by Matt Cooke
For four teams who are left playing in NCAA Division II football nationally, one more win means a trip to Kansas City and a berth in the Division II National Championship game on Saturday, December 20. But this week, it will be a matchup of Wolves, as the West Georgia Wolves, region champs from Super Region 2, face off with the Colorado State-Pueblo Thunderwolves at the Thunderbowl in Pueblo, Colorado. Kickoff for the national semifinal will be at 6:30 p.m. (EST) and the game will be televised on ESPN3. There will also be a live telecast at The Amp in downtown Carrollton.
All Wolfie wants for the holidays is a National Championship!
This is just the third time in the history of the UWG Athletic program at West Georgia that a team has been one of the final four teams remaining nationally. This year's Wolves join the national championship teams in 1974 (men's basketball) and 1982 (football), the 1998 College World Series team (baseball) as the only West Georgia squads to accomplish that feat.
West Georgia is coached by Will Hall, who is in his first season at West Georgia. He has an overall record of 37-13 in his fourth year as a head coach. He has now made the NCAA Playoffs in three of his four years as a head coach and Hall has a 4-2 record in the playoffs. The head coach at CSU-Pueblo is John Wristen, who has a 65-16 record in seven years in Pueblo with an 2-3 all-time record in the playoffs.
They say offense wins games and defense wins championships. Never has a statement been so true as for the UWG Wolves in the playoffs this year. The past two weeks have been phenomenal, as defensive coordinator Scott Symons has dialed up a defense that pitched a second-half shutout in each game. That includes a victory at Delta State, a team that came into the playoffs averaging more than 500 yards per game.
Senior all-purpose back Denarius Appling has had at least 100 all-purpose yards in 17 games in his career, but his 191 against Delta State two weeks ago was his fifth-highest single-game total. It also put him over 4,000 career all-purpose yards at UWG. He now has 4,188, which is the most all-time at UWG.
The win last week at Valdosta State snapped a two-year losing streak to the Blazers for West Georgia and avenged the toughest loss of the season, but it was also a stepping stone for Will as well, as he had never beaten Valdosta State in Valdosta prior to last week.
It's already being called the play of the year in many circles in Carrollton, but there is no question that Denarius's 59-yard punt return is an all-timer. The return came with 1:35 left in the game and essentially punched the Wolves' ticket to the semifinals.
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