By Don Stoner
Augsburg Sports Information Director

MINNEAPOLIS -- Welcome, football junkies!

That's what you are, gentle readers. Admit it. That's why you're looking for information about Division III football in the middle of July. There's nothing wrong with that fact, folks; with just a handful of weeks until preseason camps begin for most schools, we're all eager to find out information about our favorite teams.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing with you previews of what could shape up to be a great football season in the Midwest. Frankly, if it's even half the season that last year was, it could be an exciting one in each conference.

Will there be another four-way tie for the title in the Wisconsin conference? Will St. John's and legendary coach John Gagliardi rule the roost again in Minnesota? Will Central, Wartburg, Simpson and Buena Vista again duke it out in Iowa?

How about the Midwest, where the new automatic qualifier rules guarantee a national playoff berth for the league for the first time since 1993? Or in the CCIW, will Millikin, Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana battle again for the crown? What about the Illini-Badger, a non-AQ conference with quality teams?

Those are the conferences we'll be covering during what shapes up to be an exciting fall. We'll also need your help. SIDs and fans from around the Midwest, feel free to send me interesting news and notes from your schools, to help me make this column as informative as possible. 

So why am I doing this?
You might be wondering who exactly is writing this column. I've been involved in one way or another with Division III athletics ever since I enrolled as a wide-eyed journalism student at Wisconsin-Oshkosh in 1987, following the fortunes of the Titans. After college, it was onto St. Peter, Minn., and my first "real" newspaper job. It was there where I discovered the wonders of the MIAC and the beauty of the Gustavus Adolphus College campus.

With another newspaper job move came some volunteer stats crew work in the sports information offices at Augsburg and St. Thomas, and after a stint at a daily newspaper in Worthington, Minn., I finally found my "dream job," working as a sports information director at Augsburg College in Minneapolis. (Yes, it's that Augsburg College. The one that just produced Devean George, the first Division III player ever drafted in the first round by an NBA team, the L.A. Lakers with the 23rd overall pick; and the one that produced Scott Hvistendahl, who broke Jerry Rice's 14-year-old NCAA all-divisions career receiving yardage record last season.)

SIDs are a unique breed. We're the "behind-the-scenes" people in a collegiate athletics program, the types that work long hours for little pay and the fleeting hope that some information we provide ends up in the sports section of a newspaper or on a TV or radio sportscast.

SIDs are also the "stats nerds," the ones who pour over statistics to make sure that every last detail is right. We're the only people in the world who care (or understand) what a deadball rebound is in basketball, or can accurately figure goals-against-average in ice hockey, or can tell you if the yardage lost on a quarterback sack is charged against rushing yardage or passing yardage (here's the answer -- in the NCAA, it's rushing loss; in the NFL, it's a net team passing yardage loss).

Which brings me to a story that might show how demented (or devoted, take your pick) we SIDs can be. The date was Friday, Nov. 13. The place was the Metrodome and a game against Concordia-Moorhead. The eyes of the small-college football world were on Augsburg's Scott Hvistendahl, who was about to break the aforementioned NCAA receiving yardage record held by Jerry Rice. He was 227 yards short of Rice's record entering the game, the final contest of his career.

With each catch he made, en route to an 18-catch afternoon, he crept closer to Rice's record. The mood of the crowd at the Metrodome was becoming more tense as the game moved into the fourth quarter. Hvistendahl's total stood at 164 yards after three quarters -- 63 yards away. He reached 201 on Augsburg's first drive of the fourth quarter, when the Auggies built a comfortable 25-0 lead.

But Augsburg's momentum stalled on its next drive, which afforded me time to run from my spot on the lower level of the two-tiered Metrodome press box to the upper level, to tell our coaching staff exactly where Hvistendahl stood in the record chase, 26 yards short with a half-period remaining.

We had made arrangements with Concordia, the designated "host team" of the Metrodome contest, to stop the game when Hvistendahl broke the record. I was to run to the PA announcer on the upper level, hand him a script and the game would be halted.

On Augsburg's next drive, the coaching staff threw out the game plan. Everything was going to Hvistendahl. Paul Tetzloff hit Hvistendahl on a 13-yard corner route, then followed it up with a 12-yard reception, leaving him one yard shy of Rice's mark. "He's at 226, 1 yard short," I yelled to the assembled media in the lower level of the press box.

The next pass was a short, 4-yard square-out to the right side. Hvistendahl dove to scoop it up, and history was made. I confirmed the yardage total with Jerry Pyle, the SID at Concordia who was serving as the official statistician for the game, and screamed at the top of my lungs (press box decorum went out the window) with tears streaming down my cheeks, "He did it!"

Now it was a matter of getting the news to the rest of the crowd in the Metrodome. I sprinted up the stairs to the upper tier -- and promptly tripped on a step, landing flat on my face against the stairwell. Yes, it hurt, but I had a job to do. I eventually made it, limping on a twisted ankle and sporting a new bruise on my face, and the PA announcer read the final yardage total -- 230 yards, putting Hvistendahl at 4,696 yards, three yards more than Rice's 14-year-old record.

But in the moments leading up to the PA announcement, the players and coaches on the field were waiting for the "official word." They waited so long that a penalty was called against Augsburg -- since I didn't get up to the PA booth in time, Augsburg had to scramble to run another play and was called for an illegal shift. But once the PA announcer read the script, the entire Augsburg team ran out onto the field, hoisted Hvistendahl on their collective shoulders, and there wasn't a dry eye in the entire Metrodome.

Hvistendahl's record probably won't last too long -- Westminster (Mo.) senior Scott Pingel has 4,460 yards (236 yards from Hvistendahl's record) entering the 1999 season, and barring a major injury, he should break it within the Blue Jays' first two games.

But it certainly was fun for Hvistendahl to be the first to break a previously unbreakable record. And it was fun for a behind-the-scenes guy with a twisted ankle and a bruised noggin to be a part of it. One note, however -- the next time we get to do this, we'll have walkie-talkies in the press box.