WAVERLY, Iowa — For the first time since 2022, the Bethel University football team will play in the NCAA national quarterfinal. In their first road contest of the postseason, the Royals proved they were up to the task when they took a 17-7 lead into halftime and never gave it back.
The Knights clawed their way back into it early in the third quarter, cutting the Royals’ lead to three, but behind a pair of key defensive plays, Bethel prevailed. The Royals improved to 4-1 all-time against Wartburg in the NCAA playoffs, earning their first win in Waverly since 2012.
“This was going to be a rock fight,” Bethel head coach Mike McElroy said. “And I think it lived up to the billing, just a physical game between two really good teams.”
The Royals lost the opening coin toss, and the Knights elected to defer. After getting two quick first downs to enter Wartburg territory, a botched handoff on 2nd and goal nearly ended the Royals’ opening drive. Luckily for the Royals, center Jaeger Ash fell on it and kept the drive going. One play later, quarterback Cooper Drews found running back Aaron Ellingson on a flat. Ellingson walked into the endzone to give Bethel a 7-0 lead.
Wartburg responded with a 55-yard touchdown strike on its first offensive snap. Quarterback Riley Richards threw a deep post to wide receiver Jagger Schmitt down the middle of the field to tie it up.
The Knights worked their way into Royals’ territory on two occasions, but the Bethel defense held each time, forcing field goal attempts. Knights’ kicker Cael O’ Neill failed to convert, coming up short both times. O’ Neill finished the day 0-for-3 on field goal attempts.
“You leave three scoring opportunities on the board,” Wartburg head coach Chris Winter said. “It’s certainly going to cost you in a game like that against a really good opponent.”
Bethel kicker Hugo Cifuentes converted his only field goal attempt of the game with five minutes to go in the half, giving the Royals the lead once more.
The Royals added on near the end of the first half, using a 20-yard Drews-to-Micah Niewald-strike to get deep into Knights’ territory. One play later Drews found wide receiver Joey Kidder, who made a patented jump ball catch to put the Royals up 10 at half.
With five minutes to play in the third, Cooper Drews dropped back and looked left for Joey Kidder. Instead Knights’ defensive back Keenan Tyler jumped the route, picking off Drews’ pass attempt.
The Wartburg offense capitalized immediately. Richards completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Schmitt and the lead was down to three. That got the Walston-Hoover Stadium crowd back into it.
Looking to regain momentum, the Royals forced a turnover on a tipped Riley Richards’ pass into the arms of Gagliardi Award semifinalist Matt Jung, who took it 59-yards for a pick six and a 10-point lead.
“A lot of that credit goes to the guys up front,” Jung said. “QB rolling up, he gets hit… I’m able to undercut it and have a pretty clear path to the endzone.”
In total, the Royals forced three Richards’ turnovers on the day, the first coming on an acrobatic catch from junior cornerback Devin Williams in the first half, followed by the Jung pick six and finally, an Isaac Call interception off a desperation heave in the final 1:30 to seal it.
The 10-point lead was enough as the Royals went on to win it, 24-14, and advance to the national quarterfinal for the first time in two years.
Now Bethel will face its longest road trip yet, traveling to Selinsgrove, Pa., to take on the Susquehanna University River Hawks. The River Hawks upended No. 1 seeded St. John’s in Collegeville on a last-second field goal Saturday to advance to the national quarterfinals.
“We’re just gonna get the heck out of Iowa first,” Bethel head coach Mike McElroy said. “ Then we’ll try to figure out what’s next.”
The Royals will make the 1,000 mile journey to Arthur Stadium next Saturday to take on the No. 6 ranked River Hawks and their Gagliardi semifinalist quarterback Josh Ehrlich.
“We talked about it all week, let’s earn one more week together,” McElroy said. “And that’s what they did.”
The Royals will be looking to earn more than another week together next Saturday; they will be looking to earn the first final four appearance since 2010.
