Story Courtesy Lenoir-Rhyne Athletics | LRBears.com
HICKORY — For the seventh time in program history — all since 2012 — the Lenoir-Rhyne Football Team saw its name called when the NCAA Division II Playoff field was announced. The Bears earned the number four seed in Super Region 2 and will host Shepherd at Moretz Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 18. The winner will take on top seed Benedict on the road the following weekend.
The Bears finished the regular season with a 10-1 record and winners of the Piedmont Division and South Atlantic Conference Championship. The home playoff game will be the 11th home game in NCAA Playoff history and the first since Dec. 7, 2019. LR is 8-6 all-time in playoff games and 8-3 all-time at home.
General Admission tickets will go on sale at noon on Monday and can be found at lrbears.com/tickets. Reserved Season Ticket holders will have until noon on Wednesday to claim their seats.
Super Region 2
1) Benedict
2) Delta St
3) Valdosta St.
4) Lenoir-Rhyne
– Shepherd
– West Florida
– Limestone
Note: The last three teams are unseeded
Fayetteville State, Mars Hill left out of D2 playoff field
Lenoir-Rhyne will be the only team from North Carolina participating in the Division II playoffs this season. Fayetteville State and Mars Hill had been included in the regional rankings the past few weeks, an indicator that the playoff selection committee was considering each school for the 28-team post-season field.
In the end, FSU’s loss to Virginia Union in the CIAA championship game on Saturday and Mars Hill’s loss the week before against Tusculum kept the two squads off the list. Virginia Union made the field, while Limestone, which competes in the Piedmont Division of the South Atlantic Conference with Lenoir-Rhyne earned an at-large berth.
Wingate and Fayetteville State made the D2 playoffs a year ago. Wingate won two games before being ousted in the quarterfinals.
The Division II playoffs feature four regions of seven teams each. The four No. 1 seeds will receive an opening round bye. The D2 tournament will conclude with the championship game.
D2 Playoffs: All Four Region Brackets
SOURCE: NCAA.com … D2Football.com
