CANTON, Ga. - The Berry College Vikings and Trinity University Tigers have clinched their ticket to the 2025 Football Championship.
The Division III football bracket includes 40 teams with 27 qualifying automatically as conference champions. The reamining 13 entrants were determined by ranking in the NCAA Power Index (NPI).
Berry (9-1) earned a first round bye for the first time in school history, but are familiar with being selected to the NCAA tournament. Currently the Vikings sit ranked at No. 8 in NPI rankings.
With an undefeated conference record, Berry clinched the outright season title to earn the conference's automatic bid.
Currently, Berry averages 40 points a game against their opponents 11.9. Christian Lewis leads the offense with 93 completions for 1200 yards and 9 touchdowns. He has three outstanding receivers who boast over 300 yards this season in Nate Lyons, Brendan Gray, and Khamari Smith.
Defensively for the Vikings, the average points a game for their opponents speaks for itself, but Christopher Lewis leads the charge with 50 tackles along with Dawson Livingston who has 5 sacks on the year for 37 yards.
Back-up quarterback, Andrew Hunter is also one to be on the lookout for, leading the team with 17 touchdowns this season, 16 of which are rushing TD's.
Berry will take on the winner of LaGrange/Framingham State on November 29 at 12:00 PM ET in Rome, Georgia.
Trinity earns an at-large bid to the tournament with their impressive 9-1 record. The team sits at No. 11 in the NPI ranking to be one of the 13 at-large bids and also gets a first round bye.
The Tigers are just shy of posting 39 points a game while holding their opponents to 12. Hondo Franklin leads the offense with 171 completions on the season for over 2000 yards and 19 touchdowns (leading the team in the scoring category). Alejandro Tavarez leads all receivers with 49 receptions for almost 800 yards.
Xadrian Huerta is the lead rusher for the Tigers with 80 attempts for over 500 yards. Franklin approaches the 400 yard mark for rushing yards as the quarterback.
On the other side of the ball, 75 total tackles leads from TJ Scannell and Jonathan Nwobodo has five sacks for 35 yards.
Trinity will face Hardin-Simmons in the second round of the NCAA tournament on their home field in San Antonio, Texas. The date is set for November 29 at 12:00 PM CT.
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