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EWING, N.J. - The regular season comes to a close for the Christopher Newport University football squad Friday night, as the undefeated Captains travel to play the Lions of the College of New Jersey. Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m. at Lions Stadium.

Paul Crowley's squad is 9-0 and 6-0 atop the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC), and has already been assured of a share of the league title and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. The Captains are ranked seventh in the country in the weekly poll from D3football.com and eighth in the nation by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). It's the highest ranking in the 25-year history of the program, and the Captains have now matched the school's all-time mark of victories in a season that was set in 2004 when CNU finished 9-3 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

The Captains have won 14 straight games dating back to last season, and are coming off an exciting home victory over Salisbury University last Saturday night at TowneBank Stadium, 45-42. Junior quarterback Connor Barry threw for two scores and ran for a pair of touchdowns, and senior running back Gunner White scampered 28 yards for what proved to be the winning score with 6:22 remaining in the fourth quarter. The touchdown was the 49th in White's career, as he continued to add to his all-time school record. Barry completed 15-of-29 passes for 254 yards, and also rushed for a team high 65 yards.

Barry has now thrown for 32 scoring passes with just three interceptions on the season. He was named the Offensive Player of the Week in the NJAC for the third straight week, and the sixth time this season. Barry hit senior wide receiver Colin Hart five times for 111 yards, including a 36-yard scoring strike to open the second half. Hart's big night moved him past Rudy Rudolph for the all-time record in career receiving yards. Junior defensive end Connor Estrella recorded two sacks in the triumph over the Sea Gulls, giving him nine for the season, setting a new single season CNU record for sacks. The previous mark was 8.5, set by DeShaun Parker during the 2008 campaign. CNU's defense also produced a score last week, as junior lineman Charlie Clawson, Jr., recovered a Salisbury fumble and rumbled 21 yards for a second quarter score that put the Captains ahead for the first time in the game. Clawson was honored this week as the Defensive Player of the Week in the NJAC.

Christopher Newport has set a new school record this season for scoring, with 441 points through nine games (49.0 points per game). The previous record was set in 12 games during the 2014 season when CNU tallied 396 total points. Paul Crowley's squad is presently fifth in the country in scoring, and trail just North Central (57.6), Curry (50.6), Bethel (49.7), and St. John's (49.1) in average points per game. The Captains have scored at least 38 points in every game, and have gone over the 40-point mark in each of the last eight games after opening the year with a 38-7 victory over Trine. CNU's top point production this year came in a 69-7 road victory at Vermont State-Castleton on October 11th. The Captains have scored 61 touchdowns in nine games, an average of 6.8 per game. Last year, CNU scored 50 total touchdowns in ten games.

The Lions of the College of New Jersey are 6-3 overall, and 3-3 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. TCNJ lost at Montclair State last Saturday, 30-27, to fall to .500 in conference play. Tyler Moody's squad opened the year with three non-conference victories over Pennsylvania schools (Lycoming, Wilkes, and Juniata) and have since won over William Paterson, Kean, and Vermont State-Castleton while losing to Salisbury, Rowan and Montclair State. The meeting with the Lions will be the tenth all-time, and the Captains hold an 8-1 lead in the series. Christopher Newport won last year at TowneBank Stadium by a 70-31 score, and the Captains have won the last six games played. CNU is 4-0 all-time at Lions Stadium, and 4-1 vs. TCNJ in Newport News.

All Christopher Newport games are broadcast live on the Home of the Captains, Xtra 99.1 FM and CNUsports.com. The pre-game show Friday will begin at 5:30 p.m. Links are provided at the top of this story to the live video of the game, which will be produced by TCNJ, as well as the CNU Radio Broadcast, live stats, and the complete CNU game notes package.

The 40-team bracket for the NCAA Championship will be released on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. on NCAA.com.