After posting a convincing 48-7 victory over Point University in the first game of the 2018 season, Stetson University head football coach Roger Hughes is looking for something that has not happened often in the program's return – consecutive wins.
 
The Hatters have managed to win consecutive games just three times in five seasons and have won more than two consecutive games just once. During each of the last two seasons the Hatters defeated Brown and Davidson in consecutive games and, in 2014, Stetson earned wins over Davidson, Campbell and Marist in consecutive outings.
 
That's it.
 
Stetson will go for consecutive wins to start a season for the first time on Saturday when the Hatters host Waldorf University (0-2), an NAIA program from Forest City, Iowa. The Warriors allowed 101 points in dropping games to Briar Cliff (40-13) and Dordt (61-40) to open the season.
 
Hughes said he and the coaches recognize that the Hatters have not been very good in the past coming off a win. They took steps this week to get over that hurdle.
 
"We have been a little harder on the team this week because we want to make sure the players understand that they haven't arrived just because they won last week," Hughes said. "Our practices on Wednesday and Thursday were much better than they were early in the week because that message started getting through."
 
The Hatters' objective is to see its all-time record against NAIA competition to 7-0. In the six wins Stetson owns over NAIA schools, the average score has been 41-12.5.
 
To keep that trend alive, the Hatters will have to slow a very good offense. The Warriors have averaged 444 yards in their first two games, with much of that coming from the passing game. Waldorf's offensive attack is led by junior quarterback Hilton "Bo" Joseph, a Miami native and one of 28 Florida products on the roster.
 
Joseph has completed 50 percent of his pass attempts through the first two games for 419 yards and five touchdowns. The backup quarterback, junior Edward Dominguez, has also completed 50 percent of his throws for 134 more yards and two more touchdowns.
 
The passers have a trio of top receivers – junior Sam Huntley, junior Don Jones and sophomore Ryan Martinez – who have been the targets of most of the passing game. That trio has 26 receptions for 375 yards and four touchdowns.
 
Hughes has also been impressed by freshman running back Bo Evans, who is averaging 27.5 yards on 11 kickoff returns.
 
Defensively, the Warriors are very young in the secondary, with seven of the eight players on their two-deep listed as freshmen. The result has been allowing 517.5 yards and 50.5 points per game so far this year.
 
The Hatters piled up 459 yards of offense last week despite being very basic in their offensive attack.
 
"We wanted to make sure going into the season that we had our base offense down," Hughes said. "Obviously there is more in the playbook than what we showed, but we wanted to make sure we were able to run the basics of the offense well because everything else comes off that."
 
Kickoff for the game on Saturday between the Hatters and Warriors is scheduled for 6 p.m. from Spec Martin Memorial Stadium. It will be Military Appreciation Day at the game with all Veterans as well as active duty military members receiving free admission. Veterans and active duty service members not in uniform must present a valid military ID or a veteran ID.
 
In addition to the salute to the military, the Stetson University Alumni Association is sponsoring free admission for all Stetson University students, with a valid Stetson ID.
 
There will be no ESPN TV coverage of the game this week, but fans unable to attend will be able to watch the game on Hatter Vision through GoHatters.com.
 

STETSON NOTEBOOK

• Stetson coach Roger Hughes and Waldorf coach Josh Littrell have something in common – both attended school at Doane College. Hughes is a Doane graduate as an undergrad while Littrell is working to complete his master's degree at the Crete, Nebraska, college. Littrell was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Doane from 2013-16.
• The Waldorf roster includes players from 15 states, including 28 players from the state of Florida. The Warriors' roster also includes players from Germany (5), Brazil and Poland.
• The game against Waldorf is the first of two games this year against teams from the state of Iowa. The Hatters are 0-3 against teams from Iowa, with all of those games against Drake. Stetson will travel to play the Bulldogs on October 13.
• The 48 points the Hatters scored were the second most in a game for Stetson since bringing football back in 2013. The Stetson single-game scoring record is 60, which came against Ave Maria in 2015.
• Stetson totaled 247 rushing yards in the game, which is 44.9 percent of the 2017 season rushing total for the Hatters.
• The Hatters connected on four field goals in the game, the most in a game for Stetson since the program came back.
• With five receptions in the game against Point, senior tight end Donald Parham became the first player in Stetson history with 100 career receptions. With 1,346 career receiving yards, Parham is now 285 yards from surpassing Kegan Moore for the Stetson career record.
• Redshirt freshman defensive end Bryson Richards will wear jersey number 37 this week in honor of Nick Blakely. Each week during the 2018 season, the Hatters' special teams player of the week will wear number 37 in the following week's game. Blakely, who passed away last August, was set to be a key contributor on special teams last season.
• One other new item made its debut in the win over Point last week was a turnover belt. Designed after championship belts made popular in professional wrestling, the belt is presented on the sideline to the player who forces any turnover. The Hatters forced a pair of turnovers on fumbles last week. Reggie Gantt forced and recovered one while Tarren Smith II forced the other, which Colby Duncan recovered.

 
About Stetson University Athletics: Stetson University's Athletics Program has a vision of developing a culture of champions athletically, academically and within the community. This vision is accomplished through a mission of recruiting and developing student-athletes, coaches and staff, creating a culture of champions, within and outside of competition. The department operates with five core values: Championship Culture, Integrity, Excellence, Pride/Tradition and Leadership. To learn more about the Vision, Mission and Core Values for Stetson Athletics, visit GoHatters.com and click on Mission Statement under the Inside Athletics tab.