The regular season has now come to pass. In his freshman season as a head coach, Ryan McCauley led his Vixen to an impressive seven win season. He and his staff have ten WFA All-American players on their team. The season was nothing short of amazing. But this week, everything changes. The Vixen head back to Saint Louis, the only team to beat them this season, for the opening round of the WFA Division II Playoffs. “It doesn’t matter what we did before this week, who are All Americans are, or anything like that,” says wide receiver coach Jake Potter. “It is now about who is the better team at the end of the game.” It would be rather dismissive for anyone to say that St. Louis is a better team than the Vixen. The two teams actually match up incredibly well. While the Scarlet and Black clad heroines of the gridiron did not pull off the win, it was not because of a lack of effort. “Four big plays are what made the difference between winning and losing the last time we faced them,” states RJ Speidel, Vixen defensive coordinator. “We can hang with them.” With a renewed intensity and exuberance, the Vixen hit the practice field this week after a win over the Division III Iowa Phoenix. The team will need a big day out of the “Cerberus” of running backs as Coach Matt O’Keefe has been affectionately calling his trifecta of dominant running backs in Tank Nelson, Grace Cooper, and Bella McGrath. Look for those three athletes to do what they do best, which is to get through the holes the Vixen o-line provides and move the ball. The Vixen defense will have a tough, yet manageable, time with the Slam’s offense. When asked for her thoughts on what the defense needed to do, veteran linebacker Jodi “Moose” Rehlander said “we need to stick to our assignments and trust the players who got us here.” Make no bones about it, this game is going to be much more than a game. It’s going to be the football equivalent of a twelve round heavyweight boxing fight. St. Louis is on their quest for a fourth Division II Championship. Despite not winning one before, the Vixen are looking to prove that they are a dominant force in women’s football. Saturday night, these two goliaths will clash and force of it will shake the very columns of Valhalla. It’s the playoffs, baby. Ain’t nothing bigger than that. If you cannot make it out to Saint Louis, please watch the game this Saturday at 7PM on Town Square Television or on MNVixen.com.