By Coach Stoney

The University of the Cumberlands, located in Williamsburg, KY is in the NAIA playoffs for the first time since 1988.  The Patriots (8-2) are the #14 seed and will play at #3 Ohio Dominican (11-0) this Saturday at 12:30 EST.  The Patriots lost their annual Mid-South Conference Eastern Division game with Georgetown on October 27^th by the score of 27-10.  However, Georgetown lost to Union College on the last week of the regular season 28-21, giving them two conference losses to go with an early season defeat at the hands of Virginia-Wise.  Cumberlands beat Virginia-Wise in overtime 41-38 on the next to last week of the regular season and finished with only one conference loss giving the Patriots the automatic NAIA playoff bid from the Mid-South Conference.

I am extremely excited for former Garrard player Shelby Goldey, who is a senior and starting offensive lineman for the Patriots.  He has worked very hard back here in the off-season to get the opportunity to finally become a starter in his final season.  I couldn’t feel any better for Shelby than I do now.  As a coach, it is great to see your former players work and get the opportunity to be a part of such a fantastic season.  I wish him and the Patriots the best of luck in the playoffs.

As for Georgetown, the upset loss to Union put them out of the NAIA playoffs for the first time in 10 years.  It also gave the Tigers their fourth loss of the season.  Now, I have nothing in particular against Georgetown’s football program, but they have absolutely dominated the Mid-South Conference on their way to their now defunct streak of nine straight playoff appearances.  Maybe, just maybe, the rest of the Mid-South is finally catching up with Georgetown.  With Cumberlands’ big season along with Georgetown, UV-Wise, Pikeville, and Union’s late season rally there are some contenders to challenge for Mid-South supremacy.

The one negative to this for the Mid-South is that each of those schools are in the Eastern Division of the conference.  Traditional West powers Lambuth (TN) and Cumberland University (TN) both finished 3-8.  Campbellsville (KY) continues to struggle also after posting a couple of playoff appearances in the 1990’s before the new divisional format was introduced in the Mid-South.  At least, now you can’t look at the Mid-South in the pre-season and think that Georgetown may be a guarantee to receive the conference’s top playoff bid.