Coe, Central make D-III football playoffs

Iowa Conference schools Coe College and Central College have made the 32-team field for the NCAA Division III football playoffs. The brackets were announced Sunday afternoon.

IIAC champ Central (10-0) clinched an automatic berth last week and will host Mary Hardin-Baylor (9-1) of Texas in a first-round game at Pella Saturday at noon.

Coe (9-1) is in the playoffs for the first time since 2005, receiving an at-large berth and playing at St. John's (Minn.) in the first round. That's also a noon game Saturday.

St. John's (10-0) won its record 31st Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Association title with a 41-14 win over Carleton on Saturday. The Johnnies have won national championships in 1976 and 2003 under the legendary John Gagliardi, who just completed his 61st season as a head college football coach.

Mary-Hardin Baylor's lone loss was to Mississippi College, 17-14. The teams shared the American Southwest Conference championship.

Central defeated Coe in the regular season, 24-6, in Pella. Its regular season ended Nov. 7 with a 41-33 victory over Wartburg.

Coe and St. John's have one common opponent this season in Gustavus Adolphus. Coe won at GA the second week of the season, 27-24. St. John's whipped GA two weeks later at GA, 38-10.

Coe is 1-5 all-time in the playoffs, with four of those losses coming to St. John's. The last meeting between the schools came in 2002, with St. John's a 45-14 victor.

"I really do think we deserve to be here," Coe Coach Steve Staker said. "These kids have put everything on the line this year. The work ethic that they have put forth, the senior leadership we have gotten has been outstanding. They just seem to know what has to be done, and they get the job done."

Here's the entire D-III bracket:

Football Bracket 2009