WARRENSBURG — Central Missouri football landed right where it was projected in Super Region 3 of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
The Mules received the No. 4 seed in the region and will host Henderson State on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Walton Stadium.
It marks the fifth time the program has made the playoffs in school history, the first since 2019.
“I’m excited,” Central Missouri head coach Josh Lamberson said. “Just for the opportunity for our guys to have the opportunity to continue to play and continue to be together, it’s an awesome thing this time of year. There’s a lot of teams that don’t get this opportunity to continue to be around each other. I’m really thankful we have that opportunity.”
The Mules (10-1) earned their spot among the 28-team playoff slate courtesy of a 10-1 regular season record, only losing to co-MIAA champion Pittsburg State (10-1) following a failed two-point conversion in the final seconds.
Central Missouri went on to win eight consecutive games to close the season. The Gorillas, who were the only other MIAA program to make the postseason, are seeded No. 3.
“Ever since that Pittsburg State game, we’ve known how loaded our Super Region is,” Central Missouri redshirt junior quarterback Zach Zebrowski said. “We knew two losses wouldn’t be an automatic way to get into the playoffs. We never really talked about it too much, but I think we all knew in the back of our heads it was definitely a time we needed to lock in and it was pretty much playoff mode from here on out.”
Henderson State (9-2), which didn’t appear in any of the initial three sets of preliminary Super Region 3 rankings, knocked Ouachita Baptist (11-1) out of the playoffs picture with a 31-27 win on Saturday, Nov. 11.
Also playing in the Reddies’ favor, Missouri Western’s (8-3) playoff hopes ended with a 47-41 double-overtime loss to Missouri Southern (5-6) in overtime.
Central Missouri and Henderson State have only met twice. The Mules won on both occasions, taking a 1985 matchup 3-2 and a 1986 matchup 21-14.
“I think we’ve done a really good job of preparing,” Zebrowski said. “We’ve been in playoff mode this whole year. Nothing really changes. It’s fun to go out there and know if you win you get another week. We’re just trying to play as much football as we can this year.”
The top four seeds matched what was projected in last week’s final preliminary rankings. The NCAA selection committee does not publish which teams were seeded where in the bottom half.
First round matchups also include No. 2 Grand Valley State (9-1) vs two-time defending national champion Ferris State (8-2) in a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rematch and No. 3 Pittsburg State vs the University of Indianapolis (9-1).
The winner of Central Missouri vs Henderson State will travel to No. 1 Harding (11-0) on Nov. 25.
“If you make it heavy, it’s going to be heavy,” Lamberson said. “We’re not going to make it heavy. We haven’t made anything heavy this entire year. We reminded our guys who God has called them to be. We’ve reminded them where they can walk and how they can walk and what they’re supposed to do. They have shown that every week and done that at an extremely high level. We’re not going to change that. We’re going to be free, we’re going to be fast and we’re going to be physical. We are going to have more fun than anyone else in college football.”
Joe Andrews can be reached at 660-747-8123.
