Captains Will Travel to Randolph-Macon Saturday to Open NCAA Football Tournament

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. – The 32-team NCAA Division III Football Tournament field was unveiled on Sunday, and the Captains of Christopher Newport University will be making their first appearance in nine years. The Captains, 7-3 on the season, will head to Ashland, Va., Saturday to take on the Yellow Jackets of Randolph-Macon College. The game is expected to kick off at 12:00 p.m.

“We are so excited to be playing in the NCAA Tournament and to play so close to home,” Head Coach Paul Crowley said following the bracket release. “Randolph-Macon has been a first-rate program for a long time, and are playing at a very high level. It will be an extremely tough challenge.” 

This will be the 11th trip to the NCAA Tournament for the Captains, and the game will be the 14th all-time in the tournament for CNU. The game Saturday will mark the first NCAA action for the Captains since November 29, 2014, when Matt Kelchner’s squad lost at Widener, 37-27, in the second round of the tournament. The Captains had defeated Delaware Valley, 29-26, in the opening round in Doylestown, Pa.

The Captains secured the NJAC Championship and automatic bid to the tourney on Friday night by beating the College of New Jersey, 27-21, in Ewing, N.J. It’s the first NJAC title for Christopher Newport since the Captains joined the conference in 2015.

Randolph-Macon has a record of 10-0 and the Yellow Jackets are Champions of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference. Christopher Newport and Randolph-Macon played two games in the first two seasons of CNU football, with each team winning at home. The Yellow Jackets downed the Captains in Ashland in 2001 in just the second game ever played by the CNU program, 26-10, and Christopher Newport posted a 21-19 home victory in 2002 over the Yellow Jackets. In recent years, the programs have met but only in pre-season scrimmages.

Crowley, who has played and coached as an assistant in previous NCAA games with the Captains, has led his team to the tournament in just his second season at the helm. The Captains have gone 7-3 in each of his two seasons as Head Coach, and narrowly missed advancing last year after a 36-33 loss at Salisbury in what served to be the NJAC Championship game. 

The winner of Saturday’s game will play the victor of the Springfield/Ithaca game in the second round on November 25th at a site to be determined. 

More details on the game, including ticket information, will be posted on CNUsports.com as they become available.