Butch Henderson was careful not to call it the most important football game for Wayland Baptist since the program was restarted a half-decade ago.
"We've been in a lot of wars," the Pioneers' head coach said.
Rest assured, however, when the 22nd-ranked Pioneers take the field in Phoenix on Saturday night against Arizona Christian, ranked the equivalent of 26th, the stakes will be as high as they've ever been for the young Pioneer program. The winner of ACU's homecoming game, which was voted by fans through social media as the NAIA Football Game of the Week, takes the inside track toward claiming the Central States Football League championship and also keeps a foot firmly in the NAIA Football Championship Series door.
"It's really important for us," Henderson said. "For these guys to win the conference championship, which is their dream, we have to have this ballgame."
Kickoff at Shadow Mountain High School Stadium is at 9 p.m. CDT Saturday. The game can be heard in Plainview on 1090-AM with broadcaster Danny Andrews. Streaming and other coverage links can be found at www.wbuathletics.com.
Both Wayland (7-1) and Arizona Christian (5-3), which won the CSFL title last year in just its third season of football, carry 4-0 conference records into the game, so whichever team comes out on top Saturday can lock down the CSFL title with a win the following Saturday. For Arizona Christian, that means a home game against Bacone (2-7, 2-3), while for Wayland it means a home game against No. 25 Langston (5-2, 3-1), which still has title hopes of its own. (Arizona Christian defeated Langston in its CSFL opener Oct. 1 in Phoenix, 34-10.)
The Pioneers, Firestorm and Lions all are eyeing the NAIA FCS playoffs. Sixteen teams are invited to that event, admission to which is reserved for conference champions (the NAIA has 10 conferences) who are ranked among the top 20 teams in the final regular-season rankings, plus a handful of at-large teams.
While Wayland already has secured its best season since the program was restarted in 2012, the Pioneers no doubt want to add to their accomplishments. And the way to do it, according to Henderson, is by continuing to do the things they've been doing all season.
"We just have to play like we've been playing," the coach said. "This group has had the ability to fight through things and also take advantage of other teams' mistakes. They keep hammering and hammering until we take hold of the ballgame, then it's like all of a sudden here they come.
"It's kind of like busting concrete. When it starts to move you have to make it all fall off. They've done that well so far."
While WBU enters the contest on a six-game roll, Arizona Christian is coming off a 38-28 home loss to Warner University (Fla.) that knocked the Firestorm from its highest ranking of the season, No. 20. Warner is ranked the equivalent of 28th in the NAIA this week.
Before that setback, ACU had won four conference outings in a row: 34-10 over Langston, 29-22 over Southwestern Assemblies of God, 57-7 over Texas College, and 34-17 over Lyon. The Firestorm's other win was a 30-27 double-overtime road victory against Sul Ross State, the team that handed Wayland its lone loss of the season, 48-27. ACU's other losses have been to NCAA Division II Texas-Permian Basin, 49-34, and Davenport (Mich.), the NAIA's lone independent, 20-7.
Arizona Christian is led on offense by a pair of 2015 all-conference selections in junior quarterback Gerrit Groenewold and senior receiver Donovan Smith. Groenewold leads the CSFL in passing yards per game (257), just ahead of Wayland's Mitchell Parsley (248), and has thrown 16 touchdowns against seven interceptions while completing 63 percent (167-of-266) of his throws. Donovan, meanwhile, leads the conference in receptions at almost five a game, although his average of 12.0 yards per grab and three total touchdowns trails WBU's Trey Rowe (18.4 ypc, 10 TDs.)
On the ground, the Firestorm sport the CSFL's third-best running attack, averaging 189 yards a game, just ahead of Wayland's 182. ACU likes to share the load with three players averaging between 45-64 yards a game.
"They run the ball well and throw the ball well," Henderson said. "They spread the wealth around very well between running and throwing, so we have to get that contained."
Defensively, the Firestorm are ranked second overall in the conference in yards allowed per game, just ahead of Wayland, and third in points per game, just behind the Pioneers. Wayland has allowed 375 yards and 22.6 points an outing, including 14 points in each of their last three games, while the Firestorm are at 372 yards and 23.8 points.
"They're ranked as one of the top defenses in the conference," Henderson said.
The Firestorm – who defeated Wayland last year, 36-24, after losing to the Pioneers in their first season of competition, 28-21 – don't boast a superstar on their stopper unit, with the team's top tackler averaging just over six takedowns a game.
"We just need to do what we do, take the ball and get it in the end zone," Henderson said. "We just need to find a way to win."
