|
| Clay Krousie stepped into the starting quarterback role this season and has completed 62% of his passes, with 11 TDs and just three interceptions, leading a Coe offense which throws for 233 yards and runs for 207 yards per game. Coe athletics photo |
By Greg Thomas
D3football.com
In Division III football, identifying teams with the potential for success requires a keen eye for specific characteristics. Factors such as seasoned players, a balanced offense with a complementary defense, and a consistent upward trajectory in recent seasons can serve as indicators of a team poised for a breakthrough. Coe checks a lot of these boxes, and following Saturday’s thrilling 16-13 double overtime win against Central, the Kohawks are on the doorstep of a return trip to the playoffs.
The Kohawks became the first team in Division III to reach the six-win mark on Saturday when Jeron Senters hauled in a 22-yard touchdown pass from Clay Krousie. Big offensive plays like that were hard to come by in a game that saw each team make one field goal in regulation.
“That was a donnybrook, as my dad would say, as far as the type of football game. We knew it was going to be just a hard fought game and we were ready to go. Sixty minutes of football ended up being more than 60 minutes of football,” Coe head coach Tyler Staker said. And his dad should know — Steve Staker was head coach of Coe from 2008 to 2015 and Tyler's predecessor.
“I think one of the things for us is we've been able to rush the ball really well, so for our guys just to continue to lean on the rush and be patient, I knew that was going to be a key for our offense and for myself as a play caller,” Tyler Staker said. “We just needed to be patient throughout the course of this game. Our defense has been playing phenomenal.”
Saturday’s contest was not the first time Coe played in double overtime this year. On Sept. 14, Coe outlasted UW-Eau Claire in a 43-41 win that featured plenty of offense. Whether they’ve needed to do it with offense or with defense, the Kohawks have found a way to win.
“You know, we’re a gritty team. We gained some confidence in Week 2 when we earned a double overtime win against Wisconsin-Eau Claire,” Staker said, pointing to his team’s experience in the pressure of overtime. “To be back in that situation for our guys, it wasn't foreign and they had seen and been a part of a double overtime win. So I think our guys always felt like, ‘Hey, we believe we can get this done.’”
The Kohawks did get it done, notching their third straight win over Central and reaching 6-0 for the first time since Staker’s first season as Coe’s head coach in 2016. That Kohawk squad went to the second round of the NCAA playoffs and finished 11-1. Staker sees a lot of similarities between those 2016 IIAC champions and this 2024 squad.
“There are a lot of similarities. We had great defense in 2016. We rushed the ball really well. Those are two things that we have really built our program on is playing great defense and playing the physical brand,” Staker said. “And on offense, being able to rush the football. So I think those two teams have a lot of similarities more so than they are different.”
The national statistics bear these strengths out. Coe is currently ranked 35th in overall defense, third in rush defense, and have the 13th-ranked rushing offense. Staker continued on to the biggest similarity of all. “I think the one common denominator there is the experience.
“We had 20-plus seniors in 2016. We have 25 this year so that experience plays a big part. In 2016, we found ways to win. So far this season, it's been similar for the 2024 team. The guys have stepped up to the plate when the moments are big and we found ways to win.”
One of those experienced Kohawks is fifth-year senior Alex Aitchison. Aitchison is a three time first-team all conference performer on Coe’s defensive line. Aitchison is having another great season for Coe as he currently leads the ARC in tackles for loss and is fourth in the conference in sacks.
Aitchison told Around the Nation that he had never been in a game that finished regulation with no touchdowns scored by either side, but as a defensive player, that is exactly the kind of game that fires a defense up. “We live for moments like that. As a defense we always want to be on the field. Obviously we love when our offense marches down the field and chews clock too, but we live to be on the field and make the big play.”
Nobody in the ARC has challenged the 2022 and 2023 national semifinalist to quite the same degree as Coe. In 2022, Coe fell by just five points to the Knights while 2023’s contest required two fourth quarter touchdowns by Wartburg to scratch out a 27-21 win over the Kohawks. Knowing how competitive Coe has been with a national semifinalist is a driving factor for Aitchison.
“We've been playing close ballgames with Wartburg for the past couple of years and to see them go on and have the success that they do, it just shows us that we are one win away or one game away from also achieving that success,” Aitchison said. “This year, we're really just going all out and going for that push in the playoffs to make a deep run.”
Aitchison’s cohort of fifth-year seniors have become a very tight knit group. Having matriculated during the COVID-canceled Fall 2020 season, this group has persevered through disruptions and challenging circumstances and their bond is stronger because of the adversities that they have been through.
“We're extremely close. We're all best friends, literally,” Aitchison said of his classmates. “We all hang out with each other off the field all the time. That freshman year and the adversity of that season really brought us together as a group and we've been together ever since then. The past five years, you spend the same time together. You go through workouts together, you go through a season together. Wins and losses, it just grows that connection even deeper. And right now, we're just so tightly bonded that it's great. Those guys are like brothers to me.”
