Whitworth to host Chapman in first round of Division III playoffs
Whitworth has faced Chapman three times over the past three seasons. Round four will come in the first round of the Divison III playoffs next weekend.
The Pirates (8-2) will host Chapman (8-2) in the Pine Bowl on Saturday. Kickoff is at noon.
A day after a victory over Puget Sound earned the Pirates an outright claim on the Northwest Conference title, Whitworth coaches and players met in the Robinson Teaching Theater auditorium on Sunday for the third straight year to find out their draw on the live NCAA Division III selection show.
The theater erupted with applause and cheers when Whitworth was announced, and again when their opponent was named.
“Playoffs are awesome,” Whitworth coach Rod Sandberg told his players after the draw was announced. “If you get in, you have one goal – get to the end, right? But, as we said before the season started, we have got one game and one opponent that we’re focused on. We have to take it one at a time. We’re playing a very, very good team that we know, and they know us.”
While receiving an automatic berth, the Pirates were thrilled to hear they would be hosting the first-round game for the third consecutive season.
In 2023, the Pirates knocked off Chapman in the regular season and then again in the first round of the playoffs. A rematch in last year’s regular season saw the Pirates escape with a narrow win.
“They are a really, really good squad,” junior defensive back Omari Williams said of Chapman. “They have a really good receiving core. Especially on the offensive side, they fly around like crazy. They know us very, very well.”
Chapman won the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference thanks to a victory over California Lutheran in the championship game on Saturday.
Whitworth and Chapman both took early non-conference losses this season before going undefeated in their respective conferences. One of Chapman’s two losses came against Linfield, a member of the Northwest Conference.
The winner will face Wisconsin-River Falls, who earned a bye after winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.