The Crusaders and Warhawks are two of the remaining four teams vying for a shot at No. 1 in the Stagg Bowl on Dec. 20.
The winners Saturday will meet in Salem, Va., to see who pulls the biggest sugarplum of all from the season’s pudding - title as national champions of Division III.
The archetype for UMHB’s team spirit can be seen embodied in a young man from Zimbabwe - Tatenda Tavaziva.
Tavaziva, a senior accounting and management major with a 3.9 grade point average, is also the student body president.
He assembled an ensemble in his school’s colors - gold, purple and white. It includes a green, red, yellow and black Zimbabwe flag he wears to every football game. When the Crusaders score a touchdown, Tavaziva runs the length of the track along the sidelines waving a flag - also in UMHB school colors.
“I run from the winning goal line to the opposite goal line,” Tavaziva said. “If they score the extra point or field goal, I run back the other way.”
Michael McCarthy, director of campus activities, said the student body loves it. Tavaziva has a special quality about him that excites people, he said.
“If I showed up in Zimbabwe at a soccer game dressed like this, my friends would ask what is wrong with me,” Tavaziva said. “They would tell me I’m dressing down.”
Tavaziva said soccer in Zimbabwe is much more intense than football in America because it is linked to a sense of nationalism.
“When there is a soccer game, the whole town closes up for the day,” he said.
McCarthy said Tavaziva takes his place at football games outside the bleachers with a pep squad of about 100 students called the Couch Cru (short for Couch Crusaders).
He said the name began about 15 years or more ago.
“We used to pull our couches out of our living rooms to the soccer field to watch the games,” McCarthy said. “We set up barbecue pits, too.”
The name stuck and became a tradition.
“The Couch Cru today has a train horn it blows every time there’s a touchdown,” McCarthy said. “And a group bangs on a set of eight steel drums set up on the sidelines.”
Fan mania goes beyond the student body at UMHB.
“Fans is short for fanatic,” said Belton Mayor Jim Covington, laughing. “I’m on the computer now trying to figure out how to get to Salem, Va., when we win this weekend.”
Covington said the cost will be about $1,000 but he is determined to go.
“Whoever wins this game will be in the finals next week at the Stagg Bowl - so this is pretty big,” Covington said.
“It’s like the Orange Bowl for Division III football. Everybody is pretty excited and pumped up about it. I’m trying to find a Santa Claus hat that’s purple and gold.”
Covington described Tavaziva as an exceptional young man.
“I knew his father, Benjamin, 30 years ago,” he said. “He attended UMHB and attended church with us.”
Joanna Laxton, who owns the T-Room in Belton, describes her shop as an ongoing tailgate party because of the number of UMHB students, faculty and team players that come in to visit and buy shirts, caps and blankets embroidered with UMHB logos.
Her husband, Billy Laxton, is the head trainer for the UMHB athletic program.
Ms. Laxton described Tavaziva as the epitome of school spirit.
“Tatenda loves the school and everything about it,” she said. “He’s totally excited about being here.”
She said the tingle of anticipation over Saturday’s game is intense.
“It’s because we have never hosted a semifinal game,” she said. “This year we were undefeated in our conference and Whitewater lost a game in theirs. That’s why they must play here.”
Charlie Kimmey with Ralph Wilson Youth Club said the club is treating the student body and public to a huge tailgate party from 10:30 a.m. until game time on Saturday.
“We’ll serve 600 hot dogs, 200 sausage wraps and 300 or more beef and chicken fajitas until they run out,” he said.
Kimmey said the club decided to have the tailgate for many reasons.
“We thought it would be kind of fun,” he said. “But we are specifically honoring three players who worked this summer at the Ralph Wilson Youth Club.”
Kimmey said Derrick Williams, Max Taylor and Eric Henri were really great with the kids.
“The kids looked up to them and respected them,” he said.
Kimmey said there is no charge for the refreshments. Several donors pitched in for the cost.
A pep rally will be held at Tiger Field tonight beginning at 10 p.m.
