Sun., Nov. 18, 2007

  KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For the first time since the 2002 season, the University of Saint Francis football team will hit the road to play its NAIA Football Championship Series quarterfinal game.

  The fifth-ranked Cougars will bus to Bethel College in McKenzie, Tenn., for a quarterfinal rematch with the fourth-ranked Wildcats. Kick-off is time is to be determined at 4,000-seat Wildcat Stadium. McKenzie, Tenn., is located west of Nashville, Tenn., and northeast of Memphis in U.S. 79. Mapquest indicates McKenzie is approximately 130 miles west of Nashville. The kickoff will be at 3:30 p.m. FW time.

  USF rallied in the last minute of the game to eliminate the #8 Wildcats 42-35 at Bishop D'Arcy Stadium on November 25, 2006 in the NAIA FCS Quarterfinals. BC finished with a 10-3 record in 2006.

Bethel rolled up 55 points and 607 yards of offense in their 55-34 victory over #13 Mid-America Nazarene University in the first round of the NAIA FCS on November 17. MANU was as close as 24-21 in the third quarter before the Wildcats broke the game open to improve to 11-1 with their 10th consecutive win.

  Bethel's Ronnie Jankovich was named Offensive Player of the Game after going 16 of 19 for 297 yards and 3 TDs.  BJ Banks was the Defensive Player of the Game with four tackles but had two interceptions. 

  This season the Wildcats' only loss was at NCAA Football Championship Sub-Division (formerly Div. I-AA) Austin Peay 43-19 in BC's second game of the season.

  The Wildcats are coached by 1996 Purdue University graduate Dino Kaklis, who is 37-28 in his sixth season at BC. The Wildcats returned nine offensive starters from the 2006 squad and six defensive starters. Kaklis was named Mid-South Conference West Division Coach of the Year.

  BC QB Ronnie Jankovich was named MSC Offense Player of the Year. Senior RB Adrain Smith is No. 9 in NAIA rushing averaging 124.3 yards per game, 7.5 yards per carry and is tied the the NAIA lead in TDs with 27. He has had two 4 TD games and three 3 TD games. He has rushed for 100 or more yards in 7 games this season including 207 and 200 yards. He has rushed for 1,491 yards this season. He rushed for 108 yards against MANU on Saturday.

More stats on BC available at
http://www.dakstats.com

Bethel Schedule 2007
8-25    Webber International                     W-42-21     0-0  1-0
9-1     @  Austin Peay State University    L-19-43     0-0  1-1
9-8     @  Bacone College                        W-42-18    0-0  2-1
9-22   *Belhaven College                          W-49-20   1-0  3-1
9-29   #7 UVA-Wise                                 W-66-48    1-0  4-1
10-6   *Pikeville College                           W-41-34   1-0  5-1
10-13 *@  West Virginia Tech                 W-42-7     2-0  6-1
10-20  *Cumberland Univ.                        W-54-15   3-0  7-1
10-25  *Shorter College                           W-44-21   4-0  8-1
11- 3    *Lambuth University                     W-56-31   5-0  9-1
11-10  *@  Campbellsville University      W-34-21   6-0  10-1
11-17      #13 Mid America Nazarene     W-55-34            11-1

       -- GO USF --