Wingate football, which knocked off defending South Atlantic champion Lenoir-Rhyne 14-10 on Saturday, has entered the Division II national rankings.
The Bulldogs (7-1) jump into the D2Football.com media poll at No. 18 and the AFCA coaches poll tied for 24th with Findley. It’s the first time Wingate has been ranked this season.
Lenoir-Rhyne (7-2) dropped from No. 12 in the coaches poll into a tie for 21st with conference mate Carson-Newman. The Bears fell out of the D2Football.com poll after holding the No. 16 slot last week.
Johnson C. Smith (8-1), which suffered its first loss of the season against Fayetteville State, fell to 25th in the D2Football.com rankings and slid out of the Top 25 in the coaches rankings (receiving enough votes for 26th).
Wingate clinches SAC title game slot
The Bulldogs improved to 5-1 in conference play with Saturday’s triumph in Hickory. The victory sealed Wingate’s spot in the upcoming South Atlantic Conference championship game on Nov. 16.
Wingate still has to play Newberry (3-5, 3-3) this weekend but has the tiebreaker edge over the other teams near them in the Piedmont Division standings, Lenoir-Rhyne (7-2, 5-2) and Limestone (6-3, 5-2).
Who Wingate will play is still up for grabs. Carson-Newman (8-1, 6-1) will earn the Mountain Division’s spot if the Eagles beat Tusculum (1-7, 1-6) on Saturday. But if Carson-Newman loses, that would open the door for Mars Hill or Emory & Henry.
Mars Hill (4-3, 4-2) clinches with a C-N loss and a win at Anderson (3-6, 1-6) on Saturday. Emory & Henry (7-2, 5-2) will oppose Wingate in the title game if the Wasps beat UVA Wise on Saturday and both Carson-Newman and Mars Hill lose.
Regardless of opponent, Wingate will host the SAC championship contest. Kickoff is listed at 3 p.m. on the Bulldogs’ Web site.
Mars Hill, Wingate players earn SAC weekly honors
Mars Hill’s Tristan Rankin was named the South Atlantic Conference’s offensive player of the week, wjhile Wingate’s Christian Teeter earned special teams player of the week.
Rankin, a senior from Hickory (Hickory HS), led the Lions to a crucial 31-23 win over Emory & Henry. Rankin extended his Mars Hill career record to 18 interceptions with two more INT’s on Saturday. He returned one interception for a touchdown and totaled 69 return yards on his two picks. Rankin finished the day with four total tackles, one pass break up and one tackle for loss to go with his two takeaways.
Teeter, a sophomore from West Columbia, S.C. (, played a key role in Wingate’s 14-10 victory at #12 Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday. He averaged 40.8 yards per punt on six punts, putting three inside the 20 with a pair inside the 10. His first punt of the day was a 48-yarder that pinned the Bears at their own nine.
His second punt was a 41-yarder that pinned LR at the four, which led to a three-and-out and the Bulldogs taking over at the LR 30 to set up the first of two touchdowns. Teeter added a 54-yard punt in the third quarter, flipping the field to put the Bears inside their own 20.
— from South Atlantic Conference sports information
