Football 12/2/2022 12:00:00 PM Austin Lagesse - Director of Athletic Communications

PREVIEW: No. 13 Bethel Set to Take on Defending National Champions No. 3 UMHB in Quarterfinals

#13/20 Bethel Royals (10-2, 7-1 MIAC) at #3/3 Linfield Wildcats (11-1, 8-0 ASC)
Date/Time	Saturday, Dec. 3 \| Noon CST
Location	Belton, Texas (Crusader Stadium)
Tickets	BUY ONLINE • Reserved $12 • General Admission $10 • Students $5 • Purchase in-person at Gate 1 (Gates open 10 a.m.) or call (254) 295-4455
Live Stream	portal.stretchinternet.com/umhb/
Live Stats	portal.stretchinternet.com/umhb/
Bethel	Game Notes
Mary Hardin-Baylor	CruAthletics.com
NCAA	NCAA Playoff Bracket \| Digital Program
Social Media	Twitter \| Gameday Twitter \| Instagram \| Facebook

KICKOFF COVERAGE

ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The No. 13th-ranked Royals are earning their frequent flyer miles in the postseason as they head to Belton, Texas to take on defending national champions in No. 3 Mary Hardin Baylor (11-1). Bethel (10-2) earned its fifth quarterfinal appearance in program history following a 30-13 victory at No. 5 Linfield. UMHB advanced to its seventh straight quarterfinal appearance following a 24-27 win at No. 6 Trinity (TX).

The winner of Saturday's game advances to the semifinals and takes on the winner of No. 1 North Central and No. 10 Ithaca.

SERIES HISTORY

Series: First all-time Meeting
• Bethel will be making its first trip to the Lone Star State and will be the first-ever meeting between the Crusaders and Royals.

COACHES CORNER

ROYAL NOTES

• The Royals are 13-10 all-time in the postseason follow last Saturday's victory. In quarterfinal games they are 2-2. BU's quarterfinal wins came in 2007 (Central IA) and 2010 (St. Thomas) with recent losses to North Central (2014) and UW-Whitewater (2018).

• For the third time this year the Royals' "D" kept their opponent off the scoreboard in the second half. Through the 2018 season, it was the 12th game in which the Royals forced their opponent to put up a zero though the final 30 minutes. BU is now 11-1 during that stretch including shutouts in five of those wins.

• For the second time this year BU was whistled for no penalties keeping it clean at Linfield. Ranking 12th nationally for fewest penalties, the Royals have only been called for five over their last four games.

• Senior DB Anthony Hockett upped his season INT mark to three with a pair in the endzone at Linfield. All three of Hockett's INTs have come inside the endzone that resulted in touchbacks. His first of the season came against Augsburg on Nov. 5.

• Sophomore WR Joey Kidder is the second BU receiver to have a three-touchdown game joining teammate Micah Niewald who did so against Macalester. Kidder did so on five catches for a total of 107 yards marking his third 100-plus yard receiving game of the year and eighth of his career.

BY THE NUMBERS
8 – sacks allowed by the offensive line which ranks as the eight fewest nationally at .67 a game.

11 – postseason appearances, all which have come since 2000.

42 – consecutive weeks the Royals have been ranked in the D3football.com Top 25 polls. Second longest behind a 57-week streak from 2010 to 2014.

FREQUENT FLYER MILES
• With the Royals are playing in their fifth straight road game, this postseason has come with a bit of cross country traveling. BU has totaled 6,520 miles round trip through the quarterfinal rounds. Round trip numbers include a 798-mile bus trip to Wheaton. 3,552 miles in the charter flight to Portland then McMinnville, Ore. This week Bethel will travel 2,170 miles.

DEFENSE KEEPING IT UNDER 300
• Holding Linfield to a season-low 261 yards of offense, it's the 30th time since 2017 BU kept an opponent under 300 yards of offense. In those games they hold a 29-2 record. It is the sixth game this year that BU has held its opponents under the 300 mark.

SACK LUNCH
• The Navy and Vegas Gold have pressured the quarterback on a consistent basis this year tallying 24 sacks for a total of 153 yards. BU went without a sack against St. Olaf snapping a streak of 14 straight games where they had at least one.
• Bethel had a season-high six sacks at Linfield, dropping the Wildcats QB for a total of 39 yards. Jacob Holmen had two of those sacks bringing his season mark to four.

WE'RE IN GOOD HANDS
• A core group of wide receivers has been a good compliment to QB Jaran Roste. Six different Royals have caught a TD pass this season, all of whom are sophomores.
• Sophomore Joey Kidder has 11 TD receptions, 19th nationally, this year and making it 21 over his two-season career. With 54 catches he has gone off for 941 yards searching for another 1,000-yard season after last year's 1,078 that was the third most in program history.
• Sophomore Micah Niewald has tallied 957 yards, ranking 16th nationally, on 73 catches with seven TDs. Niewald is looking to join a crew of three other receivers that have totaled at least 1,000 yards receiving since 2001. Those receivers include teammate Joey Kidder (1,078 yards in 2021), Mitch Hallstrom (program record 1,328 yards in 2013) and Joel Olson (1,225 yards in 2001).
• The duo is looking to become the first pair of receivers in program history to have 1,000-plus yards each in a season.

SCOUTING THE CRUSADERS
• Mary Hardin-Baylor enters the year 11-1 overall and is coming off a 15-0 2021 season where they defeated North Central in the Stagg Bowl. They rank eighth nationally averaging 43.6 points per game while giving up 13.6 on defense. They are 13th nationally averaging 476.3 yards a game on offense while giving up 283.1 a game. On offense they are 10th nationally converting on third down 50 percent of the time.
• Senior QB Kyle King leads the offense and was recently named a semifinalist for the Gagliardi Trophy. He was also named ASC Offensive Player of the Year having thrown for 35 touchdowns on 2,864 yards this season.