Kearney, Neb. – The 113th Nebraska-Kearney football team will look to notch the fourth postseason victory in school history when the Lopers face Winona State in the 54th Annual Mineral Water Bowl this Saturday in Excelsior Springs, Mo.

The game kicks off at 12 p.m. from Excelsior Springs High School's Tiger Stadium. As with all Loper games, KRVN "The River 93.1 FM" will have live coverage with The MIAA Network (https://www.themiaanetwork.com/) providing a free video stream. It's recommended to use an updated version of Google Chrome to watch the broadcast. Finally live stats are available and provided by Winona.
 

GAME NOTES/DEPTH CHARTS

Nebraska-Kearney

Winona

Twenty-five years ago Kearney (6-5) and WSU (8-3) met in the old Metrodome to close out the 1994 season. A wild game featured 84 points, nearly 1,000 yards of offense, 20 penalties and a 50-34 Warrior win. That is the only meeting between the two on the football field.

It's unlikely a shootout of that variety will take place this time around as both UNK (27.5 points per game) and WSU (16.6 ppg) have strong defenses. In addition both offenses like to "ground and pound", rushing the football to keep possession and eat up the clock.

UNK enters its final game of 2019 needing just 63 more rushing yards to set a new school record. The 1996 Kearney State team ran for 3,701 yards – leading the NAIA that fall -- as part of an 8-2 season. The Lopers rank third in Division II in rushing yards per game at the moment (331) with Winona giving up just 129 yards on the ground. Playoff participants Augustana (236) and Sioux Falls (220) both cracked the 200-yard mark against the Warrior "D" but five other squads failed to reach 100.

Winona State also ranks among the national leaders in interceptions (20) and turnover margin (+1.09). The defense, with five All-NSIC South Division picks and five senior starters, has allowed more than 30 points only once all fall. The individual leaders are safety Cam Gavin (#20), tackle Michael Gomez (#11), corner Isaiah Hall (#4), and linebackers Devon Moore (#1) and Nick Pridgeon (#7).

The Warriors will certainly look to stop UNK's balanced option attack led by senior back David Goodwin (963 yards) and redshirt freshman quarterback TJ Davis (886 yards). Goodwin is aiming to record just the 15th 1,000-yard rushing season in Loper lore with Davis, the MIAA Freshman of the Year, having a hand in 20 TD's to date.

When the ball is in the hands of the Warrior offense, UNK will need to slow down All-NSIC South picks Sam Santiago-Lloyd (#30) and Jake Balliu (#5). Santiago-Lloyd, at 5-10, 230 pounds, missed the season finale win over Concordia-St. Paul but averaged 96 yards per week and has eight rushing scores. Ballieu, also an extremely dangerous return man, is a three-time All-NSIC pick and a 2017 All-American. He has 45 catches for 569 yards and seven TD's.

Running the offense is 6-3, 225 pound junior Owen Burke. While Winona has allowed 27 sacks to date, Burke has still thrown for 13 TD's and averaged 180 yards per week. Finally senior kicker Paul Ortiz (#9) is among the best in Division II as he has booted 18 field goals since WSU has a 45% (19 of 42) red zone TD rate. Sixteen of his threes have come inside 39 yards and he has made 28 of 20 PAT's. Ortiz also kicks off and is the starting punter.

UNK senior Sal Silvio (314) will look to pass Kellen Werner (316) on UNK's all-time tackle list. And with two sacks the now two-time all-region inside backer will push his season total to 10, setting a new Loper mark. Finally the Lopers say good bye to 25 seniors/graduate students on Saturday evening.