Wheaton College Athletics · wheaton.edu
Nov 16, 2003
Football team will host Hope Saturday in NCAA Division III Playoffs (Full bracket)
Wheaton, Ill. (11/16) - The #4-ranked Thunder
football team will host Hope College in a NCAA Division III Football Playoff
game on Saturday November 22 at McCully Field in a noon kickoff. Saturday's
playoff game will be the second meeting of the season between the Thunder
and the Flying Dutchmen, with Wheaton defeating Hope 43-26 on September 27
at McCully Field. Wheaton is the number-two seed in its region and the Flying
Dutchmen are the seventh seeded team. The winner of Saturday's first round
game will play the winner of another first round contest on Saturday between
#3-seed Baldwin Wallace and #6-seeded Hanover.
Saturday's game will be the fifth NCAA Division III Playoff
game in Wheaton history and the second playoff game at McCully Field. The
first home playoff game was a 63-41 win over Wittenberg in 1995. Wheaton has
a 2-2 all-time record in the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
Wheaton finished the 2003 regular season with a 10-0 record
and a 7-0 record in the CCIW. The Thunder has won a school-record 19 consecutive
regular season games and Saturday's 28-27 win at Augustana was the 17th consecutive
conference win for the Orange and Blue.
Hope comes ino the playoffs with a record of 7-3 this season
and earned its trip to the NCAA Division III Playoffs by winning the Michigan
Intercollegiate Athletic Association and the conference's automatic qualifier.
As an NCAA Championship no free passes are accepted to Saturday's
game. The NCAA mandated admission for the game is $8 for adults, $4 for student,
children age-2 and under are admitted for free. A pre-sale for tickets will
be available at the service desk of the Sport and Recreation Complex on Thursday
and Friday from 6 AM to 11 PM. The gates to McCully Field will open at 11