By Clyde Hughes
D3sports.com
Maybe the reason why Mount St. Joseph coach Rod Huber likes telling the bus story is that it came to symbolize the Lions’ faith in hard work and that things will happen the way they are supposed to happen.
The bus story?
Mount St. Joseph (9-1) was traveling to Bloomington, Illinois, for a Sept. 15 non-conference match-up with Illinois Wesleyan when the team bus broke down. Instead of panic and players and coaches being worrying about being thrown off of their routine, they piled off the bus in a steamy day and patiently waited.
“It was about 100 degrees out there,” Huber said. “We got water and sat in the median for 1-1/2 hours until the new bus came. No one complained. No one whined and no one cried.”
The Lions went on to win that game 25-15 to a team that would eventually win a share of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin title.
When the Lions lost a tough home against Franklin on Oct. 13 (28-19), snapping the Lions' 3-year stranglehold it had on the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference crown, Mount St. Joseph, found itself stranded again, patiently waiting for something that had never happened before -- for a second HCAC team to be invited to the Division III playoffs.
Mount St. Joseph, benefiting from its strong play at the end of the season and several upsets in other conferences, made history by winning an at-large spot in the field of 32. The Lions are 0-3 in their other playoff appearances. They lost to Wheaton in 2004 (31-7) and last year (42-28) and to eventual national champion Mount Union in 2005 (49-6).
The Lions go on the road to take on Wabash (9-1), champions of the North Coast Athletic Conference, while conference champion Franklin (10-0) plays at home against CCIW’s other co-champion North Central (8-2).
“It was disheartening,” Huber said after the Franklin loss. “We had won three championships in a row and we beat Franklin about six games in a row but my hat off to Franklin. I got 23 seniors who know it’s never about the last game but it’s always about the next game.
“We made a couple of personnel changes, got some people in the right places and refocused. I attribute that to great senior leadership. These seniors are 37-3 in the regular season. This was about great senior leaderships and great assistant coaches.”
Huber said the HCAC having two teams in the playoffs is an opportunity for the conference to show the nation how the HCAC has become in football.
“What it does is tell you where the Heartland is going and how far the Heartland has come,” Huber said. “You know and I know about five years ago that (the HCAC winning two NCAA playoff berths) wasn’t happening. We were 10-0 (in 2004) and couldn’t even host a game. (MSJ was behind two 9-1 teams in the seedings and went on to lose by 24 points in its first-round game.)
“So it’s got to say something about the direction of where the Heartland is going and about the players and coaches. It’s not about Mount St. Joe when you’re talking about getting two teams in there. It’s about the conference.”
Huber said, though, that you still have the play the games and his Lions have difficult job ahead of them in Wabash. He said, though, the game comes at the best of times for his team.
“We’re playing our best football right now,” Huber said. “It took us a little bit of time. We had a whole new offensive staff and new defensive staff and two whole new play books. The last three weeks we had two shutouts and we should have shut Thomas More out. It’s just now coming all together for us.”
Huber said he hopes the Lions’ participation in the playoffs is a sign of momentum that will continue to raise the HCAC in football.