The wins have been much more abundant for Coe than the losses. The Kohawks have won 16 of their last 17 regular season games but Aitchison wants to take Coe even farther this year. “This is our last go around. This is it for us. So it's really do or die. We’re going to leave it all on the field. We're going to give it everything we got,” Aitchison said.
As the games get bigger and the season gets later, all of the small things are amplified. Games can be decided on one big play or one key stop. The Kohawks have the experience to not rattle in the big moments, as they have demonstrated in two high pressure games so far this year. As Staker told said: “To get it done, whether that's through defense or whether that's through offense or taking care of the football or good special teams that's what you need to do against really good opponents in these, in these close ball games. Every kick, every yard, every stop, every first down matters.”
Top 25 Talk
If you thought that maybe just maybe UW-Oshkosh was going to have notched those two early wins against Wheaton and Linfield and then drift out and away from the Top 25 once WIAC play started, the Titans would like to have a word. After a 20-0 run to close the game and deliver a 34-33 victory over UW-La Crosse, the Titans aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. That win, coupled with UW-Whitewater’s upset loss to UW-Stout and Mary Hardin-Baylor’s lopsided loss to Hardin-Simmons gives voters a lot of criss-crossing information to digest. The D3football.com Top 25 has ranked UW-Oshkosh ahead of UW-Whitewater, despite UW-Whitewater having defeated UW-Oshkosh just one week earlier. The Top 25 also ranks UW-Whitewater ahead of Mary Hardin-Baylor despite the Crusaders having beaten the Warhawks by 18 in Whitewater.
Despite UW-La Crosse being on a three-game losing streak and sitting at 2-3 overall, the Eagles remain ranked. How? Aren’t there undefeated teams out there that aren’t ranked? There sure are, but UW-La Crosse isn’t on your regular three game slide. They lost by 7 to Division II’s No. 2 team, Grand Valley State. That result actually moved UW-La Crosse up in our rankings. Then in consecutive weeks the Eagles lost in overtime to UW-Platteville, and then by one point in the last minute to UW-Oshkosh. Are there 25 teams that could do better against that schedule? Probably not.
How did I handle these teams on my Week 6 ballot? I managed to honor the head-to-head results.
No. 18 Mary Hardin-Baylor
No. 20 UW-Whitewater
No. 22 UW-Oshkosh
No. 23 UW-La Crosse
No. 24 Wheaton
UMHB still has the leading victory among this group of connected teams with that 35-17 win at UW-Whitewater. UMHB also has a pair of losses to very good teams, the most recent a lopsided defeat at home to Hardin-Simmons. I placed UMHB 18th on my ballot. UW-Whitewater is next in the pecking order, and I placed them at 20. Is two spots enough difference between teams that were separated by 18 points on the field? Perhaps not, but I’m running out of runway on my ballot and I can’t put the Warhawks below UW-Oshkosh, who they beat just one week ago. Next I have the Titans at 22 on my ballot. Oshkosh now has three ranked wins at home, a 7-point road loss to Whitewater (one more reason why I’m not able to convince myself to put Oshkosh ahead of UMHB at this point), and whatever that was against Michigan Tech. I checked in UW-La Crosse at 23 and Wheaton at 24. La Crosse and Wheaton anchored closely to Oshkosh seems appropriate given their similar results vs. Oshkosh.
I suspect that we’re about one rogue result away, or just your average Saturday in the WIAC, from this head-to-head chain being obliterated. For now, at least for this voter, the head-to-heads are still driving my ballot. Other voters will have different reactions to the same data, and that’s ok! That’s why we have 25 individuals parse these results to get a 360-degree view of these teams.
Seven ways to Saturday
Whether you need to recap the week that was or get ready for the week to come, D3football.com is your daily source for fresh Division III football content. We’re bringing the content seven ways to Saturday.
Sunday: New Top 25 poll
Monday: Around The Nation podcast. Pat Coleman and Greg Thomas recap the weekend that was and preview the weekend to come in Division III football.
Tuesday: Team of the Week honors
Wednesday: Features columns
Thursday: Around the Nation column
Friday: Quick Hits featuring our panel’s predictions and insights into the weekend’s games
Saturday: Game Day! The D3football.com Scoreboard has all of your links for stats and broadcasts.
I’d like to thank ...
Special thanks to Coe’s Tyler Staker and Alex Aitchison for spending time with Around The Nation this week. Additional thanks to Coe College Sports Information Director Hunter Yrigoyen for coordinating our conversations this week!
Read options?
There’s nothing small about small college football. Division III is home to 240 teams, and many thousands of student-athletes and coaches. There are so many more stories out there than I can find on my own. Please share your stories that make Division III football so special for all of us! Reach out to me at greg.thomas@d3sports.com or on X @wallywabash to share your stories.
