The Patriot League title as safely secured as the pigskin in Jordan Scott’s hands, the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ Raiders will now head to Villanova on Saturday to play the Wildcats in the first round of the NCAA Football Subdivision Championship.
¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ is making its eighth appearance in the playoffs, and first since the 2005 season. Kickoff is 1 p.m. at Villanova Stadium, and the winner of the game will play the winner of the James Madison-Wofford game in the quarterfinals.
The Raiders’ season continues after the team won a hard-fought, hugely entertaining against Holy Cross, 28-27. Saturday’s win at Andy Kerr Stadium was played in bone-chilling cold and periods of snow, which fell on the many Raiders fans clad in black.
Fans had heeded the team’s call to wear black and revive the , a tradition started in 1908. The Hoodoo is the specter-like twelfth man that helped ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ’s football teams beat arch-rivals such as Syracuse.
The first 800 people at Saturday’s game were given free black T-shirts evoking the Hoodoo, and students and fans added the T-shirt as a token of pride and as another layer against the cold.
At game’s end, the team was presented with the Patriot League Championship trophy as snow fell and fans cheered.
Quarterback Greg Sullivan carried 22 times for 76 yards and connected on 8-of-12 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns. He set a school record for rushing yardage by a quarterback in a season with 865 yards. The old mark of 833 was set by Tom Parr in 1973.
Running back Scott finished with 22 carries for 82 yards and one touchdown. He became only the fifth player in FCS history to rush for over 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons, and is currently fifth place in FCS career rushing with 5,527 yards.
Scott could not finish the game due to injury, and Nate Eachus stepped in and carried 21 times for 118 yards and one touchdown.
All in all, it was a game the mythical Hoodoo would surely be proud to be associated with.