St. Xavier opens NAIA playoffs Saturday
November 11, 2012 11:00PM
Updated: December 13, 2012 10:38AM
St. Xavier will begin defense of its NAIA football championship at noon Saturday at home against No. 13 William Penn University in the first round of the 2012 NAIA Football Championship series.
St. Xavier (9-1) is No. 4 in the nation.
“William Penn is an outstanding football team and they will pose a tremendous challenge for us,” SXU coach Mike Feminis said in a statement. “Our guys are just extremely excited to finally start postseason play and defend our championship.”
Sixteen teams qualified for the NAIA tourney. The brackets are re-seeded after the first round. Second-round pairings will be announced Nov. 24.
Georgetown (Ky.), the No. 1 squad in the final NAIA regular-season poll, is one of three 10-0 teams in the field. The Tigers host Bethel (Tenn.) (8-3) in the first round.
Other first-round games include Ottawa (8-2) at Missouri Valley (10-0); Montana Tech (8-2) at Morningside (10-0); Northwestern Iowa (9-2) at Marian (Ind.) (8-1); Baker (8-2) at St. Francis (Ind.) (8-2); MidAmerica Nazarene (8-2) at Cumberlands (9-1); and Southern Oregon (9-2) at St. Ambrose (9-1).
