Advance to Regional Finals
By Mitchell Smedley
The KU Golden Bears football team scraped out a 32-31 victory over Charleston (W.Va.) on Saturday, Nov. 25. Facing a fourteen-point deficit in the late stages of the fourth quarter, KU’s outstanding season looked as though it may be coming to an end.
But late-game heroics by Darryl Davis-McNeil, Judd Novak, and others, enabled the Golden Bears to take the lead with less than a minute to go. Important plays were made by many athletes in maroon and gold including a long kick return that almost went for a touchdown by Steven Burkhardt. With that kick return, alongside two touchdown drives and key stops by the defense, all three phases of the game contributed to KU’s narrow victory.
The win was sealed when Charleston came up short on an attempted game winning field-goal, confirming that KU’s season would continue for yet another week.
KU hasn’t needed such heart-stopping moments to win recently. In the first round of the NCAA playoffs, they beat Virginia Union at Andre Reed Stadium by a sore of 38-14.
Similarly, the week before, they dominated in-conference rival Slippery Rock, 31-7. While the defense allowed more points to Charleston than in their last two games combined, the offense stayed focused, putting up over 30 for the third straight game when it matters most in the playoffs.
After dropping their first two games of the season, KU has rattled off eleven consecutive victories. This is a streak they hope to extend once again when they rematch against Slippery Rock on Saturday, Dec. 2.
The game will be held at Slippery Rock at noon. With a win, the Golden Bears would become regional champions, advancing to the national D-II semifinals.