Nov 13, 2018 3 min read

The see-saw of emotions was almost too much to take for Andy Frye.

After Centre handed Birmingham-Southern a 56-20 beating last week, Frye, the Colonels’ head coach, was told Berry had just lost to Trinity, Texas, throwing the Southern Athletic Association standings into disarray.

Berry was now tied for first with Centre but held the tiebreaker, thanks to a 38-35 overtime victory in September. Worse, Centre lost some ground on strength of schedule, one of the key measurements used by the NCAA.

“It felt like someone kicked me in the stomach,” Frye said. “I felt bad for our players. We knew that if Berry won, we were fourth seed in our region so there was a pretty good chance that we were going to go. After that, I thought, ‘Well, we gave it our best shot.'”

One might have heard the sigh of relief all the way to Washington Sunday when Centre not only received an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III playoffs but got a home game against Washington & Jefferson Saturday at Farris Stadium.

Kickoff is noon.

“I’m sure the coaches feel the same way at W&J,” said Frye. “It’s nice we don’t have to travel. But when we kick off, they’re going to be ready to play football and we’re going to be ready to play football. I always said paint lines on a parking lot and let’s go play.”

Centre and W&J have identical 9-1 records and, in many ways, have similar talent with a strong passing game and effective running game.

Tanner Young of Centre and Jacob Adams have eerily similar statistics. Young has completed 58 percent of his passes for 2,746 yards, 29 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Adams has completed 64 percent of his passes for 2,658 yards with 32 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

“They are similar,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “They run the spread offense. They are bigger than us, but everyone is bigger than us.”

Both teams have a standout wide receiver. Centre’s Jaylin Hibbs has 52 catches for 1,072 yards and 12 touchdowns. W&J’s Andrew Wolf has 78 receptions for 1,337 yards and 21 TDs.

Finally, both teams use a one-two punch in the backfield. Centre’s Colin Burnam and Trevor Carnell have combined for 1,414 yards and 19 touchdowns. W&J’s Jordan West and E.J. Thompson have combined for 1,802 yards and 20 scores.

Centre touts a strong defense with two strong cornerbacks in John Wilson and Cal Lewellyn. They have combined for 91 tackles and four interceptions. Linebacker Andrew Busby has a team-high 61 tackles and is one of 31 seniors on the team.

“I’ve always said that I’m a good coach when I have good talent,” Frye said. “I’m a fair coach when I have fair talent. We have great senior leadership. W&J has great senior leadership. You don’t get to this situation with a bunch of schmucks.”