KICKOFF COVERAGE
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - No. 16 Bethel University football team (0-1) looks to bounce back in the win column with its first road test of the 2023 season at Wisconsin-Eau Claire (1-1) Saturday afternoon. The Royals suffered a 16-2 season-opening loss while the Blugolds also look to bounce back into the win column after falling at Coe 44-14. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
SERIES HISTORY
Series: BU leads 2-1
Last: Bethel won 21-12 on Nov. 24, 2007 (NCAA Second Round)
• The Royals and Blugolds meet on the gridiron for the first time since 2007 where the Royals won 21-12 at Royal Stadium in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs. It will be the first trip to Eau Claire since 2003 where the Royals won an offensive battle 45-42 which improved them to 5-0 at the time.
COACHES CORNER
ROYAL NOTES
• Redshirt freshman Alex Call made his collegiate debut last week starting the second half for the Royals. He was 12-of-16 through the air for 79 yards with one interception. His longest pass of the day was a 19-yard connection with Joey Kidder in the fourth quarter.
• Playing in his 10th career game last week, junior defensive back Gavin Rataj captured his first career interception early in the second inside the red zone. He thing picked off the Knights a second time on Wartburg's opening drive of the second half at the Bethel three-yard line.
• Saturday marks the fifth straight season the Royals have played a WIAC opponent in non-conference play.
Since 2000 BU is 6-6 against WIAC schools and are 4-2 since 2015 with losses to Wisconsin-Whitewater in the 2018 West Region Finals and Wisconsin-Platteville last season in week two.
• In the polls, the Royals enter week two ranked No. 18 in the latest D3football.com Top 25 polls. Ranked 45weeks in a row, it's the second-longest in program history behind a 57-week stretch that took place from week six in 2010 to week 10 in 2014.
BY THE NUMBERS
3 – interceptions for the Royals against Wartburg. It's the most INTs in a game since October 9, 2021 when the Royals had four at Hamline.
244 – career wins for head coach Steve Johnson who enters his 35th season as the all-time wins leader among DIII active coaches.
2 – two 100-yard returns for two-point conversations in the last six games for the Royals. 11/5/22 at Augsburg (INT) and 9/9/23 versus Wartburg (blocked PAT).
WORTH A GRAND…AND MORE!
• Junior wide receivers Micah Niewald and Joey Kidder return for the Royals after last year being the only WR duo in Division III to each have 1,000-plus receiving yards.
• Joey Kidder was efficient with his 16.7 yards per catch mark while totaling 1,040 yards on 62 catches. His 13 touchdowns ranked ninth nationally. Kidder was also named a second team preseason All-American by D3football.com and currently ranks fifth all-time in program history with 2,145 career receiving yards.
• Micah Niewald wasn't too far behind Kidder with 1,030 yards on 82 catches. Averaging 12.6 yards a catch he would tally eight touchdowns.
CIFUENTES NAMED TO FRED MITCHELL AWARD PRESEASON WATCH LIST
• Placekicker Hugo Cifuentes was named to the Fred Mitchel Award Preseason Watch List for the 2023 season. The award recognizes the nation's top collegiate place-kicker among more than 750 FCS, Division II, III, NAIA and NJCAA football teams. The recipient of the Fred Mitchell Award will be chosen based on excellence on the football field and in the community. He was one of seven Division III players on the watch list. The junior out of Fort Balaton, Minn. was also named a Lindy's Sports 2023 preseason All-American.
• In the 2022 season, he was 9-of-11 on field goal attempts including a career-long 39-yarder against St. Olaf in the first half. He was 56-of-57 in PATs which included 91 straight PATs made dating back to the 2021 season. For his career he is 95-of-96 on PATs.
EVAN GINTER NAMED TO AFCA GOOD WORKS TEAM
• Fifth-year offensive linemen Evan Ginter was the latest Royal to be named to the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team®, selected as one of the 22 players selected from the 136 nominees and was one of 11 chosen from the divisions of NCAA FCS, DII, DIII and NAIA. He is Bethel's 17th overall selection as the Royals extend their incredible streak to 11 consecutive years of a student-athlete being recognized, which ranks second longest n the awards 31 years of activation.
FOR THE BRAND
• Junior punter (and wide receiver) Will Eliason had two punts make their way inside the 20, matching a career-best which he did in the 2022 season opener against Pacific Lutheran. He averaged 37.6 yards on his seven punts.
LAST TIME THEY MET
• On a chilly, 32-degree afternoon in Arden Hills, the Royals defeated the Blugolds 21-12 in the second round of the 2007 NCAA Playoffs. The team's traded short touchdown runs in the opening quarter. UWEC notched a 22-yard field goal to go up 10-7 before Bethel responded five plays later with a one-yard rushing touchdown to take the lead the rest of the way. UWEC got a safety early in the fourth before BU's Dusty Wahl added insurance points with an 11-yard touchdown run. The win sent BU into the West Region finals at Central.
• BU outgained UWEC by a narrow 248-208 margin. It was a ground game for both teams where the Royals outrushed the Blugolds 224-171.
SCOUTING THE BLUGOLDS
• Wisconsin-Eau Claire enters with a 1-1 record as the Royals are their final non-conference matchup. UWEC opened up the season with a MIAC foe defeating Concordia at home 31-28 before going on the road last week falling at Coe, 44-14.
• The Blugolds are under new direction with Rob Erickson at the helm for the first time. He previously served as the special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach for three seasons at South Dakota State. Prior to that he was the associate head coach at UW-Whitewater where they made three national semifinal appearances.
• The defense has already recorded seven sacks for a total loss of 42 yards in two games. Junior Marcus Banks accounts for three of those sacks and has four tackles for loss. Offensively the Blugolds average 92 yards on the ground and 242.5 through the air.
