DULUTH, Minn. (csssaints.com) – The St. Scholastica football team will take on third-ranked University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in the first round on the NCAA Division III playoffs on Saturday.
 
Where:
J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium – Oshkosh, Wis.
 
When:
Saturday at 3 p.m.
 
Live Video: http://portal.stretchinternet.com/uwosh/
Live Stats: http://www.titans.uwosh.edu/LiveStats/Football/xlive.htm
 
Social Media:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CSSSAINTSFB
Instagram: www.instagram.com/csssaintsfb   
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StScholasticaFootball
 
St. Scholastica Saints
Stats
Record: 9-1, 9-0 UMAC
Upper Midwest Athletic Conference: Standings | Stats
 
Last Action: The Saints capped off a perfect conference season for the third straight year, defeating Greenville College (Ill.) 40-19 on November 7 … Kyle Stepka (New Prague, Minn./New Prague HS) threw five touchdown passes in the victory, two of which going to senior Andrew Smith (Rogers, Minn./Rogers HS) … Mitch Ejnik (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer HS ) also returned a kickoff for a touchdown, his third special teams score of the season … Xavier Rhodes (South St. Paul, Minn./South St. Paul HS) had a career-high 16 tackles to lead the defense … The victory was the 30^th consecutive Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) victory, which is the second-longest such streak in NCAA Division III.
 
Playoff History: This will be St. Scholastica's fifth consecutive NCAA Division III playoff appearance in only its eighth year as a program … CSS first made the postseason in 2011, which resulted in snowy 48-2 loss to the University of St. Thomas … St. Thomas advanced to the national semifinals that season … In 2012, the Saints fell to these same Titans 55-10, after jumping out to a 10-0 lead … The Titans also advanced to the semifinals that season … In 2013, CSS played Bethel University in the final college game ever played at the Metrodome and fell 70-13 … Last season, the Saints faced Saint John's and was defeated 35-7 … With the exception of the Bethel game (22-0), the Saints have only been out-scored 13-12 after one quarter in the other three games.
 
Opportunistic D: In their first three games of the season, the Saints had a minus-3 turnover margin, including five turnovers in the their only loss at Ripon College (Wis.) … In the last six games, CSS has a plus-17 turnover margin … The Saints have forced the most turnovers in the conference (30) and rank sixth in NCAA Division III.
 
Don't Forget Special Teams: The Saints lead the nation in defending kick returns, allowing 10.4 yards per return … Of all the teams ranked in the top 10 in this category, CSS has the highest number of opponent kickoff return opportunities (50) … Oshkosh will enter Saturday's game with the fourth-best kickoff return unit in the country averaging 26.2 yards per return … The Saints are also one of four teams in the country to return at least four punts for touchdowns this season and rank third in the nation in punt return yards (583).
 
Big Second Quarters: The Saints have out-scored teams 164-29 in the second quarter this season and 233-44 in the first half this season … Only once have the Saints allowed two offensive touchdowns in the first half.
 
Spreading the Ball Around: 19 different Saints have caught a pass … That is a program-best as the previous high was 14 during the 2011 season … Also four different CSS quarterbacks, including three different starters, have thrown touchdown passes, which is also a program-high in a season.
 
20 is the Magic Number: The Saints are 50-0 since 2010 when they score at least 20 points … The Saints are 2-16 all-time when they fail to reach 20 points with both wins coming against Northwestern.
 
Ticket Prices: Ticket prices for Saturday's game are $10 for adults, $8 for senior citizens (55 or older) and $6 for students (K-12 & College).

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Upcoming Opponent
No. 3 UW-Oshkosh Titans
Record: 9-1, 7-0 WIAC
 
The Titans opened the season with a 23-21 loss at NAIA's Robert Morris University (Ill.) … Robert Morris was ranked 20^th in the NAIA polls in the preseason … Following that, Oshkosh put up big numbers against its opponents, including in the strong Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) … It was the defense that prevailed in the October 10 victory over defending national champion UW-Whitewater as the Titans held the Warhawks to 226 yards of offense in the 10-7 triumph … Other than the Whitewater game, 11 points was the closest margin of victory against WIAC teams this season as the Titans captured their ninth WIAC championship … Sophomore quarterback Brett Kasper leads the offensive attack for the Titans … Kasper ranks ninth in the country in passing efficiency and 19^th in completion percentage … His favorite target is senior Zach Kasuboski, who has 40 receptions and eight touchdowns on the year … Kasuboski had a TD reception against the Saints in the 2012 playoff game … However, the Titans' bread-and-butter is on the ground … Oshkosh led the WIAC , averaging 242 yards per game … Sophomore Dylan Hecker has 749 yards and 14 touchdowns this season and junior Devon Linzenmeyer has 578 yards and seven scores … Defensively, the Titans rank fourth in the nation with four defensive TDs this year and third in red zone defense … Junior linebacker Reese Dziedzic leads the team with 61 tackles.
 
Series History: Oshkosh leads 1-0
 
Last Meeting: The Titans defeated the Saints 55-10 in the first round of the 2012 NCAA Division III playoffs … The Saints scored the first 10 points, both coming off of Oshkosh turnovers … In the end, the Titan ground game proved to be too much as they ran for 413 yards on the day.