Hens 'chasing immortality' in national championship game

During the past few weeks K.C Keeler has been stressing one word to his team: immortality.

On Friday his team has the chance to win the seventh national title in Delaware football's storied history.

"You're chasing immortality because for the rest of your life you're going to be a national champion," the head coach said. "No one can ever take that away from you."

The opportunity is not lost on his players either.

"I was laying on the couch before the Georgia Southern game, and I was looking at the years," junior guard Gino Gradkowski said, referring to the flags on the Hens locker room walls that display the national championship years and Lambert Cups. "I saw '03, '07, and I was thinking, ‘Man I'd love to see 2010 right there.' Just to be a part of that and when I came back to visit I could see it every time."

All that is preventing the Hens from putting another flag on that wall is fifth-seeded Eastern Washington. The Eagles (12-2) finished the regular season ranked No. 1 and bring a 10-game winning streak with them to Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas for the national championship. This will be the first meeting between the two schools in football.

The Eagles, a member of the Big Sky Conference, clinched their berth to Frisco by doing something Delaware could not—beating Villanova. They triumphed over the Wildcats in a 41-31 shootout on Dec. 17. Their other playoff wins include a 37-17 victory over Southeast Missouri State and a narrow come-from-behind 38-31 defeat of North Dakota in overtime during a blizzard.

Eastern Washington has never appeared in a national championship before. Keeler has been to the FCS title game twice as a coach and twice as a player. This will be his 10th career national championship game at any level; including his time as a player at Delaware and coach at Division III Rowan.

"At this point of the season the chances are you're going to play a really, really good football team," Keeler said. "These guys just beat Villanova. We know how good Villanova is. This is a really good football team."

The Eagles are led by junior quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, a transfer from Southern Methodist University. Mitchell has thrown for 34 touchdowns this season and 3,194 yards. He found the end zone four times in the semifinal victory against Villanova.

Keeler sees some similarities between Mitchell and his own quarterback, another transfer from an FBS program, CAA Offensive Player of the Year Pat Devlin.

"Really a talented young man," Keeler said of Mitchell. "A lot of poise in the pocket. Very quick release. It really makes them go. You want to put pressure on him, but he knows exactly where to go with the ball. He reminds me a lot of Pat in those kinds of qualities. He's obviously a very bright kid, has very good mechanics."

Mitchell will perhaps be facing his toughest task yet in the Hens vaunted defense. Delaware leads the nation in scoring defense at 11.5 points allowed per game.

The all senior secondary of Anthony Walters, Anthony Bratton, Tyrone Grant, and Darryl Jones has a combined 16 interceptions. Walters is tied for the CAA lead with seven on the year.

Eagles' Head Coach Beau Baldwin, in his third year at the helm, knows this secondary will test his quarterback.

"I would argue to say this is as good a secondary as we faced all year in terms of their two safeties and their two corners," Baldwin said. "So it's going to be a challenge. But our offense, our receivers, our quarterback, they're excited for that challenge."

Eastern Washington will most likely be without its star running back junior Taiwan Jones, who has a broken metatarsal and missed the semifinal game. Mario Brown, a freshman, took his spot and rushed for 104 yards against the Wildcats.

On the injury front for Delaware, Keeler said he is expecting every starter to be able to play. He credited the extended break, part of the new FCS playoff schedule, for allowing his players to rest and get healthy.

The Hens resumed normal practice Dec. 28, after a 10 day break. The game Friday at 7 p.m. will be three weeks since the semifinals. While some of the players are nursing minor aches and pains, such as defensive end Chris Morales (hamstring) and linebacker Andrew Harrison (foot), they all have taken the opportunity to regroup and recuperate during the break.

"We had a lot of guys banged up after the Georgia Southern game on offense and defense," Harrison, a junior, said. "These three weeks is exactly what we needed."