Blue Knights seek win in final home game

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The Urbana University football team will look to erase a three-game skid on Saturday when it hosts MEC rival Notre Dame College for a noon kickoff at UU Stadium.

The home finale has been dubbed “Veterans Honor Day” in conjunction with “Senior Day,” as Urbana University will honor current and former members of the armed services. Veterans will be granted free admission, along with halftime recognition on the field among many other activities.

UU (2-7, 1-7 MEC) is coming off a five-point loss (24-19) at UVa-Wise, a game in which UU showed life offensively by outscoring the Cavaliers, 19-3, in the second half. The Blue Knights had the ball with 1:26 left in the game, but couldn’t sustain momentum on the final drive.

For the Blue Knights to have a shot against the Falcons (3-6, 3-5 MEC) this week, they must get the ball to wideout Trevon Saunders.

The sophomore from Columbus scored twice last week and racked up career highs in receiving yards (175) and receptions (seven). He put his speed on full display with a 95-yard TD reception, which was the second-longest TD catch in NCAA Division II this season and an MEC record. Saunders leads UU with five touchdowns and averages 76 receiving yards per contest.

As a team, UU averages 13.3 points and 271.2 yards per game on offense. Defensively, the Blue Knights are tied for third in scoring in the MEC, giving up 28.2 points per contest.

The matchup to watch on Saturday will be UU’s secondary against the NDC receivers. UU has the MEC’s fourth-best passing defense while Notre Dame College features the league’s fourth-best passing offense.

The Falcons are third in total offense (446.1 ypg), and are led by quarterback Malik Grove who paces the conference with 338 total yards per game.

UU’s 11 seniors will be honored prior to the game, including captain D’Gary Wallace who became the program’s all-time career tackles leader last week.

All of the pre-game festivities will be aired live on sports.urbana.edu, followed by live coverage of the game.

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