The Mineral Water Bowl is an annual American

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

between teams from the

Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level, which operates in the western Midwestern United States. Nine of its ...

and an at large opponent hosted in

Excelsior Springs, Missouri Excelsior Springs is a city in Clay County, Missouri, Clay and Ray County, Missouri, Ray counties in the U.S. state of Missouri and part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The population was 10,553 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

at Tiger Stadium.

History

From 1948 to 1951, the Mineral Water Bowl was a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

bowl game to showcase the

Excelsior Springs High School Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

team against another Missouri high school squad in the school's Thanksgiving contest. The

Missouri High School Athletic Association The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) is the governing body for high school activities throughout the state of Missouri. Approximately 580 high schools are members of MSHSAA. The MSHSAA conducts championship-level activi ...

never officially sanctioned the contest and forbade Excelsior Springs from playing in the game after 1950 (why Excelsior Springs was singled out while the association continued to sanction other Thanksgiving football games in the state such as the still active Kirkwood vs. Webster Groves was never explained), and after the 1951 contest featuring two different schools, the high school Mineral Water Bowl was no more. In 1954, the game was revived as a small-college game. As of 1957, it was one of 11

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

sanctioned bowl games. The bowl game continued until 1975, when declining interest led to the game being discontinued for a second time. In 1992 the bowl was revived, this time as a

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

bowl game. After 1999, the bowl was reclassified as an NCAA bowl game, this time for Division II. Representatives from the

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) is a List of NCAA conferences, college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the NCAA Division II, Division II level, headquartered ...

and

are chosen yearly for the game. The top-placing team in each conference not receiving a bid to the

NCAA Division II National Football Championship The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tourna ...

playoffs receives an invitation to compete. In 2009 the MIAA announced plans to also compete in the

Kanza Bowl The Kanza Bowl was an annual American NCAA Division II college football bowl game played between teams from the Lone Star Conference and the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association that is played the first Saturday of each December at t ...

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa language, Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the Capital (political), capital city of the U.S. state of Kansas and the County seat, seat of Shawnee County, Kansas, Shawnee County. It is along the Kansas River in the ...

against teams from the

Lone Star Conference The Lone Star Conference (LSC) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. Member institutions are located in the southwestern United States, with schools in Tex ...

. Due to financial difficulties and lack of finding a core sponsor, the Kanza Bowl was cancelled for the 2013 season.Kanza Bowl Cancelled 2013 season
Retrieved August 24, 2013 The

Live United Texarkana Bowl The Live United Texarkana Bowl, known under a naming rights agreement as the Fun Town RV Live United Bowl, is a college football bowl game played annually in Texarkana, Arkansas between teams from NCAA Division II. It is one of four NCAA Division ...

, the

Heritage Bowl The Heritage Bowl was a NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) bowl game held by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The bowl pitted a team from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) against a team from the Southw ...

, and the

C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl The C.H.A.M.P.S. Heart of Texas Bowl (known as the HOT Bowl for short) is the name for two annual American football bowl games played in Central Texas. The first and older of the two HOT Bowls, which has been played since 2001, features two comm ...

are the only other NCAA Division II bowl games at this time. The

Pioneer Bowl The Pioneer Bowl was the name of some December college football bowl games played in two different eras. Between 1971 and 1982, the game was contested 10 times in Texas as an NCAA College Division regional final, or as a playoff game for Divisio ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

was suspended following the 2012 game. The

Dixie Rotary Bowl The Dixie Rotary Bowl was a college bowl game initiated by the St. George, Utah Rotary Club and hosted at Greater Zion Stadium, the home field of Dixie State Junior College in St. George, Utah. From 1986 to 2005, the game was a junior college b ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

was suspended in 2009. Both th
2020
an
2021
editions of the Mineral Water Bowl were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

All-time scores

High school

Small college

Junior college

NCAA Division II

Appearances by team

This list is for appearances in the Mineral Water Bowl since the 2000 edition, when the bowl became a postseason

game.

References

External links

* {{NCAA Division II bowl game navbox College football bowls

Bowl A bowl is a typically round dish or container generally used for preparing, serving, or consuming food. The interior of a bowl is characteristically shaped like a spherical cap, with the edges and the bottom forming a seamless curve. This makes ...

Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association football American football in Missouri