A very important Heart of America Athletic Conference match up is on tap for Saturday afternoon at William Jewell College, where the Lions will put their 2-1 HAAC record on the line against the Cardinals. Jewell stands at 2-2 in league play, so head coach Fran Schwenk's team will be fighting to keep its' head above water in the Heart title race. Lindenwood can take a huge momentum step toward the second half of its' season with a road win, so plenty of intensity can be expected for the 1:00 kickoff.

"We've done some nice things this season, especially when you consider how young we are," said Lion head coach Patrick Ross, whose team has posted a record of 19-4 in Heart play since his staff came to LU in 2004. "But playing tough against good teams isn't good enough for our program - we need to come out every week and play like we did last Saturday against Graceland."

Ross refers to last week's dismantling of 8th-ranked Graceland, a game in which the Lions landed a series of knockout blows in a 28-3 first half, racking up 312 yards in two quarters. If you're a Lion fan, the warm fuzzy was made even better by the fact that many of those landing the blows were freshmen and sophomores ... names like Kisner, Uren, Hombs, Symons, Harris, Farrell, etc., are already making waves in the Heart, and they'll be around for a while.

"For a guy like Trevan Hombs (freshman wideout from Blue Springs) to come into that kind of game and contribute two big play touchdowns in that first half is exciting for everyone, especially him," said Ross. "You'd like to think you're recruiting guys who can make plays, but it's nice to see it so early in a guy's career."