It’s official and it’s not much of a surprise — Carroll College will play host to North Dakota’s Dickinson State in the first round of the NAIA football playoffs Saturday.

The game, one of eight first-round contests announced Sunday afternoon, is scheduled to kick off at 12:07 p.m. at Nelson Stadium.

“It’s good to know who you’re going to play because you can talk about somebody specific,” Saints coach Mike Van Diest said Sunday. “We can get to work and give the guys a detailed game plan.”

Carroll, the defending national champion, will be aiming for its sixth title in seven years.

The championship game is scheduled for Dec. 20 in

Rome, Ga.

Carroll enters the game at 11-0 and ranked No. 1, where it’s been all season. Dickinson State, |which won the Dakota Athletic Conference, finished 7-3 and ranked No. 17.

The Saints also have the nation’s longest winning streak at any level — 26 consecutive games.

Carroll swept through the Frontier Conference by scoring an average of 32.7 points per game, while giving up just 11.6 points per game.

Junior running back Gabe Le finished second in the conference in rushing with 985 yards and nine touchdowns on 163 carries.

Senior Rick Young led the conference in sacks with 13.

The Saints, though, had few other statistical leaders, especially at quarterback where freshmen Dane Broadhead and Matt Ritter split time after opening day starter Gary Wagner went down with an injury in the second game of the season.

Carroll’s defense finished third in the NAIA in points allowed.

Coach Hank Biesiot, in his 32nd year at the school, guided the Blue Hawks to the playoffs after an 0-3 start that included a 34-19 loss at home to Rocky Mountain College to start the season.

Five of the seven wins were by seven points or fewer.

The team is led by tailback Zach Hepperle, who ran for 695 yards and 11 touchdowns and also caught 27 passes for 302 yards.

Quarterback Brandon Bishop-Parise completed 99 of 191 passes for 1,613 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Van Diest said the part of the Blue Hawks his coaching staff is likely to address first is their defense. The team held all of its conference opponents to 21 points or fewer.

“They’re very physical,” he said. “When we’ve played them before, that’s what we noticed about them. And, that probably hasn’t changed.”

Van Diest said with the playoff bracket announced, the experienced players can get the younger players, including both quarterbacks, prepped for the pressure of the postseason.

“They’ll talk to them about the urgency you have to play with each week,” he said. “But, we’ve done a good job of playing that way through the season.”

Van Diest said while much of the preparation, which starts with swapping film with the Blue Hawks, might be tedious, having the 16-team backet to look at is a key to the excitement that comes with the postseason each year.

“Being able to see the bracket is a really neat thing,” Van Diest said. “It’s always fun to watch everyone else and see how they’re doing week by week.”

Sports Editor Cliff Pfenning: 447-4070 or cliff.pfenning@helenair.com