For the fourth consecutive year, Children’s Mercy Park will host the NCAA Division II Football Championship. The title match will be held on Saturday, December 16 at 5 p.m. CT and will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2 and the WatchESPN app. Tickets for the match are on sale now and can be purchased via SeatGeek.
Two-time defending champion Northwest Missouri State are the No. 6 seed in Super Regional Three and will open the tournament on the road at Ashland. The Bearcats finished the regular season 9-2 under first year head coach Rich Wright. The team’s 38-game winning streak come to an end in October when they fell 20-10 on the road at Pittsburg State. They followed that up with a 13-12 loss at home to Fort Hays State, the first time Northwest Missouri had lost consecutive games since 2001.
The road to a third straight championship will not be easy for the Bearcats. Standing in their way is Fort Hays State, the No. 1 ranked team in the country and the No. 1 seed in the Super Regional Three. Fort Hays State finished the season 11-0 and won its first MIAA conference championship. Head coach Chris Brown’s squad is led by MIAA Defensive Player of the Year Nathan Shepherd who finished the season with three sacks and seven tackles for a loss. Eight Tigers players earned All-Conference First Team honors while another three players were named to the second team. Brown was named the MIAA Coach of the Year in his seventh year with the program.
In addition to Northwest Missouri State, two other programs in the field have won previous national championships. Delta State, the No. 5 seed in Super Regional Two won the title in 2000. Colorado State University-Pueblo, the No. 7 seed in Super Regional Four won the title at Children’s Mercy Park in 2014. The ThunderWolves will open the tournament on the road at Minnesota State - Mankato in a rematch of the 2014 title game.
