Midwestern State to play Abilene Christian with playoff spot on the line

By JOHN HENRY

Special to the Star-Telegram

Midwestern State and Abilene Christian meet at 1 p.m. today in Wichita Falls with an NCAA Division II playoff spot on the line.

The winner goes.

But for these two, the playoffs started some weeks ago. Abilene Christian, once the No. 1 ranked team in all of NCAA Division II, rebounded from two straight losses with a 47-35 victory last week over nationally ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville.

The Wildcats sit at No. 4 in the Super Regional Four rankings. The top six from each of the four regions advance to the playoffs.

At No. 7 is Midwestern State, and the Mustangs might not be playing for their season today if not for a difficult 31-28 loss to Tarleton State on Oct. 10.

The Mustangs led 21-3 midway through the second quarter but were outscored 28-7 the rest of the way. Midwestern turned the ball over twice in the last five minutes, including a fumble in the last seconds that led to Garrett Lindholm’s school-record 55-yard game-winning field goal for Tarleton with 12 seconds left.

Midwestern State has used that step back to take some steps forward.

"After we lost to Tarleton we’ve treated the last four weeks as basically playoffs," said junior quarterback Zack Eskridge, who led the Mustangs to victories against Texas A&M-Kingsville, Central Oklahoma and Eastern New Mexico the past three weeks.

"Everybody needs to experience the bad with the good. It makes you a better team. [The loss] leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but at the same time ... I think we’re a stronger team because of it."

Of particular interest this week is Abilene Christian’s defense — ranked11th nationally — against Midwestern State’s offense. The Wildcats, however, do allow an average of 231.8 passing yards.

That would seem to excite an offense such as Midwestern’s that averages almost 300 passing yards a game with Eskridge at the helm.

Eskridge on Friday was among 24 candidates nominated for the Harlon Hill Trophy, presented to NCAA Division II’s player of the year. And it’s easy to see why.

Eskridge has completed 72.6 percent of his passes for 2,776 yards and 27 touchdowns this season. The junior from Rowlett also has at least 200 passing yards in each of Midwestern’s past 10 games and has at least one touchdown pass in his past 14 games. He either holds or is on pace to set school records in completions (199), completion percentage (72.9), passing yards (2,776), passing touchdowns (27), passing yards per game (277.6), pass efficiency rating (187.97) and average yards per pass (10.2). He’s also thrown only five interceptions this season.

Against Kingsville, Eskridge was 24-of-25 for 245 yards, setting an NCAA Division II record for completion percentage.

His top target is wide receiver Andy Tanner, another Rowlett grad who has 61 receptions for 999 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.

Those two and their teammates are confident national championship dreams won’t end today.

"This is playoff game No. 4, and there’s more on the line this week than the previous week," said Eskridge, whose Mustangs can also share the Lone Star Conference championship with a victory and a Tarleton loss to West Texas A&M.

Last week, Midwestern State dominated Eastern New Mexico but had two fumbles and numerous penalties. That won’t work today, Eskridge said.

"That’s hard to overcome. You’ve got to stay out of the second-and-20s and the third-and-longs. And take care of the ball."

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