Under Head Coach
Drew Cronic, the Lenoir-Rhyne Football Team has never lost a South Atlantic Conference matchup as the Bears put that streak on the line against Limestone on Saturday afternoon. Lenoir-Rhyne has also won 17 straight regular season games.
The Bears finally moved up in the NCAA Division II poll this week, jumping one spot to No. 7. The Bears had been No. 8 in the nation for eight weeks before Northwest Missouri St. lost last week and LR moved up.
LR brings a high-powered offense into the matchup. The Bears are sixth in the nation in scoring offense and sixth in the nation in rushing yards per game.
Jace Jordan leads the balanced ground attack with 438 yards and an average of 9.7 yards per carry. In total, six different players have at least 100 yards rushing on the year and 19 different players have carried the ball.
The defensive unit is just as powerful as the offense. LR ranks in the top 10 in the nation in total defense, rushing defense and are 14th in DII in scoring defense. LR has 26 sacks, led by eight from
Jaquan Artis, and also has 55 tackles for loss. The Bears also rank 15th in the nation in turnovers gained.
The special teams group is also performing at a high level in 2019 and have garnered a pair of player of the week awards this season. Most recently, punter
Michael Owen earned the league honor last week as all three of his punts were downed inside the seven yard line. One of Owen's punts led directly to a safety and his terrific afternoon allowed the Bears to win the field position battle against Carson-Newman which was a big factor in the 36-23 victory.
The Saints have struggled a bit in 2019 but are potent once they get inside scoring territory. Limestone ranks fifth in the nation in red zone offense, scoring on 95.2 percent of opportunities.
After losing three straight to start the year, the Saints rattled off back-to-back double-digit victories but have dropped two straight since then. Jerko'ya Patton ranks 17th in the nation with eight rushing touchdowns and trails only LR's
Ameen Stevens (10) for the league lead.
This will be just the fifth all-time matchup between the schools with LR winning three of the first four. The Bears have never won by less than three touchdowns against Limestone whose only win came by a 31-13 decision in 2016.
