Football ranked No. 19 in latest AFCA Top 25 Poll
WACO, Tex.- Mars Hill is ranked 19th in the nation in the week 11 edition of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Top 25 Poll. The Lions (8-2, 6-1 South Atlantic Conference) moved up four spots from last week's poll.
Mars Hill defeated Carson-Newman, 23-20, last Saturday to capture its first league championship title since 1985. The Lions are 8-1 against Division II competition this season and will host the winner of No. 20 North Greenville/Albany State in the Second Round of the Division II playoffs on Sat., Nov. 26. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. eastern.
Thanks to an upset loss by then-No. 1 Delta State (Miss.), Colorado State-Pueblo ends the regular season at No. 1 in the AFCA Division II Coaches' Top 25 Poll. The Thunderwolves finished with an 11-0 record and will host a second round playoff game on November 26. Midwestern State (Texas) moved up the second spot and will also host a second round playoff game, as will No. 3 Winston-Salem State (N.C.), who beat Elizabeth City State (N.C.), 38-18, to claim the CIAA championship. Nebraska-Kearney moves up to No. 4 and New Haven (Conn.) moves up to No. 5. Both will host second round playoff games on November 26.
Nineteen of the AFCA Top 25 teams will be participating in the NCAA Division II playoffs. There will be three Top 25 matchups in the first round of the playoffs, starting off with No. 10 Northwest Missouri State traveling to No. 16 Missouri Western State. No. 11 Abilene Christian (Texas) will travel to No. 15 Washburn (Kan.), while No. 12 North Alabama will travel to No. 22 West Alabama. Five new teams entered the poll this week highlighted by No. 20 North Greenville (S.C.), who enters the Coaches' Poll for the first time in school history.