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Fighting Bees Take On Offensive Juggernaut Morningside

All season, it has been the St. Ambrose offense that has racked up the points and thrown the ball all over opposing defenses. Saturday, that same offense will be on the field, but so will the equally explosive offense of Morningside College, as the two schools will face each other in an NAIA first round playoff game in Sioux City, Iowa.

Third ranked Morningside (10-0, 10-0) comes into the game averaging 42.4 points per game, which is second in the country. The Mustangs also enter this weekend's game ranking first in the NAIA in total offense, with 534.5 yards per game, and in passing offense, averaging 376 yards through the air. This could cause problems for a 14th ranked Fighting Bee team that has shut down the run all season, but has occasionally struggled to stop the pass.

"Defensively, I think it will be a big challenge for us, and we're going to have our hands full, that's for sure, but we're going to get prepared this week and go over there and try to win a football game," head football coach Todd Sturdy said.

Even though they are known for their passing, the Mustangs do so much more than that. They average 158.5 yards rushing, as well as having the Great Plains Athletic Conference's top defense, allowing just over 12 points a game.

"They're pretty balanced, even though they have some big stats passing the ball and they use some multiple formations and different personnel to put pressure on the other team," said Sturdy, "On defense, they blitz a lot and they're all pretty athletic. They fly to the ball and have great pursuit."

Even though Morningside has put up gaudy numbers all season, this is just one game, and anything can happen in one game, as the Fighting Bees found out first hand in their last postseason appearance in 2003. SAU traveled to undefeated MidAmerican Nazarene that year for a first round game and came away victorious, with a 32-31 double overtime win.

"We've beat ranked teams before, so it's not really an issue for us," said Sturdy, "We just have to go out and compete like we have all year."

The last ranked team SAU played was McKendree, in a game that was dominated by the Bearcats 41-9, two weeks ago. Although that game was played fairly recently, it seems light years ago. The Fighting Bees defeated Olivet Nazarene 34-10 last week to assure themselves of a playoff spot and gave SAU their swagger back that was missing at McKendree.

"Last week made the kids forget all about the McKendree game and I thought we responded well against Olivet Nazarene to get the win," Sturdy said.

This season marks the fifth time in the last six years that the Fighting Bees have earned a trip to the postseason, only missing the playoffs last year. The furthest SAU has ever gotten is to the quarterfinal round in 2000 and 2003. With an upset victory Saturday, they'll try to get to that round once again.

"Anytime we make the playoffs, it's a huge thing for our program. We're pretty pleased with where we're at and having a chance to continue the season in the playoffs is pretty big for everybody," said Sturdy, "We just have to execute and make sure we don't turn the ball over Saturday. If we do that, we'll have a chance to win the game."

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