A 37-year post season drought is over for the William Penn football team. The Statesmen were selected as an at-large team into the NAIA national playoffs and will open on the road this Saturday against defending national champion St. Xavier of Illinois. Coach Todd Hafner’s team was left out of the playoff field the past two seasons.
Hafner says the coaches and everyone work hard, but it is about the players having an opportunity to appear on this stage. He says they don’t really care who they are playing, they are happy to be in and will give St. Xavier a good game.
Hafner says he knew the Statesmen were in when they were ranked 13th in the final NAIA poll. He says they started figuring things out and it was “a feeling of great excitement for out coaching staff and our players.”
William Penn grabbed a share of the Midwest League title with a 17-12 win over Grand View over the weekend. Several other Iowa teams will be part of the playoff field: Morningside will host Montana Tech, Northwestern College visits Marian of Indiana and St. Ambrose will be at home against Southern Oregon.