Last year, Hardin-Simmons shook off the September loss and made it to the playoffs, while Endicott did as well, barely losing in the first round to the eventual champ. 2023 Endicott athletics photo

By Greg Thomas
D3sports.com

One year ago, under the Friday night lights in Beverly, Massachusetts, Endicott registered the most significant win by a team in Division III’s northeast corner in decades. The 37-10 win over Hardin-Simmons, then ranked No. 5 in the D3football.com Top 25, sent shockwaves through the division, resetting preconceptions many harbored about the relative football strength found in the division’s various geographic regions. 

This Saturday, No. 7 Hardin-Simmons aims to return the hospitality – and the result – to the No. 12 ranked Gulls. 

“We got our butts kicked last year. We did not play well and they played really well,” Hardin-Simmons coach Jesse Burleson said. “I think it was probably a good indicator of the things that we needed to work on. Obviously we have a completely different team this year, but you do learn from the past as well.”

Where Hardin-Simmons doesn’t want to dwell too much on last year’s result, Endicott head coach Paul McGonagle is mindful to not rely too much on last year’s result as a predictor for this year’s matchup. “It's not as easy as saying it’s the same two teams. We talk about even with our team, every year is a funeral and a birth,” McGonagle said. “Last year’s team is dead and this year’s team is new. From the outside looking in, it's easy to say this happened last year or this didn't happen last year, but as you know, things change and I think both teams are different teams this year.” 

As often happens with successful programs, coordinators move on, and both Hardin-Simmons and Endicott saw successful defensive coordinators depart in the offseason as Matt Popino moved from Endicott to become the head coach at Carthage, while Zach Wilkerson ended a 10-year run at Hardin-Simmons when he accepted the same position at FCS Houston Christian. As great programs do, both Endicott and Hardin-Simmons have continued their winning ways, each entering this weekend’s game undefeated in 2024. 

While the Cowboys have a new leader on the defensive staff, Endicott’s senior defensive end and multiple time D3football.com All-Region honoree Hector Johnson will be focused on new Hardin-Simmons quarterback, Kyle Brown. “They're a whole new team. They have a different quarterback. We cannot take any of this for granted,” Johnson said. “These are great football players. These guys are talented. We know that, I personally know that I have to bring my best game.”

The Gulls have been tested early this year. Johnson and the Endicott defense turned away multiple Ithaca drives in the fourth quarter to preserve a 13-6 win. Last week against RPI, two fourth-quarter touchdowns delivered by fifth-year players Clayton Marengi (a 76-yard touchdown pass) and Zach Twardosky (a 47-yard interception return) propelled the Gulls to their fourth victory of the season. Johnson, along with Marengi and Twardosky are among 44 graduate students and seniors on Endicott’s roster. That experience plays into Endicott’s ability to finish when games are close. 

“It’s just about resilience. We've been in situations where we’ve fed off teams where we seem them down in the fourth quarter and start turning on each other. We like to see that,” Johnson said. “It all just comes down to experience. We've been here for three years, so we know what works and we know what doesn't work.”

Hardin-Simmons junior running back Noah Garcia is no stranger to games against top Division III competition. He plays annually against Mary Hardin-Baylor, has played Trinity (Texas) in the playoffs twice, traveled to UW-La Crosse and UW-Platteville, and of course, has played Endicott before. Garcia welcomes the opportunity to play the best that the division has to offer. “It's a great experience. As a football player, these are the games you want. The big games are the game you want and what you look forward to,” Garcia said. 

While Endicott enjoyed an electric home field atmosphere on a Friday night game one year ago, Garcia is eager to bring this matchup to his home fans. “We know it's going to be a fight and they're a good team. But, there's nothing like playing at Shelton Stadium. I feel like that's going to be big and I think that's going to help a lot,” Garcia said. 

