GRAMBLING, La. - For the fourth time this decade, the NAIA National Football Championship will feature two undefeated teams.

Undefeated and top-ranked Morningside (Iowa) faces undefeated and second-ranked Marian (Ind.) on Saturday, Dec. 21 at Eddie G. Robinson Stadium in Grambling, La. Morningside makes its second-consecutive national championship-game appearance, after defeating Benedictine (Kan.) in 2018; Marian makes its fourth trip to the championship, last defeating Southern Oregon in 2015. 

While the two teams have combined for a 25-0 record this season, both the Mustangs and the Knights had their share of adversity this season.

Morningside looks to “do it again”

For Morningside coach Steve Ryan, this season began with a flipped switch for his players. Instead of getting complacent after a national title, they got to work.

“That was awesome,” Ryan said of his players mindset, “but let’s work really hard and see if we can do it again.”

Ryan pointed to two key games that showed the mettle of his 2019 squad. The first was the final regular season game of the year, at Northwestern (Iowa). It was the Mustangs’ third season in a row playing on the road in Orange City against the Red Raiders, and while it ended in a 10 point win for Morningside, it was the closest game of the season (at the time) for the Mustangs and the first in which they trailed at halftime.

Morningside’s closest game, however, would be its most recent. The Mustangs again trailed at halftime against Grand View (Iowa) in the NAIA Football National Championship Semifinals, but two third-quarter touchdown passes from first-year starting QB Joe Dolincheck provided the breathing room they needed to hang on for a win.

“He’s really been a surprise,” Ryan said of Dolincheck, who replaced reigning National Player of the Year Trent Solsma. “Just how well he’s played and how he’s matured in his first year.”

Dolincheck has thrown for 43 touchdowns and 3,992 yards, completing 68-percent of his passes with 11 interceptions. 

From devastation to the doorstep for Marian

Marian’s adversity didn’t just begin this season. 

Instead, it began on Nov. 17, 2018, when the Knights saw an undefeated season slip away in the first round of the playoffs in a 34-21 loss to Saint Xavier (Ill.)

“Our season started the day we got beat last year,” Marian coach Mark Henninger said. “We’ve got tremendous leadership. I think our players, we felt like we left a lot of games on the table last year when we got beat in the first round.

“We had a good team, but at the same time, we were an inexperienced team and needed to go through that in order to have the experience, in order to have the type of season we had this year.”

The devastation Marian felt that day seeped into the offseason and into this year’s team, in a positive way. It influenced the 2019 Knights to go 1-0 every single day. Henninger said at the beginning of the year, the team talked about the goal — “To play late in the year, to play and compete for national titles.”

After that, the team hasn’t talked about national titles since. 

That singular focus on the task at hand showed in the playoffs this year. in the semifinals, Marian trailed Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 17-0 just 18 minutes into the game.  

“You look down the bench — you wouldn’t have been able to tell the score of the football game was if you looked at our guys,” Henninger said. “They weren’t rattled. They weren’t nervous. They just put their head down and went to work.”

From there, running back Charles Salary and the offensive line took over. Salary, a first-team All-American, ran for 161 yards and three touchdowns on 32 attempts as the Knights outscored Lindsey Wilson 34-7 to end the game, punching their ticket to Louisiana for the championship. 

Salary has run for 1,586 yards and 18 touchdowns this season, adding 142 receiving yards.

Morningside on Marian

Steve Ryan’s view of Marian

“I would say from an offensive standpoint, (they have) just an incredibly big, physical offensive line. I would said they’ve got to be the best offensive line, especially from a run standpoint, in the nation. They’ve held their quarterback to six sacks, and they want to run the ball on you, and that’s kind of the heart of things."

“Then there’s (Charles) Salary. He’s the guy. They’re going to give the ball to (him) and he’s a first-team All-American. He’s an outstanding back, so I think right there, that aspect of things on offense, that’s what presents the challenge — not letting the o-line and Salary take over the game."

“And then on defense, they’re just good. They’ve got 11 good football players on the field; I think No. 6, (Mac) Dutra, is a difference maker. He’s an outstanding pass rusher and can just get after it. We’ve got to be able to block him up front. We cannot let him, in and of himself, change the course of our game, because he can put pressure on our quarterback.”

Marian on Morningside

Mark Henninger’s view of Morningside

“They’re obviously good. You just don’t do what they’ve done, not just the last two years but over the last seven, eight, nine, ten years. They’re well coached. I think that’s pretty evident. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. Offensively, they’ve got some really talented, playmaking-type players on the outside and the quarterback’s a really good player for being a first-year starter like he is. You can’t tell watching him play; he doesn’t get rattled, he’s a good player, a competitive guy."

“The running back (Arnijae Ponder), I think he’s a special player. The offensive line is big and physical. When you watch them, they’re a momentum-type team on offense. They score in bunches. When they get going, they get going. They’re hard to stop."

“Defensively, I think they’ve got — same thing. They’re really athletic. They run a defense that we don’t see a lot of in our part of the country. They’re big and physical up front; got athletes on the backend. We’ll have to play well to have a chance.”

2019 NAIA Football National Championship: Game Info, Details

No. 1 Morningside Mustangs vs. No. 2 Marian University Knights

Time: 7 p.m. ET/ 6 p.m. CT

Date: Saturday, Dec. 21, 2019

Location: Eddie G. Robinson Stadium — Grambling, La.

Watch Online: The 2019 NAIA Football National Championship will be broadcast by ESPN on ESPN3. Fans will be able to stream online with a valid cable/satellite subscription or a subscription to ESPN+. 

Check here to see if you have access to ESPN3.