WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Midwestern State opens the 2019 season against FCS Northwestern State Saturday night at Demon Stadium in Natchitoches, La. The Mustangs and Demons kick off at 6 p.m. This will be the Mustangs' first game played in the Pelican State.
 
SERIES HISTORY
This is the first meeting between Midwestern State and Northwestern State.
 
IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS
Midwestern State begins the 2019 season ranked 20th in the American Football Coaches' Association Preseason Poll. The Mustangs have carried an AFCA national ranking for each of the last 49 reporting periods dating back to the 2015 season. MSU Texas has carried a national ranking at some point in each of the last 13 seasons going back to 2006. The Mustangs are ranked 18th in the D2Football.com Poll.
 
SEASON OPENERS
Midwestern State is 30-12 all-time in season openers since becoming a four-year institution in 1946. The Mustangs have played two eras of football during that time including a run from 1946-56 before placing a moratorium on the program. The school brought back football in 1988. Since that time, the Mustangs are 21-10 in season openers including a 15-2 mark since Bill Maskill took over as head coach for the 2002 season. Midwestern has won their last five lid lifters.
 
LEGEND OF BILL MASKILL
Bill Maskill posted winning ledgers in each of his first 19 seasons as a collegiate head football coach. He enters the 2019 season as the eighth winningest active coach in NCAA Division II with an overall record of 150-57 (.725). His 150 wins ranks as the fifth most amongst active Division II coaches and is 23rd on the winningest all-time coaches' list amongst coaches with a minimum of 50 wins plus 10 years as a head coach at a D2 institution. Maskill has led the Mustangs to 17 consecutive winning campaigns while leading the program to eight NCAA Division II playoff qualifications and a bowl appearance. His 137 wins are not only tops in program coaching history, but represent 56 percent of the program's all-time win total.
 
THE SHINING STAR
Midwestern State boasts 18 more wins than any other Lone Star Conference member since the start of the 2000 season. The Mustangs have averaged nearly eight wins a season since the start of the millennium which includes four 10-win campaigns. MSU Texas managed at least eight wins in 11 seasons since the start of the 2000 season which leads all league members. The Mustangs are trailed by West Texas A&M (8), Texas A&M-Kingsville (7), Tarleton State (7), Texas A&M-Commerce (5), Angelo State (3) and Eastern New Mexico (2).
 

Team	Record	Pct.
Midwestern State	151-57	.726
Tarleton State	133-78	.630
West Texas A&M	129-94	.578
Texas A&M-Kingsville	106-99	.517
Texas A&M-Commerce	107-104	.507
Angelo State	95-111	.461
Eastern New Mexico*	85-105	.447
*ENMU vacated 15 wins from 2008-12
Through 2018 season.

 
GOING FOR 20
Midwestern State is in search of its 20th consecutive winning season in 2019. The Mustangs are one of just two Texas four-year football playing institutions actively sporting 19 straight winning seasons. And they are the only scholarship-granting program in the State of Texas with a current string of 19 consecutive winning seasons. Other current consecutive winning season streaks in the LSC: Texas A&M-Commerce (6), Tarleton State (1) and West Texas A&M (1).
 
AGAINST FCS OPPONENTS
Midwestern State takes on a member of the Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) for the sixth time since the start of the 1999 season. It's the first time the Mustangs face a member of a higher NCAA division since taking on Sam Houston State in 2003. It is the third season opener for the Mustangs against an FCS foe with the first two coming at Texas State in 1999 and 2000. MSU Texas lost each of its previous five meetings against FCS opponents:
 

Date	Opponent	Score
9/2/99	Texas State	L, 45-3
8/31/00	Texas State	L, 34-`3
9/8/01	Missouri State	L, 28-6
9/7/02	Sam Houston State	L, 26-23
9/6/03	Sam Houston State	L, 30-9

AGAINST THE SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE
Midwestern State takes on a member of the Southland Conference for the fifth time in program history Saturday night at Demon Stadium. The Mustangs have lost twice to Texas State (1999, 2000) and Sam Houston State (2002, 2003). Texas State has since departed for the Sun Belt Conference. Northwestern State will be the fifth current member of the Southland Conference to appear on MSU Texas' schedule. The Mustangs battled former Lone Star Conference members Abilene Christian and Incarnate Word as fellow league members. The only other meeting came against Lamar back in 1946.
 

Program	Record	Last Played
Abilene Christian	7-19-2	2012
Incarnate Word	4-0	2012
Lamar	0-1	1946
Northwestern State	First meeting	---
Sam Houston State	2-2	2003

 
COACHING MOVES
- Alex Herron earned a promotion to Offensive Coordinator after serving the last six seasons as offensive line coach and running game coordinator. He retains his duties as offensive line coach.
- Ashton Aikens takes over as wide receiver coach after serving in the same capacity the past two years at Western Michigan. The former Northwestern wide receiver also served graduate assistantships at Trinity International and Northwestern before landing an assistant coaches role at Southern Illinois (2014-16).
- Skyler Mornhinweg begins his full-time coaching career mentoring quarterbacks at Midwestern State. He does so for the same coach -- Bill Maskill -- who gave his father his first full-time job. His father -- Marty Mornhinweg -- spent the last 25 years as an NFL coach including as head coach of the Detroit Lions (2001-02), while serving as an offensive coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers (1997-00), Philadelphia Eagles (2006-12), New York Jets (2013-14) and Baltimore Ravens (2016-18). Skyler Mornhinweg served as a graduate assistant for running backs at Ohio State last season following his collegiate playing career as a quarterback at the University of Florida and Columbia.
- Nick Sanchez takes over defensive back coaching duties at MSU Texas after serving the same role last season at Western Michigan. The former four-year standout cornerback at Stanford also gained valuable experience as associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Ave Maria (Fla.) (2012-15) and advanced to assistant defensive coordinator duties at UAlbany (2016-17).
 
