1818 Chouteau Avenue St. Louis, Missouri 63103 (314) 444-4364 FAX (314) 444-4365 Spring 2021 Weekly Report Contact: Cody Bush Spring Week 11: Games of April 24 CURRENT STANDINGS PFL OVERALL Team W-L PCT PF PA H A STR W-L PCT PF PA H A STR PREVIOUSLY x-Davidson 4-1 .800 146 119 2-0 2-1 L1 4-2 .667 169 145 2-0 2-2 L1 CCLD vs. Stetson Morehead State 4-2 .667 159 125 3-0 1-2 W3 4-3 .571 159 177 3-0 1-3 W3 W, 28-18 vs. Butler San Diego 4-2 .667 142 105 2-1 2-1 L1 4-2 .667 142 105 2-1 2-1 L1 L, 19-20 at Valparaiso Valparaiso 4-2 .667 112 110 2-1 2-1 W1 4-2 .667 112 110 2-1 2-1 W1 W, 20-19 vs. San Diego Drake 2-3 .400 91 64 0-3 2-0 L1 2-3 .400 91 64 0-3 2-0 L1 L, 24-28 vs. Presbyterian Stetson 0-4 .000 47 117 0-2 0-2 L4 0-4 .000 47 117 0-2 0-2 L4 CCLD at Davidson Butler 0-6 .000 91 174 0-3 0-3 L6 0-6 .000 91 174 0-3 0-3 L6 L, 18-28 at Morehead State Presbyterian 0-0 .000 0 0 0-0 0-0 — 4-3 .571 183 163 2-1 2-2 W3 W, 28-24 at Drake x - 2020 PFL Regular-Season Champion Teams are sorted by PFL win percentage, league wins then, if tied, alphabetical order. PFL tiebreaker only is used in a tie for first place to determine the league’s automatic qualifier. Presbyterian was ineligible for the Spring 2021 PFL regular-season title and automatic qualifying spot. Dayton and Marist opted out of the Spring 2021 schedule. AHEAD IN SPRING WEEK 11 Davidson at Jacksonville State, 2 p.m. PFL POSTSEASON HISTORY Broadcast: ESPN3 FCS PLAYOFFS Location: Jacksonville, Alabama The NCAA Football Championship began in 1978 with a four-team field. It has Stadium: JSU Stadium expanded over the years to its current 24-team format. The Pioneer Football Series: First Meeting League first received an automatic bid during the 2013 expansion. FCS PLAYOFF PREVIEW 2013: Tennessee State 31, at Butler 0 Pioneer Football League champion Davidson, making its first appearance in the 2014: at Montana 52, San Diego 14 NCAA Division I Football Championship, travels to face Ohio Valley Conference 2015: Western Illinois 24, at Dayton 7 champion Jacksonville State in a 2 p.m. (ET), Saturday contest at JSU Stadium. 2016: San Diego 35, at Cal Poly 21 2016: at North Dakota State 45, San Diego 7 Davidson (4-2) won the PFL Championship for the first time in program history. 2017: San Diego 41, at Northern Arizona 10 The Wildcats ended San Diego’s 39-game conference win streak, April 3, en 2017: at North Dakota State 38, San Diego 3 route to the title. Davidson becomes the fourth different team in PFL history to 2018: at Nicholls 49, San Diego 30 play in the FCS Playoffs. 2019: at Northern Iowa 17, San Diego 3 2020: Davidson at Jacksonville State The triple-option-based Davidson offense caused fits for opponents all season and is led by quarterback Tyler Phelps who averaged just 102.8 passing yards GRIDIRON CLASSIC per game but three of his six touchdown throws came in the April 3 victory at The Gridiron Classic matched the champions of the Pioneer Football League San Diego. He was one of three Davidson backs to post 300-plus rushing yards. and Northeast Conference in an exempted postseason football contest. The inaugural Gridiron Classic took place Dec. 2, 2006 with PFL Champion San That Wildcats running corps also included Coy Williams, who ran for 459 yards Diego traveling to NEC Champion Monmouth. and six touchdowns in six games, and Dylan Sparks, who added a team-best 519 rushing yards and four touchdowns. Davidson led the PFL with 1,763 rush- 2006: San Diego 27, at Monmouth 7 ing yards this season, averaging 293.8 yards per game, and scoring 15 rushing 2007: at Dayton 42, Albany 21 touchdowns. 