WAVERLY, Iowa – The Wartburg College football team (9-0, 7-0 A-R-C) secured the program’s 19^th football title in program history today in addition to the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs. This year’s postseason appearance will mark the 15^th time in program history.
 
In Wartburg’s second to last game of the regular season, the Knights defeated the Central College Dutch (6-2, 4-2 A-R-C) 24-14 to claim at least a share of the A-R-C title. Leading Wartburg’s offense was Nile McLaughlin who was 18-of-32 passing, with 208 yards and one touchdown. The Knights got on the board early as they scored on their first drive of the game. Hunter Clasen was the leading rusher for Wartburg has he recorded 202 yards on 34 carries. Clasen rushed for two touchdowns on the day. On the receiving end, Carter Henry led the way with 99 yards on seven receptions while Thor Maakestad had 71 yards on five receptions, including one for a touchdown.
 
Defensively, Owen Grover led the Knights recording 10 total tackles, seven of which were solo. Grover also assisted on a sack for one yard. Preston Rochford recorded nine tackles, including six solo. The Wartburg defense had one interception on the day and that came from Nate Link who returned it 30 yards to put the Knights offense in position to score their final touchdown of the game. Another highlight for the Wartburg defense was Jordan Downing setting a new career program record for sacks with 28.5 to date. The previous record was 27.5 set from 2000-2003.
 
Chris Winter, in his third season at the helm of Wartburg football, led the Knights to their second consecutive conference title. He will be leading the Knights to another NCAA playoff after finishing as a semifinalist a year ago.
 
Wartburg has one game remaining on their conference slate as they travel to Nebraska Wesleyan University next weekend. The Knights are looking to finish with their seventh undefeated regular season in program history. Wartburg will learn their first-round NCAA Division III playoff opponent on Sunday, November 12^th at 5:00 p.m. (ET), when the 32-team bracket is announced live on NCAA.com.
 
In their last playoff appearance a season ago, Wartburg cruised through the playoff field before losing to the University of Mount Union in the semifinals by a score of 34-31.