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in FCS playoffs
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Derek Hardman
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Former Raider Derek Hardman and his Eastern Kentucky University Colonels kick off the FCS (formerly Division I-AA) playoffs this weekend in Virginia against the Richmond Spiders.
Hardman is a starting offensive lineman for the Colonels, who beat Tennessee Tech 38-24 last week to complete a 9-2 regular season. More importantly, EKU finished a perfect 8-0 to win the Ohio Valley Conference championship and an automatic berth into the 16-team playoff field.
The game — Saturday at 6 p.m. at 22,000-seat University of Richmond Stadium — will mark the first postseason appearance for EKU in 11 years. Despite the recent drought, the Colonels will be making a record-tying 18th trip to the playoffs. They won I-AA titles in 1979 and 1982.
Richmond has won six straight games and will also bring a 9-2 record into the matchup. The Spiders were co-champs of the Colonial Athletic Association along with Massachusetts. Richmond defeated all four of the ranked opponents it faced this season and was No. 7 in the last FCS poll.
EKU was 12th in the last poll and enters the postseason on an eight-game winning streak. The only two losses for the Colonels were to FBS (formerly Division I) foes Kentucky and Western Kentucky.
Hardman, a 6-6, 282-pound sophomore, is in his second year as a starter. If his team wins Saturday, it would advance to a quarterfinal game with the winner of the Wofford-Montana first round game. That figures to be No. 3 Montana, which would play host to the Colonels.
Hardman is a 2004 graduate of RCHS. He is the son of Raider football coach Tom Hardman and his wife, Jane.
Published November 22, 2007
