Wartburg Knights football

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The Wartburg Knights football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Wartburg College located in the U.S. state of Iowa. The team competes in the NCAA Division III and a member of the American Rivers Conference (ARC).^[2] Wartburg's first football team was fielded in 1929 with varsity play starting in 1935.^[3] The team plays its home games at Walston-Hoover stadium in Waverly, Iowa.

Conference affiliations

• Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (1936–2018)
• American Rivers Conference (2018–present)

Playoffs

The Knights have appeared in the Division III Playoffs 16 times, most recently in 2023.^[4] They have not had a losing season since 1988. Their combined playoff record is 17–16.

NCAA Division III playoffs

Year	Round	Opponent	Result	Record
1982	First Round	Bishop	L 7–32	8–2
1993	Regionals	Wisconsin–La Crosse	L 26–55	9–3
1994	Regionals	Central	W 22–21	10–2
	Quarterfinals	Saint John's (MN)	L 14–42
1999	Regionals	Pacific Lutheran	L 14–49	10–1
2002	First Round	Lake Forest	W 45–0	10–2
	Second Round	Linfield	L 15–52
2003	First Round	Bethel	W 21–7	11–1
	Second Round	Linfield	L 20–23
2004	First Round	Concordia–Moorhead	L 14–28	8–3
2008	First Round	Wisconsin–Stevens Point	W 26–21	10–3
	Second Round	Monmouth	W 30–28
	Quarterfinals	Wisconsin–Whitewater	L 17–34
2010	First Round	Bethel	L 20–28	10–1
2013	First Round	Illinois Wesleyan	W 41–7	9–3
	Second Round	Bethel	L 27–34
2014	First Round	St. Thomas	W 37–31	12–1
	Second Round	Saint John's (MN)	W 21–10
	Quarterfinals	Wisconsin–Whitewater	L 33–37
2017	First Round	Franklin	W 35–34 OT	12–1
	Second Round	Trine	W 49–7
	Quarterfinals	Wisconsin–Oshkosh	L 27–41
2018	First Round	Bethel	L 14–41	8–3
2019	First Round	Hope	W 41–3	10–2
	Second Round	Wisconsin–Whitewater	L 28–41
2022	First Round	Wisconsin–LaCrosse	W 14–6	13–1
	Second Round	Saint John's (MN)	W 23–20
	Quarterfinals	Aurora	W 45–17
	Semifinals	Mount Union	L 31–34
2023	First Round	Illinois College	W 49–14	13–1
	Second Round	Whitworth	W 42–20
	Quarterfinals	Wisconsin–Whitewater	W 31–28
	Semifinals	North Central (IL)	L 27–34

Championships

Conference championships

The Knights have won 19 conference championships

Year	Coach	Overall record	Conference record
1958	Norman Johansen	8–0–1	7–0–1
1959		8–1	8–0
1968	Lee Bondhus	7–1–1	6–0–1
1982	Don Canfield	8–2	7–0
1983†		8–1	6–1
1993	Bob Nielson	9–2	8–1
1999	Rick Willis	10–1	10–0
2002†		10–2	8–1
2003		11–1	8–0
2004†		8–3	6–2
2008		10–3	7–1
2010		10–1	8–0
2013		9–3	6–1
2014		12–1	7–0
2017		12–1	8–0
2018		8–3	7–1
2019†		10–2	7–1
2022	Chris Winter	13–1	8–0
2023		13–1	8–0

† Co-champions

Individual awards

IIAC/ARC Conference Awards

Conference Awards^[5]

Year	Player	Type
1968	Murray McMurray	Most Valuable Player
1969	Connie Hellerich	Most Valuable Player
1982	Mike Ward	Most Valuable Player
1983	Scott Fritz	Most Valuable Player
1984	Gary Walljasper	Most Valuable Player
1995	Vince Penningroth	Most Valuable Player
1999	Matt Wheeler	Most Valuable Player
2014	Logan Schrader Spencer Capitani	Offensive Most Valuable Player Defensive Most Valuable Player
2015	Logan Schrader	Offensive Most Valuable Player
2017	Matt Sacia	Offensive Most Valuable Player
2018	Matt Sacia	Offensive Most Valuable Player
2022	Hunter Clasen Owen Grover	Offensive Most Valuable Player Defensive Most Valuable Player
2023	Hunter Clasen Owen Grover	Offensive Most Valuable Player Defensive Most Valuable Player

Cliff Harris Award

Best Defensive Player in Division III

Cliff Harris Award^[6]

Year	Player
2023	Owen Grover

Current coaching staff

• Head coach: Chris Winter
• Assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, quarterbacks: Matt Wheeler
• Defensive coordinator, linebackers, recruiting coordinator: Matt Tschetter
• Defensive line: Anthony Vela
• Offensive line: Luke Summers
• Wide receivers: Quinton Murphy
• Running backs: Ethan Lape
• Assistant wide receivers: Jeff Beck
• Tight ends: Paul Mugan
• Specialists: Steve Kingery
• Student coach: Jason Splitt
• Athletic Trainer: Danny Drees
• Athletic Trainer: Jess Albright

^[7]

Head coaches

As of the completion of 2023^[8]

Tenure	Coach	Years	Record	Pct.	Con. Titles
1935–1937, 1944–1945	Elmer Hertel	5	9–18–0	.333	0
1938–1939	Ralph McKinzie	2	0–12–0	.000	0
1940–1942	CC Van Dyke	3	6–13–0	.316	0
1946	Stanley Hall	1	2–5–0	.286	0
1947–1950	Melvin Nelson	4	15–18–1	.456	0
1951	Earnest Oppermann	1	2–5–0	.286	0
1952–1964	Norm Johansen	13	53–54–4	.495	2
1965–1972	Lee Bondhus	8	24–47–1	.340	1
1973–1990	Don Canfield	18	97–71–1	.577	2
1991–1995	Bob Nielson	5	39–14–0	.736	1
1996	Steve Hagen	1	7–3–0	.700	0
2006–2007	Eric Koehler	2	16–4–0	.800	0
1997–2005, 2008–2020	Rick Willis	21	185–46–0	.801	11
2021-Present	Chris Winter	3	33–5–0	.868	2
Totals	14 coaches	87 seasons	488–315–7	.607	19 titles

Final rankings

Following the 2023 season, Wartburg has been ranked in the final D3football.com Poll 12 times and the AFCA Coaches Poll 13 times.

Year	D3 Ranking	AFCA Ranking	Record
1999	NR	No. 12	10–1
2000	NR	No. 18	9–1
2002	NR	No. 15	10–2
2003	No. 4	No. 6	11–1
2004	No. 24	No. NR	8–3
2007	No. 20	No. 25	8–2
2008	No. 10	No. 11	10–3
2010	No. 12	No. 11	10–1
2013	No. 14	No. 15	9–3
2014	No. 4	No. 4	12–1
2015	No. 24	NR	9–1
2017	No. 10	No. 8	12–1
2019	No. 14	No. 13	10–2
2022	No. 3	No. 4	13–1
2023	No. 3	No. 3	13–1

Notable former players

• Bob Nielson
• Matt Entz
• Chris Winter

References

External links

VenuesPeopleSeasons