GRAMBLING, La. — After last season’s disappointing exit in the first round of the NAIA playoffs, Marian (Ind.) coach Mark Henninger went into the offseason more eager than ever to learn from his players’ exit interviews.

The common refrain?

Talk about the national title once. Then don’t talk about it again. 

“Our guys got to work right away,” Henninger said. “I think they were focused and in a lot of ways — last year we had guys talking about winning national championships when we weren’t necessarily focused on the game we needed to be focused on. 

“This year, our approach has been focusing on the moment, living in the moment, trying to be the best team we can be today and then go out tomorrow and be better than we were today.”

For the Knights, every day is a new chance to go 1-0. Instead of focusing on a national title and losing sight of the task at hand, Henninger’s team compartmentalized its goal setting, creating a domino effect that eventually led them to where they stand today:

12-0 with a Saturday date with No. 1 Morningside (Iowa) for the national title. 

“It’s been able to pull us through an incredibly tough regular-season schedule, and we played three great football teams in the playoffs,” Henninger said. “That mindset and the leadership of our guys really enabled us to be where we are right now.”

The core of Marian’s 2018 team is back in 2019, and that’s allowed the Knights to mature, facing adversity in stride. That includes two close games in the playoffs in which they had to come from behind to pull away late.

A tough conference schedule in the Mid-States Mideast prepared Marian for this path to Louisiana.

Two of the biggest similarities from 2018 to 2019 are at running back and on defense.

First, at running back is NAIA Player of the Year Charles Salary. Salary has capped off a stellar college career with a 1,586-yard, 18-touchdown season. On Saturday, he’ll go up against Morningside star running back Arnijae Ponder, who’s rushed for over 1,700 yards and 23 touchdowns.

While the two will (likely) not be on the field at the same time, make no mistake — they’ll be competing against each other.

“I’ve seen his stats, he’s obviously a great back,” Salary said. “I think I’m a great back as well, so this is a matchup to see who the best back is but I’m not going to do anything extra or anything out of my way to prove that. Just gotta be me.”

Salary tends to do just that in key moments for the Knights.

“In the games we had to win,” Henninger said, “You look at the way those games ended in the fourth quarter and everybody in the stadium knew who was getting the football and how we were getting it to him. And it didn’t matter.

“He’s been fantastic on the year.”

The second biggest holdover from the 2018 season is a stellar Marian defense. A year ago, that group led the nation by allowing just 11.5 points per game. This year they’re once again back at the top — but, somehow, they’ve been even better, allowing just 8.8 points per game.

“(The defense) is as competitive a group of people as I’ve ever been around,” Henninger said. “They are guys that love playing defense.”

This is a unique challenge, however. While Morningside lost its record-setting stars in QB Trent Solsma and WR Connor Niles from 2018, the Mustangs once again have the top offense in the nation. To slow down that attack, Marian will need to get to first-year quarterback Joe Dolincheck. Led by defensive lineman Mac Dutra’s ten sacks, Marian has the ability to bring the required pressure off the edge.

“Defensively, for us, we’ve got to get after the quarterback, make him uncomfortable,” Henninger said. “And we’ve got to prevent big plays. Force them to go the length of the field to make plays and drive the football. We’ve played good defense on the year and if we don’t give teams big plays, we always thing we have a shot.”

If Marian can go 1-0 on Saturday, it would be the second national title for the school this fall, joining the women’s volleyball team. The women’s soccer team was a national runner-up. Needless to say, it’s been an accolade-dominated first semester for the school in Indianapolis.