It was nearly impossible to catch your breath Saturday in the second round of the 2023 DII football championship. Underdogs rose to the top, come-from-behind wins stole the headlines, and fantastic finishes occurred in nearly every game as many went right down to the final whistle.
This has turned out to be a wild tournament thus far â one of the wildest in recent memory as a matter of fact. Two Super Regions are left without their No. 1 or No. 2 seed when just a year ago three Super Region finals were a matchup of the No. 1 vs. No. 2 seed. You have to go back to 2017 to find a quarterfinals that didn’t have at least three No. 1 seeds in it. Before we move on to next week’s great eight, let’s see how we got here.Â
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL:
Super Region One
Don’t call it a comeback. Kutztown made program history, reeling off 15 unanswered points in the closing five minutes with touchdown runs by Darryl Davis-McNeil and Judd Novak to down No. 2 Charleston (WV) 32-31. It is the Golden Bears’ 11th-straight victory and ties the program record for wins in the season. This one literally came down to the wire as the Golden Eagles lined up for a 51-yard field goal as time expired but simply couldn’t connect in what is an instant Super Region One classic. The win puts Kutztown back in the quarterfinals after its most recent 2021 trip and sets up a rematch of the PSAC championship game.
Like two heavyweights, Slippery Rock and Tiffin dance around, feeling each other out in a scoreless first quarter before these two high-powered offenses exploded in the second quarter. The two teams exchanged four touchdowns in a three-minute span to open the second quarter, including a dandy of a 90-yard kickoff return by Slippery Rock to even the score at 14. The Slippery Rock offense built enough of a cushion to hold on and win 45-35 in a game most thought it would be. Both teams combined for 80 points and more than 1,300 yards. We now have a Super Region One final set up like…
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