CAPTAINS
Senior lineman Austan Davis and junior quarterback Zach Purcell are the offensive captains this season, while senior cornerbacks DaMarcus Wilson and Jaydon Cunigan are the defensive leaders.
 
2019 OFFENSIVE PROSPECTUS
- MSU Texas returns 19 letter winners and five starters off of the seventh-best attack in NCAA Division II.
- The Mustangs ranked seventh in NCAA Division II piling up 507.1 yards per game including 180.5 rushing yards per game (3rd in LSC/48th in D2) and 326.6 passing yards a contest (1st in LSC/4th in D2).
- Junior wide receiver Juwan Johnson (1,215 receiving yards) is the lone returner from the first trio in Midwestern State offense in program history to produce a 3,000-yard passer -- Layton Rabb (3,114 yards), a 1,000-yard rusher -- Vincent Johnson (1,037 yards) and a 1,000-yard receiver.
- Juwan Johnson returns as the 2018 Lone Star Conference Receiver of the Year. He earned Hansen Football Gazette third-team All-America honors and was a first-team D2CCA All-Super Region Four selection.
- Johnson set school single season record for receiving yards on 67 receptions with nine touchdowns. He posted at least 100 receiving yards in seven consecutive games and had at least 90 yards in each game.
- The Mustangs return their top five receiving options including senior Xavier Land (57 rec., 728 yards), senior Tyrique Edwards (19 rec., 149 yards) as well as sophomores Kylan Harrison (17 rec., 292 yards) and Anthony Tennison (13 rec., 251 yards).
- Junior quarterback Zach Purcell takes over the reins of the offense after completing 16-of-23 passes for 144 yards and two touchdowns over four games last season.
- Senior Quinton Childs made the move from wide receiver to running back in the spring. He had two carries for 15 yards last season and caught 10 passes for 117 yards last season.
- Sophomore Justin Jones is the only returner at running back to receive carries in 2018. He ran for 67 yards on nine carries with a touchdown.
- Seniors Austan Davis (left tackle) and junior Caleb Brown (right tackle) are the returning starters on the offensive line.
 
2019 DEFENSIVE PROSPECTUS
- MSU Texas returns 20 letter winners and three starters off of the No. 6 defense in the Lone Star Conference.
- The Mustangs ranked 112th in NCAA Division II yielding 398.1 yards per game including 190.1 rushing yards per game (6th in LSC/123rd in D2) and 208.0 passing yards a contest (6th in LSC/83rd in D2).
- Senior cornerbacks DaMarcus Wilson and Jaydon Cunigan are the two returning All-Lone Star Conference performers. The duo also represents the top two returning tacklers for the Mustangs.
- Wilson earned second-team All-LSC honors finishing the campaign with 47 tackles including two interceptions and six pass breakups. He also forced and recovered a fumble.
- Cunigan was honorable mention all-conference finished with 48 tackles manning the other cornerback spot for the Mustangs. He made three interceptions and broke up three other passes. He also forced a fumble and blocked a kick.
- Senior Tristan Shearman played in 10 games and made eight starts at linebacker finishing with 44 tackles. He recorded two pass breakups and two quarterback hurries.
- Senior defensive tackle Zach Edwards is the other returning starter making eight starts with 26 tackles including 5.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks.
- Sophomore defensive tackle A'quan Randolph and senior linebacker Rigoberto Carrillo had two sacks each in 2018.
- Sophomore linebacker Mason Montoya enjoyed a solid opening campaign with 44 tackles and three pass breakups.
- Senior Marcus Wilkerson brings three years of experience making 42 tackles from his safety position in 2018.
 
2019 SPECIAL TEAMS PROSPECTUS
- Senior place kicker Jaron Imbriani and sophomore punter Dylan Spears are the returning specialists for Midwestern State.
- MSU coverage teams fared well in 2018 as the Mustangs ranked fourth in the LSC and 59th in D2 kickoff return defense (19.30 yards per return) and topped the LSC and third in NCAA D2 giving up 1.13 yards per punt return.
- Imbriani recorded touchbacks on 24 of 52 kickoffs (46.2 percent) for a 54.9-yard average handling primary kickoff duties in 2018.
- Spears averaged 35.8 yards on 37 punts placing 15 inside the 20-yard line (40.5 percent). He produced a long of 57 yards forcing 13 fair catches and had four touchbacks.
- Junior Juwan Johnson gives the Mustangs a quality return specialist averaging 12.1 yards on 11 punt returns and 23.5 yards on eight kick returns.
 
UP NEXT
Midwestern State takes on Lindenwood on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Hunter Stadium in ST. Charles, Mo. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.