The 2018 NAIA football national championship was a four-round, sixteen team tournament played between November 17 and December 15 of 2018. The tournament concluded on December 15 with a single game, played as the 63rd Annual NAIA Football National Championship.
The championship game was played at Municipal Stadium in Daytona Beach, Florida. This was the 5th consecutive time the championship game was played at this venue after the prior six games had been played at Barron Stadium in Rome, Georgia. It was also the final game played at this venue after it was announced that the 2019 championship game will be played in Grambling, Louisiana.
The game was contested between two teams that had never before won a football national championship. On the visiting side of the scoreboard was the once-beaten, #7-ranked Benedictine Ravens, representing Benedictine College from Atchison, Kansas. The home team was the unbeaten, #1-ranked Morningside Mustangs, playing for Morningside College of Sioux City, Iowa. Benedictine was making its first appearance in the championship game while Morningside was appearing for the second time, losing the 2012 championship game in overtime to the Marian Knights.
Morningside was led by the quarterback-receiver duo of Trent Solsma and Connor Niles. Solsma was a first-team All-American who had just received the Rawlings Award in a banquet the prior evening. The award recognized the 2018 NAIA Football Player of the Year. Niles was a second-team All-American, a controversial achievement because many consider Solsma-to-Niles to be one of the most productive duos in NAIA football history. But an NAIA rule restricts the selection of players from the same team. So Solsma received the first-team choice, and Niles was the second-team selection.
In the end, this duo led Morningside to the victory, 35-28. They connected for 3 touchdown passes during the game. For his efforts, Niles was named the game's Most Outstanding Offensive Player. The parallel defensive award was given to Morningside defensive lineman Chase Reis.
A total of sixteen teams were selected to participate in the single-elimination tournament from across the country, with invitations that were revealed on Sunday, November 11, 2018.[1] The field included eleven conference champions who received automatic bids. The field was then filled with at-large selections that were awarded to the highest ranked teams that were not conference champions. First-round seedings were based on the final regular-season edition of the 2018 NAIA Coaches' Poll, with certain minor modifications given based on geographic considerations. Each subsequent round will be re-seeded based on the rankings of all teams advancing to that round.
Quarterfinal pairings were announced by the NAIA on November 17, after the first round results were known.[2]
Semifinal pairings were confirmed by the NAIA on November 24, soon after completion of the day's quarterfinal games.[3]
| Game Name: | NAIA Football National Championship |
| Date Game Played: | December 15 |
| Year Game Played: | 2018 |
| Football Season: | 2018 |
| Stadium: | Municipal Stadium |
| City: | Daytona Beach, Florida |
| Home School: | Morningside College |
| Home Name Short: | Morningside |
| Home Nickname: | Mustangs |
| Home Record: | 14 - 0 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 1 |
| Home Coach: | Steve Ryan |
| Home 1Q: | 14 |
| Home 2Q: | 0 |
| Home 3Q: | 14 |
| Home 4Q: | 7 |
| Visitor School: | Benedictine College |
| Visitor Name Short: | Benedictine |
| Visitor Nickname: | Ravens |
| Visitor Record: | 13 - 1 |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | 7 |
| Visitor Coach: | Larry Wilcox |
| Visitor 1Q: | 14 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 6 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 8 |
| Mvp: | Connor Niles (WR, Morningside)(Offensive) Chase Reis (DL, Morningside) (Defensive) |
| Us Network: | ESPN3 |
| Us Announcers: | Drew Fellios Forrest Conoly Kristen Bedard |
* denotes OT / ** denotes double OT