Sunday, November 13, 2016

INDIANAPOLIS – For the second straight season, the GNAC will have a representative in the NCAA Division II Football Championship as Azusa Pacific was selected to the field on 28 teams on Sunday.

It is the first time that Azusa Pacific has been selected to the Division II championship field since becoming full members in 2012. The Cougars, who claimed their third GNAC championship in the last four years, were selected as the No. 7 seed in Super Region 3. They will travel to Sioux Falls, S.D., to face No. 2 seed Sioux Falls on Saturday at 10 a.m. (Pacific).

Azusa Pacific finished the regular season with a 9-2 overall record and was just the ninth team in GNAC season to finish the conference season undefeated, going 8-0. Both of the Cougars’ losses came on the road against RMAC opponents, falling 27-23 to Colorado Mines on Oct. 8 and 33-24 to Colorado Mesa on Saturday.

The Cougars enter the Division II playoffs averaging 37.6 points per game and limiting opponents to 14.4 points per game, which is fifth among Division II teams. One of the top defensive teams on the West Coast, the Cougars’ 23 interceptions is second in Division II behind Black Hills State’s 25 picks.

As expected, defending Division II champion Northwest Missouri State received the No. 1 seed in Super Region 3 and a first round bye. The Bearcats will face the winner of the game between No. 4 Emporia State and No. 5 Minnesota-Duluth. The winner of Saturday’s Sixous Falls/Azusa Pacific game will face the winner between No. 3 Harding and No. 6 Central Missouri on Nov. 26.

The selection marks the second time is as many year that the GNAC, which does not have an automatic berth to the Division II football playoffs, has had a team in the field. Humboldt State received a berth in the 2015 championship, advancing to the second round where they lost to Northwest Missuori State.