Dec. 1, 2010

Contact: Chad Waller, NAIA Director of Sports Information & Media Services, cwaller@naia.org

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – (Championship Series Schedule) The NAIA Football Championship Series Semifinals will be contested on Saturday with all four programs boasting a spotless record. Sioux Falls (S.D.) will host MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) and Saint Xavier (Ill.) travels to Carroll (Mont.). Both games will kick off at Noon, local time and the Sioux Falls/MidAmerica Nazarene game will be video-streamed live and free via the Victory Sports Network by clicking here. Three of the four teams, Sioux Falls, Carroll and St. Xavier, competed last year in the Semifinal round.

Since 2000, the Semifinal hosts are 17-3. Through the Quarterfinals, the hosts this year are 9-3.

The Semifinal winners will advance to the 55th Annual Russell Athletic-NAIA Football National Championship on Dec. 18 in Rome, Ga. Rome-Floyd County and Shorter (Ga.) College will host the event at Barron Stadium. The event will be televised live on CBS College Sports Television with kickoff slated for 4:30 p.m. EST. For ticket information, call 1-800-858-7601.

No. 1-ranked Sioux Falls (12-0) enters the game on a nation-long 41-game winning streak. That mark is the longest active among any division in college football and is just one shy of tying the all-time NAIA record set by Texas A&I. The Cougars have won four straight home semifinal contests and have now appeared in six-straight events. The Cougars have won two straight National Championships and three in the last four years. Ranked first in the country in both total defense (204.500) and scoring defense (9.1 papg), Sioux Falls has allowed just one opponent in the last six games to reach more than 10 points. Sioux Falls has won 49-straight home games overall.

MidAmerica Nazarene, with a 12-0 record and champions of the Heart of America Athletic Conference, is making its first Semifinal contest. The Pioneers defeated Morningside (Iowa) 34-10 on Nov. 27. A team ranked in the top-five in the NAIA in both scoring defense and total defense, the Pioneers have clicked on offense recently. In their last five games, they have averaged nearly 40 points on offense.

Sioux Falls and MidAmerica Nazarene will be facing each other for the first time in postseason history.

Carroll (12-0), a team playing in its 12^th Semifinal contest, is hosting its fourth straight game in the round-of-four. The Fighting Saints lost in the only previous postseason meeting with St. Xavier, a 14-7 defeat in the 2006 Quarterfinals played in Helena, Mont.

No stranger to the big stage, Carroll has competed in 10 of the last 11 Semifinals, with 2006 being the exception. National champions five times since 2002, Carroll is 27-3 in its last 30 postseason games and holds the second-most active playoff wins (34). The Fighting Saints are ranked in the top-10 nationally in both scoring defense and scoring offense. They hold a +26 scoring advantage per game and has won in convincing fashion by nearly 30 points in their last five contests.

In its third Semifinal appearance (2009 and 2006), St. Xavier (13-0) is searching for its first win in this round. The Cougars won their second-straight Mid-States Football Association Mideast League title and the 13 season wins has tied a school-record. A team with 663 total points this year, St. Xavier utilizes a powerful passing offense, which is ranked first in the NAIA (362.4 ypg). Since 2000, the Cougars are 98-33 and have reached 10 wins in five of the last six seasons.

For complete Championship history and records, click here.

For more information on the 2010 National Championship, click here.

Championship Series Quick Facts:

• Sioux Falls is 6-4 all-time in the Semifinals, including 5-2 at home.

• Carroll is 5-1 at home in the round of four and is 6-5 all-time.

• Defending national champion Sioux Falls is playing for its fifth National Championship and third consecutive. Only one team has won at least three straight titles, with Carroll (Mont.) winning four in-a-row from 2002-05. Texas A&I (now Texas A&M-Kingsville) holds the most NAIA Championships with seven overall.

• Carroll (11) holds the longest active streak of postseason appearances, followed by Sioux Falls (10) and Morningside (Iowa) (7).

• Sioux Falls boasts the most wins all-time in the Football Championship Series with a 35-11 record. The next team with the most wins is Carroll with a 34-13 mark.

• Six teams made their 10th-plus trip to the Football Championship Series.

• Azusa Pacific (Calif.), Georgetown (Ky.), Marian, Northwestern Oklahoma State and Saint Francis (Ind.) all are new compared to the 2009 field.

• Five programs all own at least 10 wins in the Football Championship Series, led by the 35 victories from Sioux Falls.

 • Marian (Ind.) is making its first trip to the Football Championship Series.

• Not including newcomer Marian (Ind.), Azusa Pacific is a team that is breaking the longest playoff drought. The Cougars last played in the 2005 postseason when they hosted Montana Tech, only to lose 24-17.

• Since 2005, four of the past five national champions led the NAIA in total defense. Currently, Sioux Falls (214.0 yapg) is a close second in the country in that category.

• The Mid-States Football Association Mideast League (MSFA – Mideast) boasts the most teams in the 16-team field:  Marian, Saint Francis and Saint Xavier (Ill.). The Great Plains Athletic Conference, Heart of America Athletic Association and Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference each land a pair of teams. Overall, 11 conferences / independents sport at least one team.

• Sioux Falls is riding a nation-high 41-game winning streak heading into the Semifinals. Last year, the Cougars were on a 25-game winning streak heading into the playoffs. In 2008, Carroll was on a 26-game winning streak heading into the postseason.

• After securing the Frontier Conference Championship, Carroll now has won 11 straight (outright and shared) conference titles. The Fighting Saints own the nation’s longest active streak of conference championships.

• Five teams entered the Football Championship Series with an undefeated record: Carroll, McPherson, MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), St. Xavier (Ill.) and Sioux Falls. In each of the last three seasons, there have now been at least five schools to finish the regular season with an unblemished record. Sioux Falls has gone undefeated in each of the last five seasons, the longest active stretch.

 2010 NAIA Football Championship Series

• Semifinal Pairings | Saturday, Dec. 4 | All times local and subject to change

Game 1:

• MidAmerica Nazarene (12-0) @ Sioux Falls (S.D.) (12-0), Noon

                (First meeting in postseason series history)

                (MidAmerica Nazarene: 0-0 in Semifinals)

                (Sioux Falls: 6-4 in Semifinals)

Game 2

• Saint Xavier (Ill.) (13-0) @ Carroll (Mont.) (12-0), Noon

                (St. Xavier leads 1-0 in postseason series history)

                (St. Xavier: 0-2 in Semifinals)

                (Carroll: 6-5 in Semifinals)