In 2024, the Wartburg Knights won the ARC title with a perfect record in conference play. The 2024 American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) champion, Wartburg College Knights won a second round victory in the playoffs advancing against Wisconsin-Platteville with a gritty 19-14 victory.
The Knights fell short in advancing in the NCAA Division III Football Championship in the third round. Bethel defeated the Knights 24-14 in a battle at Walston-Hoover Stadium in Waverly, Iowa. The Wartburg Knights incredible season came to a close with an overall record of 10-2.
The Coe Kohawks finished second in the (A-R-C) and were granted an at large 2024 NCAA Division III Football Playoffs after going 7-1 in conference play this season and 9-1 overall.
The Kohawks only fell to Wartburg during the regular season placing themselves in a good spot to earn one of the at-large selections to the NCAA Playoffs. Ninth-year head coach, Tyler Staker, took the team to its second straight NCAA Playoff appearance.
The Coe College Kohawks NCAA playoff run ended with a tough 31-26 loss to Bethel. This is the second consecutive season the Kohawks represented the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) as an at-large selection to the playoffs.
For the second straight year, two A-R-C conference teams made the NCAA Division 3 Football Playoffs and Wartburg advanced into the third round. The final conference standings were as follows.
Source – America Rivers Conference www.rollrivers.com 2024 Standings
The Central College Dutch had a very strong campaign with their only losses coming to Coe (16-13 in Double overtime) and to Wartburg 10-6. These ever so close losses showed the quality of their team and season.
The University of Dubuque was 5-3 in the conference with their 3 losses coming at the hands of Central, Coe and Wartburg. The Spartans had another solid A-R-C campaign in 2024. Simpson, Nebraska Wesleyan, Buena Vista, Loras and Luther finished the campaign in 5th through the 9th positions.
The A-R-C Coaches preseason poll was in hindsight was very accurate when released in late August of 2024.
What will the 2026 season will bring in terms of predictions and conference standings will be interesting to see.
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