Wonder Boys Set to Face North Alabama

Kickoff for Saturday's game is set for 12 p.m. in Braly Municipal Stadium.

Tech, who is ranked 21st in the latest AFCA Division II Top 25 Coaches' Poll and is sporting a 9-2 overall record, is making its second-ever trip to the second round of the playoffs and its first since 2004 when the Wonder Boys fell 42-24 at Albany State. The Wonder Boys opened the 2009 D-II Playoffs last weekend with a 41-13 win over 11th-ranked UNC Pembroke in Russellville. UNA is playing its first playoff game of the season after having a first round bye due to earning the No. 1 seed out of Super Regional Two.

Saturday's second round playoff match-up is a rematch from the regular season as UNA took advantage of five turnovers that led to 28 turnovers enroute to posting a 42-17 win over the Wonder Boys on Oct. 3 in Florence. It is the first time since the 1994 season that Tech is playing the same team twice in a season. During the season, the Wonder Boys opened the season with a 32-29 loss at Langston [OK] and then suffered a 56-42 loss at home to Langston in the NAIA Playoffs to end the season.

Since that loss to the Lions, Tech has reeled off six straight victories, which is tied for the seventh-longest active streak in the nation and Tech's longest winning streak since winning seven straight games over the final four games of 2006 and the first three games of the 2007 season.

"We're excited to be one of the 16 teams still left playing this season," Tech Head Coach and Athletic Director Steve Mullins said. "The last time we played them (UNA), they whipped us pretty soundly. There is no way to sugarcoat it."

North Alabama, who has won 23 straight games against Arkansas schools since losing to Central Arkansas during the 2005 regular season, enters the postseason looking to return to the win column after closing the regular season nearly two weeks ago with a 31-28 four overtime loss at home to West Alabama. The UWA loss snapped a 24-game regular season home winning streak for the Lions. UNA, who won three consecutive NCAA D-II National titles from 1993-95, is making its 15th all-time playoff appearance and fifth straight berth in the postseason. UNA is 26-11 all-time in NCAA D-II Playoff games and are 21-5 in home playoff games.

"There is no secret about what we're going to do and there's no secret about what they are going to do," said Mullins, who shared GSC Coach of the Year honors with UNA's Terry Bowden. "It is just a matter of execution, intensity and focus. They (UNA) know us as well as anyone we play knows us."

In the team's first meeting, Tech's offense struggled with protecting the football as they committed five turnovers, including senior quarterback Nick Graziano (Moraga, Calif.) throwing four interceptions and scored a season-low 17 points. On the other sideline, UNA quarterback Harrison Beck passed for a school record 431 yards as the Lions gained 496 yards in the game. Tech's defense, though, held the Lions to a season-low 33 yards rushing.

"Our defense played well at times in our last game against UNA, but our offense did not play very well and turned the ball over too much," the 13th-year Tech coach said. "We can't give them extra possessions like we did last time and expect to compete. Hopefully, we'll be able to protect the football better and give our quarterback time to make good throws."

UNA enters Saturday's game with one of the top defensive units in Division II as the Lions rank in the Top 20 nationally in total defense (286.7 yards/game), scoring defense (15.6 points/game) and passing defense (154.6 yards/game).

"In my 13 years I've been at Tech, I've never seen a defense run like North Alabama," Mullins said. "They are outstanding. We've got our hands full. They are going to line up and get after our tails and they are going to blitz and blitz some more."

While UNA's defense is one of the best in Division II, Tech's offense is one of the best in the country as the Wonder Boys are ranked second nationally in total offense (528.2 yards/game), third in passing (382.1 yards/game) and fourth in scoring (41.9 points/game).

"Our offensive line will have to protect the quarterback as long as we can and our receivers are going to have to get open," Mullins added. "We also need to run the football better than we did last week against UNCP."

Leading the way the Tech's offense is Graziano, who was named one of nine finalists for the 2009 Harlon Hill Trophy on Thursday and was also named the GSC Offensive Player of the Year this season. Graziano, who owns every single Tech single-season passing and total offense mark, ranks second nationally in total offense (390.9 yards/game), third in passing yards (352.8 yards/game) and third in points responsible for (22.4 points/game). On the season, he is 294-for-475 passing for 3,881 yards and he has thrown a school record 35 touchdown passes and 10 interceptions. He is completing nearly 62 percent of his passes and has gained a school and GSC single-season record 4,300 yards of total offense and has had a hand in 41 (35 passing, six rushing) of Tech's single-season school record 62 touchdowns.

Along with Graziano, Tech's offensive attack also features the receiving tandem of seniors Frantz Simeon (Belle Glade, Fla.) and Landon Turner (Destrehan, La.), who were both named First-Team All-GSC selections. Simeon has caught a school record 75 pass receptions for a school record 1,254 yards and has caught a school record 14 touchdown passes, along with gaining a school record 2,235 all-purpose yards, which ranks second nationally, while Turner has caught 73 passes for 1,015 yards and has had eight touchdown receptions. He enters Saturday's UNA game ranked fifth in career receiving yards with 1,797 and is 118 yards shy of passing Steven Daniels for fourth place on the school's all-time receiving yards list. Daniels gained 1,914 receiving yards as a Wonder Boy from 1994-96.

Saturday's match-up will be the 14th meeting in the series dating to 1970. UNA leads the all-time series, 10-3 and has won six straight games in the series, including picking up a 42-17 win earlier this season. UNA leads the series, 6-1 in Russellville and also leads 4-2 in Florence, but Tech's last win in Florence came in 1996 when the Wonder Boys snapped UNA's 23-game GSC winning streak and its 28-game home win streak in its 38-35 victory.

The winner of Saturday's second round playoff game will advance on to a third round playoff game on Saturday, Nov. 28. The third round game opponent will be the winner of Saturday's other Super Region Two second round playoff game that features West Alabama (8-4 overall record) playing at 10th-ranked Carson-Newman (9-2 overall record).