Title game a new experience for Division II football finalists

Not only will NCAA Division II have a new football champion this weekend, it will be a first-time winner.

Texas A&M-Commerce and West Florida battle it out Saturday at the first Northwest Missouri State-less championship game at Children’s Mercy Park in three years.

The two-time defending champion Bearcats were knocked out in the first round, and several other familiar names were eliminated along the way, too.

Left standing are the Lions (13-1) from Commerce, Texas, the fifth seed in their region, and the Argonauts (11-3) from Pensacola, a No. 6 regional seed.

The Lions last won a national championship in 1972 as a member of the NAIA. The program had fallen on hard times before coach Colby Carthel arrived five years ago.

Texas A&M-Commerce has appeared in postseason play every year since and won three Lone Star Conference titles.

“We didn’t start from scratch, but we took over the program and had to build from the ground up,” Carthel said.

Starting from scratch was a reference to West Florida. This season marked the second for football at the school.

The second.

In 2011, the school started a feasibility study, and it didn’t take long to realize the football-rich area would support the sport. Home games are played in the city’s minor-league baseball stadium, which sits on the Gulf of Mexico. Extra points and short field goals can splash into the water.

Pete Shinnick, a former Colorado offensive lineman and well-traveled assistant with head-coaching experience, was hired in 2014.

The program’s first signee was quarterback Mike Beaudry. He and his teammates endured a practice- and scrimmage-filled 2015 fall before playing games and posting a respectable 5-6 record in their inaugural season.

One year later, the Argos are playing for the national championship.

“It’s just been an amazing journey,” Shinnick said. “We’re just trying to make the most of it.”

Texas A&M-Commerce quarterback Luis Perez took an amazing journey of his own on this weekend a year ago. While his teammates were heading home for winter break, he drove to Children’s Mercy Park to watch Northwest Missouri State defeat North Alabama on a snowy and bitterly cold day in the championship game.

“The reason why was I thought our team from this year would make it,” said Perez, who Thursday was announced as the Harlon Hill Trophy winner as Division II’s top player. “I dream big, but I didn’t think it was a longshot.”

Maybe not a long shot, both teams put in long travel hours leading to championship game.

West Florida won four road playoff games and Texas A&M-Commerce three to reach Kansas City, a remarkable feat.

“Two similar paths to be here,” Carthel said. “I don’t know if we’re one of the top two programs in the country and I don’t know if they are either. But we’re the two teams playing the best football right now.”

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Title game a new experience for Division II football finalists."