(release/graphic courtesy of Gallaudet Athletic Communications)
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – For the second time in school history the Gallaudet University football team is in the NCAA postseason. The Bison learned of their first round opponent Sunday evening when the 2022 NCAA Division III football championship field of 32 teams was announced.
The Bison (7-2) will travel to Doylestown, Pa., on Saturday, Nov. 19, to face No. 8 Delaware Valley University (10-0) in the first round. The game will kick off at noon at Robert A. Lipinski Field at James Work Memorial Stadium.
Gallaudet won its second Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC) title after it went 5-1 in league play to earn the automatic qualifier bid. The Bison last made an appearance in the NCAA tournament in 2013 where the Bison lost 34-7 at Hobart College in the first round. The Gallaudet football team is the only men's team sport to make an NCAA tournament appearance in school history.
Delaware Valley is making its fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament, 11th overall. The Aggies won their fifth straight Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) championship with a perfect 8-0 mark to earn the automatic bid. Delaware Valley is 12-10 all-time in NCAA play, last season the Aggies reached the second round. The Aggies are currently ranked No. 8 in the American Football Coaches Association coaches poll and No. 14 in the D3football.com media poll.
There are no common opponents between Gallaudet and Delaware Valley this season.
This will be the 16th meeting between the two schools on the gridiron. The Aggies hold a 14-1 series edge, the last time Delaware Valley faced Gallaudet was in 1966. GU's lone win, 14-13, came in 1958. The winner will advance to the second round to face either Randolph-Macon (10-0) or SUNY Cortland (9-1) on Saturday, Nov. 26, at noon.
2022 NCAA Division III Football Championship
About the ECFC
The Eastern Collegiate Football Conference was formed in the spring of 2009 as an NCAA Division III single-sport football conference. The conference, named after the geographic location of the institutions began competition in the fall of 2009.
Current members are Alfred State College (Alfred, NY), Anna Maria College (Worcester, MA), Castleton University (Castleton, VT.), Dean College (Franklin, MA), Gallaudet University (Washington, D.C.), Keystone College (La Plume, PA), and Maritime College State University of New York (Throggs Neck, NY).
The mission of the conference is to:
- Promote intercollegiate varsity football as an integral part of the educational experience of all competitors.
- Establish a conference schedule and determine a conference championship that will represent the conference as the automatic qualifier to the NCAA national tournament.
- Adopt sportsmanship, fair play, moral integrity, and competitive excellence as cornerstones of the conference.