2008: at Albany 28, Jacksonville 0 2009: at Butler 28, Central Connecticut 23 Defensive lineman Jonathan Hammond paced Davidson with a PFL-leading 8.5 PFL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME tackles for loss (1.42 per game), including 7.5 in league play, and was third in sacks (4.0, 0.67/game). Linebackers Jake Alexander and Jalen Jefferson each The Pioneer Football League hosted a championship game between the win- recorded 40 tackles, ranking among the league’s Top 10 tacklers. ners of the north and south divisions from 2001-04. 2001: at Dayton 46, Jacksonville 14 The winner of the Davidson-Jacksonville State matchup will face the Delaware- 2002: Dayton 28, at Morehead State 0 Sacred Heart winner in a May 1-2 quarterfinal contest. 2003: at Valparaiso 54, Morehead State 42 2004: Drake 20, at Morehead State 17 THE PIONEER FOOTBALL LEAGUE A DIVISION I FCS CONFERENCE SPRING 2021 PIONEER FOOTBALL LEAGUE WEEKLY REPORT PLAYERS OF THE WEEK Keith Pearson, Presbyterian Vincent Winey, Morehead State Drew Gedrys, Valparaiso BJ Byrd, Morehead State OFFENSIVE CO-DEFENSIVE SPECIAL TEAMS Keith Pearson, Presbyterian Vincent Winey, Morehead State Drew Gedrys, Valparaiso Senior, Wide Receiver Senior, Linebacker Senior, Defensive Lineman Enoree, South Carolina Lindenhurst, New York McDonald, Pennsylvania Pearson didn’t find the end zone but finished Twenty-tackle performances headlined the Gedrys blocked a pair of PATs to help Val- with 15 receptions for 173 yards in Presbyte- end of the year in the league with Winey re- paraiso secure a 20-19 victory against San rian’s 28-24 win at Drake. His 15 receptions cording 23 tackles in Morehead State’s 28- Diego, Saturday. He is just the third FCS play- tied the most by any FCS receiver this season 28 victory against Butler. His school-record 23 er to block two kicks in a game this season. while his 173 receiving yards were the 12th tackles included three tackles for loss and a Gedrys blocked a PAT in the first quarter on most in the FCS – both the most in a game in- fumble recovery. Impressively, he notched 22 San Diego’s second scoring drive, limiting it to volving a PFL team this season. He had seven of his tackles in the game’s final three quar- a 13-7 San Diego lead. His second came on receptions go for a first down and three recep- ters. His fumble recovery came on the More- San Diego’s final scoring drive, which proved tions of 20-plus yards, including a 31-yarder head State one-yard line, thwarting a Butler to be the difference in the game, keeping it that was the opening play on Presbyterian’s scoring drive, and his 13-yard return gave the a 19-13 game. Valparaiso scored on its final game-winning drive. offense breathing room. drive to claim its first win against San Diego in 18 seasons. OTHER PLAYERS NOMINATED OTHER