapters since Eureka joined the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in 2018. Last year's game was a decisive Lakeland 49-8 win at Eureka on Oct. 11, 2024, as the Muskies rolled up 659 yards of offense and blew the game open with a 28-point third quarter for their fourth straight win in the series

In 2023, Lakeland rallied from a 20-point deficit with seven minutes left with Robby Michael hitting Caleb Besaw for a 16-yard touchdown with 23 seconds remaining for a 35-34 win. The Muskies scored two touchdowns in the final 1:25 to come back to win. Lakeland also won 45-16 in 2021 as Charles Kobe tied an NCAA Division III record with three blocked punts in a single game. The prior two games before that 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.

The two teams met every year except 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 (57 meetings) and Concordia Chicago (56) have played Lakeland more than Eureka's 51 times.

Lakeland last time out: Defeated Concordia Chicago 47-16 last week
he Muskies broke out of their rut of close losses, dominating the first half on the way to an easy win. Lakeland scored two touchdowns in the game's first 4:05 on the way to building a 34-0 lead in the second quarter. Zelmarious Banks intercepted three passes and returned two for touchdowns, the first 65 yards in the second quarter and the second a full 100 yards, the maximum number for a return in the NCAA coming on a play where he took it all the way back from the very back of the end zone.

Jontae Lambert also posted his first 100-yard rushing game with 103 yards and scored two touchdowns, one on a 66-yard catch and run. Robby Michael passed for 171 yards and rushed for another 53 and was actually held well below his then NCAA-leading average of 410.4 yards of total offense coming in, but he still broke the 28-year old school career record for total offense previousy held by Mark Novara. Lakeland gained a season-low 322 yards, but also held Concordia to 217 yards in outgaining the opponent for the seventh time in eight games.

Eureka last time out: Lost to Wisconsin Lutheran 42-12 Oct. 25 The Red Devils were idle last week, but in their most recent game two weeks ago fell to the Warriors at home in Eureka, Ill. WLC broke the game open with a 21-point sec- ond quarter to take a 28-0 lead and outgained Eureka 499-137 for the contest. The Red Devils scored their first touchdown on a 54-yard interception return by Christopher Walker for six points, and added a 4-yard touchdown run by Aaron Locus to cap their best drive of the game in the third quarter, a 14-play, 75-yard march to close within 28-12. Ronnie Sanders led Eureka's offense with 14 carries for 66 yards, while Walker and Jovon Gibson both intercepted passes.

About the Red Devils: Eureka has struggled of late after winning two of its first three games of the season, dropping five straight, including three by shutouts. The Red Devils have had a revolving door at quarterback of late with six different QBs seeing time this season. Eureka is in his second year coached by Randy Starks, who played 12 years in the NFL from 2004-15 for the Tennessee Titans, Miami Dolphins and Cleveland Browns, and the Red Devils have already improved their win total by two games after finishing 0-10 last year.

Record day for Banks: It was a record-breaking day for Zelmarious Banks last week in the Muskies' win over Concordia Chicago. Banks tied an NACC record with two interception returns for a touchdown in a single game, and his 175 yards in intercep- tion returns also is a new Division III record. Banks broke the previous record for interception return yardage of 164 yards set by Rick Connor of Western Maryland (now McDaniel) College way back in 1983. Banks now has five interceptions in Lakeland's last five games, and he has quickly moved up the ranks nationally among interception leaders. His five picks on the sea- son leads the NACC and are tied for seventh in Division III, and his 0.63 interceptions per game is eighth nationally.