DelVal Looks To Make Noise In Division III Playoffs

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- After a 10-0 regular season and a Middle Atlantic Conference title, the Delaware Valley University Aggies are getting ready for the NCAA Division III playoffs.

DelVal will open up the postseason at home in Doylestown on Saturday with a first-round match-up against Western New England University. This will be the first playoff appearance for the program since 2014.

The Aggies are coached by Duke Greco and he says his group came into the season confident that they could make some things happen.

"Our goal was to try to win every game," he tells KYW Newsradio. "I think our guys had high expectations for themselves, I think we've met the expectations so far and now it's time to look at our second goal and to try to work towards that and that's making a deep run into the playoffs."

Greco says it isn't hard to understand why they have been so successful.

"We just have great players," he says. "We've got a lot of people here from the equipment room to the training room to the coaches to the players, everyone has the same goal here and that's to be successful, work hard and try to win games."

The defense for DelVal has been off the charts good this season. The Aggies are third in the nation, allowing just nine points a game. Opponents average just 239 yards of offense against DelVal. While the Aggies have allowed just 12 touchdowns this season, they have scored 58. Their offense is led by junior quarterback Dashawn Darden, a Cardinal O'Hara product, who has thrown for 20 touchdowns and rushed for seven more. At running back, the Aggies have senior Devauntay Ellis who has rushed for 1,141 yards and 16 touchdowns.

"Devauntay's a great player," Greco says. "To me he's the best running back in the league, by far. At this level, I would think he's one of the best in the country. He's a great player and he's gotten better as the year's gone on. Our offensive line and our fullback Austin O'Neill have gotten better as the year has gone on, too. So we're kind of growing together, which is great to see."

Western New England is 8-2 heading into the playoffs and the Golden Bears are the champions of the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

"They are a perennial playoff team," Greco says. "They've had a lot of success here the last four or five years, they've been to the playoffs I believe three of the last four years. Definitely concerned about their experience. We haven't been in the national playoffs the last two years. They're used to it, we need to adjust quickly and be ready to match up and play. Very good quarterback there, defensively they're solid, they have a very good defensive tackle and safety. So we'll definitely have our hands full."

Saturday's game in Doylestown will kick off at noon.