The Northwestern College football team (12-1) will make their second trip to the NAIA national championship football game in three seasons.
The Red Raiders earned their spot with a 38-7 win over No. 5-ranked Indiana Wesleyan University at De Valois Stadium. Jalyn Gramstad combined for 252 yards and four total touchdowns, moving into second all-time in the single-season list for rushing touchdowns with 22.
Northwestern scored 17 points to start the game in the first quarter on the Wildcats. Gramstad a sophomore from Lester by way of the West Lyon program, led the Raiders down the field in six plays, going 65 yards, with the last three plays being passes of 10, 5, and 27 yards. The touchdown was a 27-yard strike to Michael Storey from Spencer and Northwestern never looked back.
The third seeded Red Raiders advance to the national championship game for a second time in three years. Northwestern will face the Seahawks of Keiser University from Florida. Keiser comes in at 10-3 after a 38-21 win over # 2 seed Grand View in the other semifinal.
The Seahawks have engineered upsets in all three of their tournament games. Prior to Saturday they knocked off the #4 seed and the top seed in defending National Champion Morningside after being seeded at #14 for the round of 16.
The National Championship will be played in Durham, North Carolina on December 17.
