SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – After watching other teams have all the fun for the last 13 seasons, the Slippery Rock University football team is going dancing again.
The Rock were the No. 5 seed in the six-team NCAA Division II Super Region 1 field announced Sunday afternoon by the NCAA office via a videoconference on www.ncaa.com.
As a result, the Green and White, who earned their first NCAA tournament berth since 1999, travel to fourth-seeded Winston-Salem State University for a first-round game Saturday.
SRU, which lost a 42-38 decision at Bloomsburg University in last Saturday’s Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship Game, takes a 9-2 record into the NCAA opening-round game.
Winston-Salem State, last year’s national runner-up, owns a 9-1 record. The Rams’ final game, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association title game, was canceled last Saturday in the wake of an altercation at the pre-game banquet last Friday.
Virginia State, which was the No. 6 team in the super region ranking a week ago, received a postseason ban after one of its student-athletes was arrested for assaulting Winston-Salem State’s starting quarterback.
The Rock, one of only 24 Division II teams that punched their dance ticket Sunday, had a seven-game win streak snapped by last Saturday’s loss in Bloomsburg.
Winston-Salem State has won nine consecutive games after losing its season opener to UNC-Pembroke.
Shepherd University of West Virginia, the super region’s only unbeaten team (10-0), received the No. 1 seed in this year’s Super Region 1 competition. PSAC champion Bloomsburg (10-1) earned the No. 2 seed with its win over The Rock last Saturday.
American International College (9-2), the Northeast-10 Conference champion, earned the No. 6 seed and will travel to third-seeded West Chester (10-1) for a first-round game Saturday.
Shepherd and Bloomsburg, as the top seeds in the super-region competition, earned first-round byes.
The winner of the Rock-WSSU game travels to Shepherd for a second-round game Nov. 30, while the West Chester-American International winner goes to Bloomsburg for a second-round game.
The highest-seeded team at the conclusion of second-round action hosts the super-region championship/national quarterfinal game Dec. 7. The national semifinal is scheduled for Dec. 14 with the national championship game set Dec. 21 at Braly Municipal Stadium in Florence, Ala.
The NCAA playoff appearance will be the fourth for a George Mihalik coached Rock team. SRU competed in three consecutive playoffs from 1997-99, highlighted by a regional championship in 1998.
The Rock earned the No. 1 seed in the region in 1997, 1998 and 1999, when they hosted and won a first-round game each season. SRU also hosted and won second- and third-round games in 1998 before losing an opening-round game to PSAC-Western Division rival Indiana (Pa.) in 1999.
SRU’s bid for the national championship ended with a second-round loss at New Haven (Conn.) in 1997 and a national semifinal loss at Carson-Newman (Tenn.) in 1998.
