WALTHAM, Mass. – Eighteen years after Bill Kavanaugh served as a captain of Bentley University's first NCAA Division II playoff team, the Falcon head coach will lead this year's team into the 2021 NCAA championship playoffs Saturday when the Falcons make a return trip to the University of New Haven.

Kickoff at Della Camera Stadium in West Haven, Conn. is set for 1 pm with a trip to top-seeded Kutztown University for a regional semifinal Nov. 27 awaiting the winner. The game can be viewed on the NE10 Digital Network.

Both teams will bring a 9-1 record into Saturday with both losses having come on the blue turf of Della Camera Stadium. Bentley's bid for a second straight Northeast-10 Conference championship was denied by New Haven two weeks ago, 31-14. New Haven's only blemish to date came back in September to 10-1 Bowie State, 21-13.

In the previous meeting, New Haven dominated time of possession, controlling the ball for over 43 minutes by rushing for 286 yards, and capitalized on a couple costly interceptions to bring an end to the Falcons' 13-game winning streak. Down 7-0 in the second, Bentley recovered a fumble on the Charger five. However, the bid to even the score was denied by a New Haven interception.

The Chargers answered with an 80-yard drive to go up 14-0 in the final minute of the second. After the kickoff, Bentley was intercepted a second time and this one led to a field goal on the final play of the half and a 17-point Falcon deficit.

Both teams scored twice in the second half, but Bentley was never able to draw closer than ten.

The 286 rushing yards given up and four sacks allowed were uncharacteristic for a Bentley team that ranks third in the NE10 in rushing defense and first in sacks allowed. In the other nine games this fall, Falcon opponents averaged 132.8 rushing yards and had only six sacks.

Bentley and New Haven dominated the all-conference awards that came out earlier this week. Bentley had both the Northeast-10 Defensive Player of the Year, Cole McCubrey (Boylston/Tahanto Reg. HS) and the Defensive Lineman of the Year, Cedie Dashiell II (Buena Park, Calif./Buena Park HS) while New Haven had the Offensive Lineman of the Year, Mike Zecchin, and the Coach of the Year, Chris Pincince.

Each team had six players, three on each side of the ball, receive first-team All-Conference accolades. Representing Bentley were McCubrey, Dashiell II and junior cornerback Jailen Branch (Randolph/Milton Academy) on defense and senior QB Stephen Sturm (Collegeville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley HS), senior wide receiver Noah Neville (Boston/Newton North HS) and senior tackle Tim Leonard (Rumson, N.J./Rumson-Fair Haven HS) on offense.

A look at the conference statistics shows the two teams at or near the top of numerous categories. Bentley is number one in scoring (32.0), yards per play (6.25), pass efficiency (153.9), fumble recoveries (12), defensive touchdowns (4), turnover margin (+15), third down conversions (+15), takeaways (24) and fewest sacks allowed (10).

On the other hand, New Haven finished the regular season first in scoring defense (14.9), rushing defense (93.2), fewest passes intercepted (4), kick return yards (37.1), opponent third down conversion percentage (.286), red zone defense (13 TD in 30 chances) and average possession time (35:01).

Bentley, in its two previous NCAA appearances, averaged 40 points a game but gave up a total of 110. The Falcons fell to eventual national champion Grand Valley State, 65-36, in 2003 and to Edinboro University, 47-44, the following year. In the latter contest, the Bears scored the game-winning touchdown with 5:26 to play after the Falcons carried a 44-41 lead into the fourth.

Bentley QB Marc Eddy threw for 504 yards and three TD against Kutztown after a 446-yard performance, with five TD, against a GVSU team coached by current Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly.

In Saturday's other first round games, Shepherd is facing Findlay and Notre Dame (Ohio) is at home against Slippery Rock. Combined the seven teams in Super Region 1 are a remarkable 65-10 this season.

BENTLEY BRIEFS: Sturm enters the game with over 7,000 career passing yards and only 122 yards of total offense away from 8,000 career. He's accounted for 70 TDs in his career … Andrew Brazicki (Franklin Park, N.J./ St. Thomas Aquinas HS) moved into third on Bentley's career rushing list with his total standing at 2,230. He leads the Falcons in rushing for the fourth consecutive season … Brazicki was voted to the All-NE10 second team, as were graduate offensive lineman Lucas Debettencourt (Oak Bluffs/Martha's Vineyard HS), senior defensive lineman Steven Paulino (Bergenfield, N.J./Bergenfield HS) and junior punter Charlie Ogletree (Needham/ Needham HS) … Kavanaugh, now his in his eighth year at his alma mater, has a career record of 40-33 … New Haven leads the all-time series 9-3, but the two teams have split the last four meeting. Ironically, Bentley's win in 2019, which gave the Falcons the conference championship, was by the same score as New Haven's two weeks ago … In this week's AFCA Division II coaches poll, Bentley was 20^th and New Haven was 18^th … New Haven is 9-7 all-time in the NCAA playoffs with their most recent appearance coming in 2018.