KUTZTOWN, Pa. – Great Midwest Athletic Conference champion Hillsdale is primed to make a statement in the NCAA Football Championship bracket on Saturday with a first-round test against Kutztown from the Pennsylvania State Athletics Conference.
The fifth-seeded and No. 23 nationally-ranked Chargers (9-2, 8-0 Great Midwest) give the conference its second NCAA playoff qualifier in the league’s short history after Findlay was the No. 7 seed in 2017.
And like what Findlay did to No. 2 Shepherd last year, Hillsdale is looking to earn an upset win on Saturday in Kutztown at Andre Reed Stadium with a 12:05 p.m. ET kickoff.
The Golden Bears (9-1, 5-1 PSAC) are the slight favorite as the No. 4 seed, but led by a bevy of all-conference performers, Hillsdale is unfazed guided by Great Midwest Coach of the Year Keith Otterbein.
Coming off a tough defeat against No. 12 UIndy to close the regular season, Hillsdale starts fresh after having 19 student-athletes named to the all-conference team. Nine of those selections were on the first team and the Chargers cleaned up from the coaches’ voting with five individual award winners.
The winner between Hillsdale and Kutztown gets a second-round date with Super Region 1 top seed Notre Dame College (OH) from the Mountain East Conference.
Kutztown, known for NFL pros Andre Reed (Buffalo Bills) and John Mobley (Denver Broncos) opened the season with an impressive win against then-No. 17 Assumption. Twelve different Golden Bears received All-PSAC accolades and sport the conference’s top offense (464.8 yards per game) and second-best passing attack.
Those statistics will collide with what Hillsdale has been able to accomplish on the defensive side of the ball this season as the best in the Great Midwest in scoring defense while giving up just 10 passing touchdowns to opponents all season.
The Chargers will attempt to ground Kutztown during what could be a high-scoring affair in relatively mild conditions with 43 degrees projected around kickoff.
The Great Midwest Player of the Year (comparable to an MVP), senior quarterback Chance Stewart, will lead the Chargers into battle. Stewart has a chance to break former Ohio Dominican star Grant Russell’s conference single-season passing yardage record with a strong showing on Saturday.
First team all-conference target Trey Brock has been unstoppable and is the lone 1,000-yard receiver in the league. He’s also averaging 17.1 yards per catch and has scored 14 touchdowns in just 10 games played.
Additional Great Midwest Player of the Year honors at their respective positions for Hillsdale came for senior center Drew Callahan (Offensive Lineman of the Year), sophomore sack artist Zach VanValkenburg (Defensive Lineman of the Year) and Wyatt Batdorff (Defensive Back of the Year).
The Chargers were picked third in the Great Midwest Preseason Coaches Poll and have been nationally-ranked for two consecutive weeks. HC officially earned the title of Great Midwest conference champions in Week 10 after handing then-No.15 Tiffin its first loss of the fall.