Ridgeway will lead the Hawks against South Alabama in a rare Thursday game. (Photo courtesy of Huntingdon College Athletic Dept.)

Staff Report
(Nov. 11, 2009)

Mike Turk and the Huntingdon Hawks have a lot on their minds entering a rare Thursday night game on the road against the University of South Alabama.

First, there is a game to play against a new program that has won every contest it has played in its maiden season.

Second, there is a very good chance, although not 100 percent, that the Hawks will hear their name called when the 2009 NCAA Division III Football championship playoff brackets are announced on Sunday.

“There are no guarantees and no one has told us we are in,” Turk said. “We just need to go out and do our job against South Alabama and let the rest take care of itself.”

Should Huntingdon receive a bid on Sunday, chances are good it would be the host school of a first-round game on Saturday, Nov. 21. If that happens, the Hawks would hold a distinction for Montgomery schools – the first to hold a football playoff game in the Capital City.

“I know Troy played the ’68 National championship game at Cramton Bowl, but that was NAIA,” Turk said. “So, that would make it special.”

Turk and the Hawks are trying not to get ahead of themselves. The work to be done in Mobile on Thursday will be difficult. The Jaguars, currently in transition to becoming a Division I program in football, have played mostly junior college squads this season and have won all five games, scoring no less than 30 points per game. They scored 64 in each of their last two contests.

Huntingdon will be the first four-year school the Jags have faced.

“They probably think they are going to run it up against us since we are a Division III school,” Hawks quarterback Justin Ridgeway said. “They are not real big but they are fast and that’s what we will have t deal with. We’ve played some teams that match their size. But I believe we can match them, if we play our game and avoid turnovers.”

The outcome of the game against South Alabama should not have an effect on Huntingdon’s chances of making the playoffs. But Turk doesn’t want to take any chances.

“We need to go out and play a great game and not leave anything to chance,” he said. “This is new territory for us, in some ways. We had our chance last year and blew it.”

Last season, the Hawks were set to make the field of 32 with a victory over LaGrange. Instead, they watched the Panthers celebrate a berth in the playoffs with a 27-17 victory in the final regular-season game.

“Yeah, that sort of sticks in our minds,” Ridgeway said. “It has been our inspiration this season to take care of business.”

All mock brackets have Huntingdon somewhere in the playoffs as high as the second seed in a region and as low as fourth.

“Making playoffs at the D-III level is very different,” said Turk, who led the Troy Trojans to a national championship in Division II in 1984. “We feel like we have positioned ourselves for a run but we still have a game to play.  We are making no assumptions.”

Turk and his team will find out on Sunday between 2-2:30 p.m. with the announcement coming on ESPN News. Turk said the team would find a TV somewhere to gather around and watch it as though it was like the election returns.

Kickoff on Thursday against South Alabama is 7 p.m. at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile.