Photo by Russell Marwitz/True To The Cru/russellmarwitz.com
BELTON—It has become an annual matchup between two of Division III football’s traditional powers. This season marks the third straight year in which Mary Hardin-Baylor and UW-Whitewater will meet in the regular season, in addition to a 2021 national semifinal matchup. And that came not long after The Cru and the Warhawks met in the national playoffs in back-to-back years in 2018 and 2019.
At this point, the familiarity between the two programs is becoming like that of conference opponents, especially considering that nearly every player on both rosters has never known a season in which UMHB and Whitewater did not meet at some point in the year.
“There’s nothing negative about taking this game,” UMHB head coach Larry Harmon said Monday. “If you want to be in the top eight in the playoffs and have a chance to really make a run at being a national champion, you have to be able to play in these games and win these games. To have the opportunity to have this kind of an environment in Week 3 is nothing but a positive.”
UMHB and Whitewater played in Belton last season, with the Warhawks narrowly getting past The Cru, 17-14, in Week 3. Now, the series returns to Whitewater, a place where the Crusaders have only ever won once, advancing to the 2021 Stagg Bowl in a 24-7 win on Dec. 11, 2021. UWW holds an 8-2 record all-time against UMHB.
With The Cru’s biggest non-conference game of the season—and the only non-conference matchup against a Division III opponent—on the docket, Harmon spoke with the media at his weekly press conference on Monday morning. Here are three takeaways from that conversation.
On the matchup with Whitewater in the trenches…
One of the staples of UWW’s success over the years has been its play in the trenches. Both the offensive and defensive lines have long been a strength for the Warhawks, with strong, experienced players up front on both sides of the ball. Offensively, that has often meant that UWW’s rushing attack is one of its greatest assets, with agile ballcarriers running behind a forceful offensive line. Through two games this season, 25 of the Warhawks’ 42 first downs have come on running plays in addition to averaging 222 yards per game on the ground as a team. And their opponents haven’t been pushovers; UWW defeated then-No. 19 John Carroll, 34-7, and followed that with a 24-14 win over Division II Roosevelt on the road this past Saturday.
Luckily for The Cru, they have already seen a team with a similar style. Bethel (TN)’s offense resembled that of UWW in multiple ways, notably in the size and strength of the line and the talent of the running backs.
“You hope that helps you, that you’ve already been in a contest with a team that wants to really run the football and has big offensive linemen and big tight ends and really talented running backs,” Harmon said, when asked how much he thinks facing Bethel will help prepare his linemen for Saturday. “So I don’t think we’re going to see anything on Saturday that we haven’t seen before. It’s just going to depend on how great a week of prep we have going into this game to go out there and play our best football.”
The defensive front will be key in stopping UWW’s run game, and battling with the strength of the Warhawk offensive linemen. For their part in Saturday’s blowout win over Westgate Christian, UMHB’s defensive line and linebackers held the Ravens to -35 yards rushing, and while the degree of difficulty was certainly different from Week 1 to Week 2, showed improvement in that aspect of the game.
“We’re improving everywhere,” Harmon noted, when asked about the development of the defensive line and linebackers. “Our steps are getting better so we’re getting two feet to the ground when we’re making contact with offensive players. We have better hand placement, better hat placement. We’re able to put ourselves in positions where we can get off a block and pull back in and make a play.
“And our linebackers are getting better at coming downhill and pulling double-teams off so those poor defensive tackles aren’t getting double-teamed all day. I feel like we’re moving in the right direction. We’re not perfect yet, but we’re certainly getting better.”
Finding room to improve, even after the dominant win
While the 85-6 final score was indicative of just how overpowering UMHB was against Westgate Christian on Saturday night, The Cru still came away with multiple aspects in which growth and correction will be necessary heading into the matchup at Whitewater. Significant improvement tends to happen from Week 1 to Week 2, something Harmon said he saw, though he also pointed out the Cru’s penalty total and play on special teams are two areas UMHB needs to be better in.
The Crusaders were called for eight penalties against Westgate amounting to 79 yards, with four of those penalties resulting in first downs for the Ravens. Considering Westgate had just eight total first downs in the game, that was one of the few negatives in the lopsided win.
“I thought that we played much harder and with a lot more confidence than we did in Week 1,” Harmon said. “I was disappointed in our penalties. We had three roughing the passers and an unsportsmanlike. When we played Bethel, we had two penalties. So that was a little disheartening, and that got addressed yesterday.
“When we played Bethel, I thought we were a little better on special teams than we were this past Saturday. I thought we took some of those plays off—maybe it was the score—but our kids need to understand how important special teams are. You definitely can’t afford a mistake on any special team [play] if you want to win a game of this caliber [that we are playing on Saturday].”
Looking ahead
UMHB is well aware of the challenges that UWW presents on both sides of the ball, a credit to the precise game-planning done by the UWW coaches. The Warhawks are detail-oriented, making it difficult to find and exploit their weaknesses over the course of the game. As for The Cru, Harmon identified two main areas in which UMHB needs to have success if his team is to return to Belton with a victory.
Said Harmon, “Obviously, we have to stop the run. On offense, we have to stay out of third & long. Those are the two things that are a must for our team. We have to be really sound on special teams. [Whitewater is] very well-coached.
“We have to have a mindset of, ‘We’re going to be in a real physical game.’ It’s going to come down to who can be the most physical the longest, and what we are prepared to do as far as that, is going to determine the winner of this game.”
Saturday’s game is set to kickoff at 1 p.m. from Whitewater’s Perkins Stadium. The game will be broadcasted locally in the Temple/Belton area on KMIL 105.1 FM and livestreamed on the WIAC Network.
