BETHEL FOOTBALL PREVIEW: No. 13 Bethel Travels West
for Second Round Matchup at No. 5 Linfield
#13/20 Bethel Royals (0-2, 7-1 MIAC) at #5 Linfield Wildcats
(10-0, 7-0 NWC)
Location McMinnville, Ore. (Maxwell
Field)
Tickets BUY
ONLINE • General Public $15 • Senior Citizen • $5 • Youth &
Children $5
Live Stream Linfield Sports Network
Live Stats golinfieldwildcats.com/sidearmstats/football/summary
Bethel Game Notes (PDF)
Linfield GoLinfieldWildcats.com
NCAA NCAA Playoff Bracket | Digital Program
Social Media Twitter | Gameday Twitter | Instagram | Facebook
KICKOFF COVERAGE
ARDEN HILLS, Minn. - The No. 13th ranked Royals hit the road again, this time
out west to McMinnville, Ore. where they face unbeaten and No. 5 Linfield in
the second round of the NCAA Playoffs. Bethel (9-2) is coming after a gutsy
34-32 victory over Wheaton, never trailing in its opening round game. The
Wildcats (10-0) pulled away Pomona-Pitzer in the fourth quarter, 51-24.
The winner of Saturday's game advances to the quarterfinal and takes on the winner of No. 3 Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 6 Trinity (TX).
SERIES HISTORY
Series: First all-time Meeting:
Bethel will be making its first-ever trip to Oregon in its matchup with Linfield. Against the Northwest Conference the Royals are 2-2 all-time splitting wins with Pacific Lutheran and Whitworth.
Video: COACH’S CORNER
Steve
Johnson, Bethel head football coach, interviewed by Austin Lagesse, Bethel director
of athletic communications. Link to YouTube-posted video:
ROYAL NOTES
• BU is making back-to-back
appearances into the postseason for the fourth time in program history. It's
the second straight season that the Royals received one of the five at large
bids. Last season the Royals received an at-large bid traveling down to Central
(IA) where they were defeated 61-35.
• The Royals are 12-10 all-time in the postseason follow last Saturday's
victory. In second round games they are 4-1. The last time the Royals reached
the second round was 2018 where they knocked off #9 North Central 27-24 on the
road.
• Freshman RB David Geebli recorded his first 100-yard
rushing game at Wheaton going for 102 yards on 15 carries with a TD run.
• Junior RB Bryce Kunkle's two TD game in the first round
was his second multi-touchdown game the season, the other coming at Augsburg,
and fourth of his career. He did so on 21 carries rushing for 66 yards.
• Freshman DB Devin Williams has his first official INT of
the season returning the pick six 44 yards on the first play of the second half.
Earlier in the season against Augsburg, Williams picked off the Auggies
potential game-winning two point conversion returning it 100 yards for the
two-point score.
BY THE NUMBERS
7 – sacks allowed by the offensive line which ranks as the 10th fewest
nationally at .7 a game.
11 – postseason appearances, all which have come since 2000.
42 – consecutive weeks the Royals have been ranked in the D3football.com Top 25
polls. Second longest behind a 57-week streak from 2010 to 2014.
KEEPING IT CLOSE
• BU's 34-32 victory over Wheaton was the fifth game this year for the Royals
that was decided by seven or less points, tying the most in a single-season
since 2012. In four of those the margin was by a field goal or less where BU is
3-1 in those games. Since 2000, the Royals are 37-25 in games decided by seven
or less points.
ROSTE, WILLIAMS HEADLINE MIAC
POSTSEASON AWARDS
• Senior quarterback Jaran Roste was named the MIAC Football
Offensive Player of the Year while becoming a four-time All-MIAC honoree.
Freshman defensive back Devin Williams also headlined the awards
being named the inaugural MIAC Football Rookie of the Year.
• Roste is the first Royal with a major honor since quarterback Erik Peterson
in 2013. A dynamic quarterback, the Alexandria, Minn. native threw for 2,018
yards with a MIAC-leading 69.7 completion percentage (152-218-6) during the
regular season. He threw for 16 touchdowns while averaging 224.2 yards a game
in the air. The other side of the dual threat was his 356 rushing yards on 48
carries. His MIAC leading 7.4 yards per carry paced him to four rushing
touchdowns. Roste also becomes just the 11th player in MIAC history to be a
four-time All-MIAC honoree. Roste has also been named a semifinalist for the
Gagliardi Trophy
• Williams has played a key role in the Bethel secondary appearing in nine
games and collecting 30 tackles, 23 of which were solo. He added six pass
breakups and one forced fumble. His biggest play of the year came against
Augsburg picking off the Auggies potential game-winning two-point conversion
returning it 100 yards for the two-point score. The Fridley, Minn. native also
earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention honors.
NO. 1 IS NUMBER 1
• Jaran Roste became the Royals all-time
passing leader following a 186-yard performance against St. Olaf. His now 8,571
career yards surpassed Scott Kirchoff and moved him fifth all-time in the MIAC.
He is also the all-time leader with 44 rushing touchdowns, tied for sixth
all-time in the MIAC, and 10,972 yards of total offense.
• A career-best performance of 423 yards, the second most in a single-game, on
34-of-39 passing yards, one completion shy of tying the single-game record,
came against Hamline on October 8.
TO SERVER AND PROTECT…THE QB
• The offensive line has been a brick wall protecting quarterbacks Jaran Roste and George Bolt. BU ranks 8th nationally and lead
the MIAC allowing less than a sack a game. The Royals have only allowed seven
sacks all season and in six games have not allowed one.
WE'RE IN GOOD HANDS
• A core group of wide receivers has been a good compliment to QB Jaran Roste. Six different Royals have caught
a TD pass this season, all of whom are sophomores.
• Joey Kidder leads the squad with eight
touchdown grabs doing so on 49 catches for 834 yards. He averages 17 yards a catch
and 75.8 yards a game.
• Micah Niewald has tallied 945 yards, ranking
16th nationally, on 71 catches with seven TDs. Niewald is looking to join a
crew of three other receivers that have totaled at least 1,000 yards receiving
since 2001. Those receivers include teammate Joey Kidder (1,078 yards in 2021), Mitch
Hallstrom (program record 1,328 yards in 2013) and Joel Olson (1,225 yards in
2001).
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
• Linfield comes in undefeated at 10-0 and have gone a combined 21-1 over the
last two seasons. At home since 2011 the Wildcats are 60-2. They do the most
damage in the first half outscoring opponents 125-36 in the first quarter and
127-23 in the second. They rank 4th nationally in third down conversion at 55.1
percent while they have the best third down defense with opponents only
converting at 20.1 percent. They are third in rushing defense only allowing
46.2 yard a game.
• Junior linebacker Blake Rybar was named the NWC Defensive Player of the Year.
He had 58 tackles and 3.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss. Quarterback Blake
Eaton is 18th nationally in passing efficiency and 11th with 31 passing TDs.
ROYAL IN THE MEDIA
D3football.com feature story - Freshmen cracking
Bethel lineup
https://d3football.com/playoffs/2022/breaking-into-bethel-lineup
Players Mentioned
#7 George Bolt QB
6' 2" Junior
#2 Joey Kidder WR
6' 3" Sophomore
#47 Bryce Kunkle RB
5' 11" Junior
#15 Micah Niewald WR
5' 10" Sophomore
#1 Jaran Roste QB
6' 4" Senior
#28 David Geebli RB 5' 7" Freshman
#27 Devin Williams DB
6' 1" Freshman
