Lakeland and Rockford meet for the 19th straight season in a series that has been dominated by the Muskies save for one meeting at Taylor Field eight years ago. Lakeland has won the last seven meetings, including a 35-7 win on the road last year on Sept. 27, 2025. Five different players scored touchdowns on offense for the Muskies, while the defense held the Regents to 207 yards and no points, with the lone Rockford touchdown coming on an errant punt snap recovered in the end zone. Lakeland also won the last meeting at Taylor Field two years ago, a 35-28 win in the 2024 season finale as the defense intercepted five passes, including two each by Charles Kobe and Justin McMahon, and Robby Michael rushed for 218 yards. The Regents' lone win in the series came Oct. 13, 2018, a 37-20 victory on the road at Lakeland. The Muskies are 8-1 at home and 8-0 on the road in the series that started in 2008, the first season of football in the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference.

Lakeland last time out: Lost at Aurora 52-21 Oct. 31
The Muskies were idle last week and played most recently two weeks ago on Halloween, falling to the Spartans on the road in Illinois. Aurora built a 21-7 lead at halftime on the strength of a trio of short touchdown drives, and then pulled away in the second half scoring on its first five drives. Deshawn Hampton caught a pair of touchdown passes from Carson Glosny and went over 1,000 yards receiving for his career, and Hassan Rivers added a touchdown run in the final minute. Hampton caught five passes for 95 yards, Caleb Besaw made nine catches for 76 yards and Rivers paced the running game with 36 yards on five carries. Trayvonne Roberts led the defense with 13 tackles and also added an interception.

Rockford last time out: Won at Eureka 38-14 last week
The Regents won for the first time this season, taking care of the Red Devils on the road in the battle of teams in the NACC cellar going into the week. Jahari Greer completed 14 of 25 passes for 146 yards and four touchdowns, Malik Gordon rushed for 97 yards and Napoleon Williams caught 10 passes for 89 yards and two scores. Rockford trailed 6-3 after one quarter but scored a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter to take a 17-6 halftime lead, and later scored two touchdowns in the final quarter to put the game away. The 38 points scored were easily a season high for the Regents, who had not scored more than 20 points in any of their first eight contests.

About the Regents: Rockford's win came after eight consecutive losses to start the season and snapped a 17-game losing streak dating back to a win in the season opener last year. The Regents have played five quarterbacks this season but the collection has made Napoleon Williams the most frequent target of any player in NCAA Division III this season, as Williams has 92 catches for 712 yards this year. He leads all of Division III in total receptions and receptions per game (10.2), while the defense is led by two-time first team all-NACC linebacker Joey Alvarez. Rockford is coached by Calvin Toliver, who is in his fifth year as head coach at the school.

Quest for 2,000: While his fellow receiver Deshawn Hampton reached the 1,000-yard mark for receiving yards in his career last time out at Aurora, Caleb Besaw heads into the season finale looking for another milestone. Besaw enters the finale needing 52 yards to reach 2,000 receiving yards in his career, and if he can reach the mark he will be the eighth Muskie in school history to reach that mark. Besaw also enters his collegiate finale with 168 catches, tied for fifth all-time at Lakeland in receptions with Brandon Lawson (1994-97).

Besaw also joins Rockford's Williams among the national leaders in catches this year, ranking 18th nationally with seven receptions per game. Besaw also is ranked 25th in Division III in touchdown catches with nine this season, a number that also ranks second in the NACC.

Top tackler: Trayvonne Roberts enters the final game of the season with 85 tackles this year, and that number is the most by a Muskie since Shazon Crutcher made 95 tackles in 2021. It would take a massive effort in his last game, but with 15 tackles Roberts could be the first Lakeland player in many years to reach 100 tackles. The Muskies have not had a player with 100+ tackles in a season since John Wagner racked up 124 tackles in the 2008 season.

Last blast for seniors: Lakeland held its Senior Day festivities in its most recent home game against Eureka on Oct. 24, but this will be the last home game and last game for 17 members of the team. Fourteen seniors in eligibility include Besaw, Roberts, Octavis Cherry, Ben Garcia, Josh Gross, Deshawn Hampton, Rease Pakkala, Kenyon Peoples, Donny Pratl, Hassan Rivers, McKynzee Schepp, Julian Viera, Tyler Washington and Ayden Winston. Also recognized on Senior Day were Quinton Burch, Marshal Hobbs and Matthias Miller, all juniors in eligibility but on track to graduate this year.