Oskaloosa was founded in Central Iowa in 1844, and William Penn University was established in 1873 by Quaker Pioneers. In 1896 William Penn started playing football. This is the 130th Year of Statemen Football.
The Statesmen had never won 11 games in a year or won a playoff game in their history. You think being a Minnesota Viking or Cleveland Brown fan is suffering, think about the loyalty and perseverance of the Statesmen fans in Oskaloosa.
So, yesterday at William Penn Stadium, having a home NAIA first-round was a very BIG deal for the program and University. Ghost and I, got a chance to drive out for the game on a perfect day for football. 50 degrees with a semi-tough wind that made the offenses adjust to having or facing the wind.
The Statesmen were 10-1 coming into the game and had the most improved team in NAIA from last year. +6 Wins (from 4 to 10) easily outdistances any NAIA team’s football improvement in the country.
So how did the game turn out?
NAIA Football – William Penn Statesmen 38 – Texas Wesleyan 9
The Statesmen put a total team effort on the board in the dominating win. We had a lot of fun covering the game and watching Destynd Loring (Heart of America North Division Offensive Player of the Year) break some long runs on his way to 192 yards on the ground.
When you get a chance to roam the sidelines as reporters, you can watch and see a coaching staff and players in action, and when they come off the field and get in their positional groups you can learn alot.
We were impressed by the calm and collected approach of the staff, and the players were prepared to a tee. When you are close enough to hear the right tackle calling out code words to a check to a defensive alignment, you get a real feel for how well coached a team is…and the Statemen are well coached.
There is a reason the Heart of America Conference peers voted William Penn’s Grant Garth Offensive Assistant Coach of the Year, and Head Coach Marc Benavidez was tabbed as the Coach of the Year this week. The entire staff at William Penn was impressive and fun to watch in action, and the Statesmen players are talented and are working very hard to be prepared for game day.
I enjoyed catching this video on the team leaving for the halftime locker room cooly and calmly up 21-3 at half. All business with some passion from the fans. If you listen to the audio the is a fan who is screaming out to come out in the second half and Bury those B@$%@$s… This is for the SGI team might be our favorite Statesmen fan. Whoever he is, he is a true football guy.
The combination of talent and coaching in 2025 has led the Statesmen to TWO historic heights – 11 Wins first time in 130 years of football and their first playoff win ever. That’s pretty cool. The staff and players, are now in the 0-0 phase and are heads down today watching film and getting prepared for the next challenge.
The Statesmen continue their Battle for the Red Banner next weekend
William Penn is on the road next week in Wichita, Kansas to face Friends University. The Falcons run a variation of the Flexbone (e.g. Paul Johnson – Georgia Tech, Army, Navy style attack) where the forward pass is considered a novelty. It will be a big challenge (they average 482 yards a game rushing) and put up a lot of points.
This week, we will dive into this matchup in more detail and share our thoughts and predictions on our weekly podcast. Ghost, Jordan and I are likely going to call Statesmen fan Uncle Chuck (Uncle of Hayden Vandenburg from West Burlington, Iowa) and ask him for this week’s prediction.
Uncle Chuck was so close to the final score with his prediction pregame that Vegas has to be reaching out to him for his college football lines.
A big thanks to the William Penn Athletic Department and NAIA for having us out for the game. It is much appreciated, and we appreciate the hospitality.
We will have much more on William Penn, and the Coe and Drake games yesterday (they had huge wins yesterday) this week.
The State of Iowa has Wartburg, Grandview, Morningside, Dordt (all had first round playoff byes) and William Penn, Coe, and Drake all playing in the playoffs next week. Seven Iowa Colleges in the playoffs is historic (we went back and did our best researching, and we do not think that has ever happened before).
Seven Iowa College Playoff teams playing on one weekend may never happen again.
Get out to the closest game to you next weekend and support these young athletes and coaches. They deserve it.
As Always, we appreciate your support and comments.
