How Adrian College, Siena Heights football can finish strong

Siena Heights has one more thing to add to its 2023 resume to bolster its chances of receiving an at-large bid to the national playoffs – beat Marian.

The Saints will get that chance Saturday when they go on the road to face the Knights, who are ranked in the top 10 in the NAIA’s latest poll.

“We’ve gone on the road and beat the No. 12 team in the country,” SHU coach Matt Kohn said. “If we can add beating the No. 7 team on the road, plus having a five-game winning streak to close the season, I think we make a pretty compelling argument to receive one of those at-large berths. It’s going to be hard to keep us out.”

The NAIA expanded its playoffs from 16 to 20 teams this year, adding four at-large berths. 

Beating Marian (Ind.) will be no easy task. The only blemish on its season was a 42-40 loss to third-ranked Indiana Wesleyan.

Siena Heights can tie a program record by winning game No. 7, which is how many the 2018 and 2019 teams won. The Saints can also finish in a tie for second place in the Mideast League of the Mid-States Football Association with a win over Marian.

The Saints are on a four-game win streak. After back-to-back 24-21 wins over Taylor and Concordia, the Saints have blown out two Michigan opponents – Lawrence Tech (31-10) and Madonna (77-14).

A 38-10 loss to Roosevelt to open the season and a 2-3 start for the Saints now seems like a lifetime ago.

“We put a lot of young guys out there early and they just keep getting better and better,” Kohn said. “As they’ve gotten more experience, they’ve improved. I also give a lot of credit to our coordinators and assistant coaches.”

The Saints battled injuries all preseason, losing four starters and a couple of key backups.

“We had to change some things,” Kohn said. “The things we thought we were going to be able to do with some of those guys in our lineup were not things we thought we could do without them. It was tough. There were some long conversations between coaches. We had to figure it out. It took a couple of weeks.”

The Saints are rolling now.

Running back Ethan LoPresto comes into Saturday's game 108 yards shy of a 1,000-yard season. He also has scored 14 touchdowns. Quarterback Elijah Taylor has settled into the starting spot and has 1,439 yards and 14 touchdowns through the air. Eric Williams II remains the Saints big-play threat on the outside, having caught 31 passes for 624 yards and six touchdowns.

Clarke Hamilton has 67 tackles, more than 30 tackles more than the next closest Saint on that list.

The Saints and the Knights look similar on paper. The Knights average 163 yards rushing and 242 yards passing a game, compared to 190 yards rushing and 209 yards passing for SHU. The Knights defense has allowed fewer points – 15 points a game compared to 24.7 points a game allowed by the Saints.

SHU has been in this position before. In 2018 and 2019 SHU finished 7-3 and went into the final regular season game of the season needing a win to secure a playoff berth. In those years, however, SHU was ranked in the top 15 in the country going into Week 10. This year SHU is unranked.

Stats aside, Kohn said few NAIA teams are playing as well as SHU right now. Before talking about earning the first postseason trip in school history, the Saints need to win Saturday.

“First, we have to win,” Kohn said. “If we don’t win, we aren’t talking about any of this. All we can do is handle our business.”

Adrian

Adrian is on a six-game losing streak with a record of 1-8 and this week's 1 p.m. kickoff at Olivet is Harry Bailey's last game as interim coach as he will either have the interim tag removed this offseason or the Bulldogs will make a new hire.

They'll be taking on the Comets who are 3-6 and 1-4 in MIAA play.

Olivet has two quarterback system with Evan Ormsby (92-of-17, 904 yards, five touchdowns and five interceptions) and Thomas Faust (52-101/816/6/6). Faust is a dual-threat with 445 yards and six touchdowns.

The Comets have two-back system as well with Samuel Kunnuji (647 yards, three touchdowns) and Dontal Wright (560/6).

The lone senior weapon is the top wide receiver for Olivet, SirQuarius Ball (36 receptions, 577 yards, five touchdowns).

The defense allows 420.4 yards per game (295 passing, 125.4 rushing) and 33.9 yards per game.

Adrian averages 320.2 yards per game led by freshman quarterback Mark Lopez while the defense allows 379.9 yards per game.

The Bulldogs defense has been good at taking the ball away with 11 interceptions and five fumble recoveries.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Adrian College, Siena Heights football look to finish strong