Since the day the King’s football team clinched the Middle Atlantic Conference championship and secured a berth in the NCAA playoffs, nothing changed in terms of the day-in and day-out approach the team used since the first day of camp back in August.
Mike Cebrosky’s message to the team has been consistent — just be undefeated every day regardless if it is football related or not.
After wrapping up a perfect MAC season with a win at home over Stevenson on Saturday afternoon, the Monarchs waited until late Sunday afternoon to learn their upcoming opponent when the playoffs get underway Saturday.
As seeds and matchups were slowly revealed and the anticipation built, the Monarchs learned they will play Ursinus on Saturday at noon at home.
“We always say spot the ball,” said Cebrosky in his first season as the head coach at King’s. “We will play wherever you want. Turf, grass, a parking lot, these kids will be ready to go.”
This year, the tournament expanded from 32 to 40 teams. There are 28 teams that received automatic bids by virtue of winning their conference championships. Twelve teams received at-large bids.
King’s enters the playoffs on a nine-game winning streak. The Monarchs are 9-1 overall and finished 9-0 in the MAC. The only loss for the Monarchs this season came in Week 1 at home to Wilkes.
Ursinus finished second in the Centennial conference. Its only loss this season came to conference champ Johns Hopkins, 16-7, on Oct. 26. The teams have a brief history, with the series tied, 1-1. The most recent matchup came in 2022 in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series, with Ursinus posting a 24-13 victory at McCarthy Stadium.
This is the second appearance in the NCAA playoffs for King’s. The first came in 2002 when the Monarchs were a No. 4 seed in the Bridgewater bracket. In the opening round, King’s defeated Salisbury, 28-0. The following week at Bridgewater, the Monarchs were eliminated, 19-17, when a potential game-winning, 32-yard field goal was knocked down by a strong wind just as the ball was about to go over the crossbar.
“We’re excited. This is something I’ve never done before and a lot people have never done,” King’s quarterback Russell Minor-Shaw said. “We’re hoping for the best. We’ve been locked in. We want to keep going for our goals. This even started from last year. It’s a big jump for us. We knew what we could accomplish this year and we did it.”
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