Every team has a point in the season when it faces adversity. The American International College Yellow Jackets faced it head on a Friday night in September.

It is the fourth game of the season and Assumption is in town for another NE-10 match up. The Yellow Jackets are 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the league. They had combined for 110 points in the previous two games and seemed to be the clear favorite to win the game.

Assumption entered the game 1-2 after a tough loss at home in overtime to Stonehill in which they lead most the game. The Greyhounds stunned Bentley on the road the two weeks earlier and proved that they are capable of winning on the road.

The game was tied at seven at the half in a defensive struggle. The Yellow Jackets used two Maurice Easterling touchdown runs in the third quarter to take a 23-16 advantage going into the final 15 minutes.

Assumption rallied with 10 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to win the game 26-23. It was a major upset as Assumption was picked eighth in the league and now is upsetting the top ranked team in the league.

You would have figured that the coaching staff would have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what to do going forward. But head coach Art Wilkins knew that he was missing a key piece of his offense and he was going to return next week at Stonehill.

"We got our center back," Wilkins said.

Wilkins is taking about 6'3", 310 pound offensive lineman named George Grosz. He had missed the previous three games due to injury but his insertion back into the lineup was a major shot in the arm for the Yellow Jackets.

"Of all of the injuries that we had, we didn't have our center for the first three games," Wilkins said. "It was devastating. We slipped by but we never could really mature."

Grosz was coming off a season in which he was recognized as a first team all NE-10 selection as a sophomore. He had started all of the games in his first two years at AIC but now was in an unfamiliar position of cheering on his team from the sideline. He was used to opening up holes and protecting the quarterback.

He is part of the most dominate offensive line in the league. The next game at Stonehill showed how well they play together. They pushed the Stonehill defensive line all over the field and walked away with a 31-10 victory. They have not looked back since.

"He played the whole year injured," Wilkins said of Grosz. "He is the best lineman but couldn't play like it that. Once he came back, we kept building and building."

The Yellow Jackets won their final six regular season games in a row to make it to the NE-10 championship game. Since they defeated Stonehill in the earlier match up, they won the tie breaker and the right to host the championship game.

They defeated Stonehill again and had reason to celebrate on their home field. They were NE-10 champions and earned a right to play in the Division II playoffs for the second time in school history. They have outscored their opponents by a 238-110 margin in their seven game winning streak.

AIC hopes that their second playoff appearance will be one to remember. They struggled down the stretch in 2008 and dropped their only playoff game in school history. Now they are playing their best football at the right time of the season. They are hoping to extend their stay in the postseason.