There is only five more rivalries in the nation that have been played more times than Catawba and Lenoir-Rhyne. The Bears and Indians meet for the 99th time on Saturday afternoon, breaking a tie with Pittsburg State and Emporia State for the fifth-most played rivalry in Divison II.
There will be much on the line for the Bears this weekend. LR can wrap up its second straight South Atlantic Conference Championship with a win which would give them two straight undefeated seasons in league play. Since 2000, the only other time a SAC team went undefeated in conference play was Lenoir-Rhyne in 2013 and 2014. Prior to that, that feat hadn't been accomplished since Carson-Newman in 1998 and 1999.
Lenoir-Rhyne is coming off a 45-31 win over UNC Pembroke that saw QB
Grayson Willingham become just the second player in the 100-year history of Lenoir-Rhyne Football to have multiple 300-yard passing performances. Willingham threw for a career-high 303 yards and three touchdowns en route to winning his first career SAC Offensive Player of the Week award.
In the win, LR faced its first deficit at home since Head Coach
Drew Cronic took the reins prior to the 2018 campaign. UNCP held leads of 10-7, 17-14 and 31-24 before LR pulled away late. A record-breaking play sealed the game at the 8:38 mark of the fourth quarter. A week after breaking the record for the longest TD pass in team history, Willingham and
Jaquay Mitchell set a new mark with a 99-yard score. The 99-yard touchdown is just the 44th in the history of NCAA Division II.
The win gave LR its fifth 10-0 start in program history and just the second since 1962. Most recently, LR went 10-0 in 2014.
Standing in the way of an outright SAC Championship is Catawba. The Indians have struggled in 2019 but will be celebrating Senior Day on Saturday. Catawba hasn't won since a 21-14 victory over Winston-Salem State on Sept. 14 and are riding an 8-game losing streak. Most recently, the Indians dropped a 21-14 decision at UVA-Wise. Catawba is also in search of its first home win of the season.
After the game, the Bears will turn their attention to the NCAA Playoffs. The Bears will find out their postseason fate on Sunday night with the NCAA Division II Selection Show streaming on NCAA.com at 5 p.m.
