Lenoir-Rhyne football’s reward for winning the South Atlantic Conference championship on Saturday will be a home game for the first round of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
The Bears (10-1) will host a formidable opponent: the Shepherd University Rams (9-2) on Saturday at Moretz Stadium in Hickory. A kickoff time has not yet been announced.
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Here are 10 things to know about Lenoir-Rhyne’s opening-round foe:
1. Shepherd University is located in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, about a six-hour drive from Lenoir-Rhyne’s Hickory campus. The Rams finished 5-2 in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference’s East Division — tied for second place. Four teams from the PSAC made the playoff field, with champion Kutztown, Slippery Rock and East Stroudsburg joining Shepherd.
2. Ernie McCook has been the head coach at Shepherd since the 2018 season. He was an assistant with the program for 18 years before that. The Rams have finished 13-2 in each of the past two seasons, advancing to the national semifinals both times. Shepherd lost to Colorado School of Mines in last year’s semis.
3. Shepherd has been in the national headlines recently thanks to former quarterback Tyson Bagent, who ascended to the starting job with the Chicago Bears a few weeks ago. Bagent played for the Rams from 2018-22, throwing an NCAA record (all levels) 159 touchdown passes during his career. Last season, he threw for an even 5,000 yards and had 53 TD strikes. His younger brother, Ezra Bagent, is on this year’s roster as a freshman quarterback.
4. The Bears and Rams have no common opponents this season. Shepherd has averaged scoring 32.7 points per game, fourth-best in the 16-school PSAC. The defense has surrendered 21.4 points per game, fifth in the conference.
5. Shepherd has a 1,000-yard running back in Malakai Brown. The 5-11, 185-pound redshirt junior from Martinsburg, W.Va., has 1,025 yards on 173 carries and has scored eight touchdowns in 11 games. His 93.2 yards-per-game ranks second in the PSAC.
6. The Rams have a 1-2 punch in the running game. Jordan Barnett, a 6-0, 225-pound redshirt freshman bruiser from Fredericksburg, Va., has picked up 616 yards and seven touchdowns on 79 attempts — an average of 77 yards per game and 7.8 per carry. Barnett transferred to Shepherd from Southern Utah.
7. Quarterback Seth Morgan, Bagent’s replacement, ranks third in Shepherd’s conference in passing, completing 226 of 337 passes for 2,761 yards. The junior from Pittsburgh is averaging better than 250 yards per game with 23 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Morgan transferred to Shepherd from VMI.
8. As a team, Shepherd ranks second in its conference in red zone offense, converting on 38 of 46 trips inside an opponents’ 20. That includes 30 touchdowns and eight field goals. The Rams are fifth in red zone defense, giving up points 75.6 percent of the time (19 TDs and 7 FGs).
9. Defensive back Miles Greer, a freshman from Springfield, Va., leads the PSAC in both kickoff returns (32.8 yard average) and punt returns (16.9). He has one punt return for a touchdown, a play that covered 86 yards.
10. Shepherd doesn’t have any players in the conference’s top 20 for tackles, tackles-for-loss and sacks. Chris McDowell, a junior defensive back from Edgewood, Md., has picked off four passes.
BONUS: Shepherd and Lenoir-Rhyne have met twice in the modern era. The Rams won both meetings, in 1996 and 1997.