PLAYERS NOMINATED BJ Byrd (Sr., WR, Morehead State); Christian Jake Hoper (Jr., DL, Drake); Muhindo Kapapa BJ Byrd, Morehead State Brown (RSo., WR, San Diego); Colin Howard (RJr., DE, San Diego); Keyon Turner (Fr., DB, Senior, Kick Returner (So., WR, Drake); Ben Nimz (RSo., QB, Val- Valparaiso) Richmond, California paraiso) Byrd amassed 150 yards in kickoff returns, including an 85-yard return for a touchdown, that did the most in Morehead State’s 28-18 victory against Butler. Fielding just three kick- offs in the game, he returned them 21, 44 and 85 yards. Byrd’s scoring return came mo- ments after Butler scored to get within a field goal with one second remaining in the third quarter. He returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown to end the quarter and secure the victory. He also had three recep- tions for 58 yards and two touchdowns and finished with 203 all-purpose yards on a day the Morehead State offense ran only 41 plays. OTHER PLAYERS NOMINATED Nathan De Bruin (So., K, Drake); Hunter Nich- ols (Jr., KR, San Diego) PAGE 2 WWW.PIONEER-FOOTBALL.ORG SPRING 2021 PIONEER FOOTBALL LEAGUE WEEKLY REPORT TEAM-BY-TEAM CAPSULES BUTLER BULLDOGS DAVIDSON WILDCATS OVERALL: 0-6 PFL: 0-6 HOME: 0-3 AWAY: 0-3 OVERALL: 4-2 PFL: 4-1 HOME: 2-0 AWAY: 2-2 HOME FACILITY: SELLICK BOWL (6,500) HOME FACILITY: RICHARDSON STADIUM (4,500) Date [TM RANK] Opponent [RANK] W/L Score Attend Date [TM RANK] Opponent [RANK] W/L Score Attend M13 Valparaiso* L 14-24 1164 F20 at Elon L 23-26 980 M20 at San Diego * [RV/RV] L 13-27 M13 at Stetson * W 26-20 771 M27 at Valparaiso * L 25-28 602 M20 Presbyterian* W 41-24 A03 Morehead State* L 14-35 976 M27 Morehead State* W 24-21 500 A10 Drake* L 7-33 815 A03 at San Diego * [RV/25] W 31-25 400 A17 at Morehead State * L 18-28 1011 A10 [RV/RV] at Presbyterian * L 24-29 250 A17 [—/RV] Stetson* CCLD A24 [RV/RV] Jacksonville State [8/9] 2 p.m. DRAKE BULLDOGS MOREHEAD STATE EAGLES OVERALL: 2-3 PFL: 2-3 HOME: 0-3 AWAY: 2-0 OVERALL: 4-3 PFL: 4-2 HOME: 3-0 AWAY: 1-3 HOME FACILITY: DRAKE STADIUM (14,000) HOME FACILITY: JAYNE STADIUM (10,000) Date [TM RANK] Opponent [RANK] W/L Score Attend Date [TM RANK] Opponent [RANK] W/L Score Attend M13 San Diego* [RV/RV] W 13-10 593 F20 at James Madison L 0-52 250 M20 at Valparaiso * L 17-6 M13 at Presbyterian * L 16-31 389 M27 at Stetson * CCLD M20 Stetson* W 31-14 1050 A03 Valparaiso* L 7-10 566 M27 at Davidson * L 21-24 500 A10 at Butler * W 33-7 815 A03 at Butler * W 35-14 976 A17 Presbyterian* L 24-28 688 A10 Valparaiso* W 28-24 1020 A17 Butler* W 28-18 1011 PRESBYTERIAN BLUE HOSE SAN DIEGO TOREROS OVERALL: 4-3 PFL: 0-0 HOME: 2-1 AWAY: 2-2 OVERALL: 4-2 PFL: 4-2 HOME: 2-1 AWAY: 2-1 HOME FACILITY: BAILEY MEMORIAL STADIUM (6,500) HOME FACILITY: TORERO STADIUM (7,000) Date [TM RANK] Opponent [RANK] W/L Score Attend Date [TM RANK] Opponent [RANK] W/L Score Attend M06 at Gardner-Webb L (OT2) 24-31 2700 M13 [RV/RV] at Drake * W 13-10 593 M13 Morehead State W 31-16 389 M20 [RV/RV] Butler* W 27-13 M20 at Davidson L 24-41 M27 [RV/RV] at Presbyterian * W 24-21 250 M27 San Diego [RV/RV] L 21-24 250 A03 [RV/25] Davidson* L 25-31 400 A03 at Stetson W 26-3 701 A10 Stetson* W 34-10 565 A10 Davidson [RV/RV] W 29-24