Hunter Clasen made a name for himself in 2022, especially in the postseason, and he continues to have success in the Wartburg backfield. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com

By Brian Lester
D3sports.com

Wartburg’s football team doesn’t feel as if it's ‘playing with house money’ ahead of Saturday's NCAA Division III quarterfinal at home against UW-Whitewater.

The Knights don’t have that ‘happy just to be here feeling’ either as they take aim at continuing this special playoff journey.

What they do have, however, is experience of playing football late in the season that they hope to cash in on in a matchup of two teams ranked in the top five of the final regular season D3football.com poll. Wartburg (12-0) is No. 3 and UW-Whitewater (11-1) is fifth.

That experience comes with something else that is big-time crucial at this time of the year.

“With the experience comes confidence, and we have the most confidence in the world in this group of players who have been here before,” running back Hunter Clasen said. “We know what it takes to get to where we want to be, which is the national championship game, and we’re going to keep working our butts off to try to get there.”

Linebacker Owen Grover, a fellow fifth-year senior who was part of Wartburg’s run to the national semifinals a season ago, said he and his teammates definitely have the confidence Clasen mentions and are counting on that experience to pay dividends.

“Confidence comes from demonstrated ability, and we’ve shown with this group that we can play in these types of games, and we have learned from those experiences,” Grover said. “We’ve had some tough losses and big wins, and have played deep into the season before.”

And they have navigated the adversity that is part of the deal of playing into the fourth month of a college football season.

“We have battled through injuries and all the things that come with playing this many weeks into the year,” Grover said. “We have confidence we can continue doing that. We know we have the ability to do it.”

Head coach Chris Winter, the 2022 D3football.com Region 5 and national coach of the year, can see the value of prior playoff experience for his players.

“There’s a different level of belief and confidence right now,” Winter said. “In the past, we might have felt like we were playing with house money or we were excited to just be in a quarterfinal and whatever happens from there is great. That mindset has changed. We expect more. We can play with anybody. We proved that last year.”

A year ago, the Knights gave eventual national runner-up Mount Union all it could handle in a 34-31 semifinal loss. During that same playoff run, they went on the road and beat St. John’s 23-20.

The fact that the unbeaten Knights have been in tightly contested postseason moments is something Winter points out allows his team to play its game. There isn’t any added pressure of trying to revamp things offensively and defensively to have the best shot at success.

“I don’t feel like we have to come up with the perfect game plan, and I’m not going into the week thinking everything has to go exactly right, and that I have to make the right call at the exact right time," Winter said. "Maybe in the past, we felt that way, where we needed the breaks to go our way, but we have guys who have been in these big games who can match up with anybody. We can let these guys out there and be themselves.”

Wartburg has been pretty good at being itself.

Clasen has rushed for more than 1,400 yards (1,406) and 21 scores, marking the second straight year he’s churned out more than 1,000 yards. He’s scored a rushing touchdown in 29 of the last 31 games he’s played in.

Nile McLaughlin has thrown for close to 3,000 yards (2,942) on the season to go along with 33 touchdowns, with top targets Drake George, Carter Henry and Thor Maakestad each racking up more than 600 receiving yards and seven touchdowns apiece.

On defense, Grover leads the way with 95 tackles and is closing in on 350 (346) for his career.  Preston Rochford (62), Nate Link (52) and Parker Rochford (51) all have 50 or more tackles, with Parker Rochford also picking off seven passes.

Owen Grover continues to be all over the place on defense for Wartburg, as the team leader with 95 tackles. Photo by Caleb Williams, d3photography.com

Winter likes what he has seen out of his football team and points out how the experience factor has put his team in a spot to win in a variety of ways.

“We have played in tough games and have had teams push us, and we’ve answered the bell. It’s made us a stronger team,” Winter said. “We feel we can win any style of game. If it’s low scoring, we can grind it out. If we have to put up points, we can do that. If it’s a four-quarter battle, we can find a way.”

But success is more than just about what a team does on the field on Saturday. It’s also about preparation, and the importance of practice is magnified at this time of the season. Wasting a moment isn’t an option.

“You have to take advantage of every day,” Grover said. “At this point in the season, that’s how you create a team that is going to be the last one standing at the end. We have to use every practice we have and every game we have to get better. That started last offseason. We used every day we had to give us a chance to compete at the end of the year.”

While not everyone on the team has playoff experience and five years of college football under their belts, Grover said everyone on the roster understands their role.

“It’ would be easy for younger guys to fizzle out at this point, but we have players who love working every day and being a part of this team,” Grover said. “They embrace their roles to help us get to where we want to be as a team. Having guys like that is beneficial.”

There is also the reminder of how last season ended. Wartburg was so close to playing for the title before Mount Union scored with 31 seconds left to win 34-31 in the national semifinals in Alliance, Ohio.

“We took how close we were to getting to the national championship game and used that to push ourselves a little harder in the offseason,” Clasen said. “We know what needs to get done to get there, and it’s showing that our work is paying off. We can’t wait to put that ability to the test again this weekend.”

Winter said his players were certainly driven a little more after last season.

“It's a different feeling this year, a different level of expectations,” Winter said. “It’s added a little pressure, but in a good way. Our guys have shown what they are capable of and have raised the standard.”

Grover is thankful he came back for one last season and wants nothing more than to keep this season moving along.

“I’m incredibly blessed and incredibly proud of what we’ve done so far,” Grover said. “It’s a blessing to be playing at this time of the year, to be down to the last eight teams, and have the chance to play another week.”