The fans that make it out to Shelton Stadium on Saturday afternoon will see their Cowboys bring one of the hottest offenses in the country to take on a veteran defense that has been among the best in the Division for several years running. Hardin-Simmons has scored 163 points in its last two games, but Garcia believes they can still improve. About the Cowboys’ potential on offense Garcia said “I think it's scary, for sure. Even outside of football, we have a really good connection. Like I said, I think it's really scary what we can do. We have a lot of weapons.”

While Hardin-Simmons has experienced an enormous challenge scheduling non-conference games – a challenge amplified by contraction of the American Southwest Conference to four teams – Burleson embraces the opportunity his team has had to play in different parts of the country. “Last year two weeks apart we were in Wisconsin and in Massachusetts. Not many teams get to do that once, and we did it twice last year. Obviously getting to go back up to that area of the country this year (in a Week 2 game at Curry), it tells you that we do put a premium on being able to put our brand out there and expose the rest of the nation to Cowboy football and to Hardin-Simmons. We're pretty proud of that.”

Burleson also notes that series like these wouldn’t be possible without institutional support. “Our president's a huge fan of it. And if the boss is on board, we're on board,” Burleson said. “He's done a great job of giving us the tools that we need to be successful, I will say this. He gives us everything we need to be successful and has allowed us to be able to go make those trips.” 

Like Burleson, McGonagle sees value in this interregional matchup not just for his institution, but for Division III football institutions in the northeast. “It's great for the college exposure and the players. But not only so much for the college, but all of New England and Northeast part of the country for football,” McGonagle said. The result resonated well beyond Endicott and McGonagle is grateful for the opportunity to showcase Region 1 football on the road this year. “Last year when we were fortunate enough to be on the winning end, there were a lot of congratulatory texts from coaches we compete against that looked at it from the northeast part of the country and the level of football here. And obviously Cortland won the national championship as well, but it's a different year and a different game. 

“I definitely think that there are no negatives to the situation. Everything's positive.”

Division III fans have been spoiled in recent years with an increasing amount of interregional games among the nation’s top teams. Series like this one that concludes on Saturday in Abilene give Division III fans an opportunity to see matchups that had been previously been reserved for later rounds of the postseason, if they happened at all. Endicott and Hardin-Simmons part two extends this trend that has been great for Division III football fans and Division III’s student-athlete experience. 

We’re going streaking

It’s already been a good year for streaking, or streak busting depending on your point of view. Albright opened the season by snapping the longest active losing streak at 27 games. Last week La Grange snapped an 18-game losing streak with an emphatic win over Methodist, while Luther snapped a 12-game streak by edging out Anderson and Bates won for the first time after 11 consecutive games by knocking off previously undefeated Wesleyan on the road. I like to call these streaks out when they end because it offers a valuable perspective – winning college football games is hard. Really hard. Remember to celebrate every win because they do not come easily. 

This season has also seen Delaware Valley’s 54-game MAC conference winning streak snapped. Going unbeaten in conference play for nearly eight seasons in a row is an amazing accomplishment shared by multiple classes of Aggies. Mount Union is really the only team that we’ve seen that has sustained that level of dominance over its conference. The Purple Raiders currently own the longest conference win streak at 60 games. 

Where are the longest current streaks? Heading into Week 5, the five longest active win streaks are:

Cortland - 15 games
Carnegie Mellon - 11 games
Marietta - 8 games
Hope - 7 games
Trinity (Conn.) - 7 games
Ursinus - 7 games

And the five longest active losing streaks belong to:

Lawrence - 25 games
Bethany - 22 games
Hilbert - 19 games
Otterbein - 18 games
Kean - 13 games
Millikin - 13 games

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 Endicott’s Paul McGonagle and Hector Johnson as well as Jesse Burleson and Noah Garcia of Hardin-Simmons for spending time with Around The Nation this week. Additional thanks to Endicott Director of Sports Information Shawn Medeiros and Hardin-Simmons Associate Athletic Director for External Relations Chad Grubbs for coordinating our conversations this week! 

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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.