The last domino has fallen. Williams College football players will be able to join their classmates in playing for an NCAA championship. "It's just pure happiness and excitement, knowing that everything we've done in the past couple of months," Williams defensive back Justice McGrail said, "from meeting with the A.D.s at our schools, have paid off. We all wish we had a little more eligibility, but that's about it." Friday afternoon, the New England Small College Athletic Conference presidents approved a proposal from the conference's athletic directors to allow NESCAC football teams to compete in the NCAA Division III football championship. The vote stipulates that the conference won't be able to compete until the 2026 season. The conference gets one of 29 automatic bids to the 40-team tournament. Should a second NESCAC team have a high enough rating, it would be eligible for one of 11 at-large, or Pool C bids. The decision by the NESCAC presidents follows in short order a vote by the presidents of the Ivy League schools to allow their football teams to participate in the NCAA Division I-FCS tournament. The Ivy League and NESCAC were the only two football-playing conferences that had not been playing in their respective tournaments. "The conference has had positive experiences participating in postseason play," NESCAC Executive Director Andrea Savage said in a statement, "and we are pleased that football teams will have the opportunity to participate in the NCAA Championships and share in this experience as well." McGrail is Williams' representative on the NESCAC Football Players Association, of which one player per team is a member of. Ten of the 11 schools in NESCAC play football. The rising senior defensive back, who was reached by The Eagle in Rome, where he is studying in the spring semester, said he and the NESCAC FBPA were particularly please by this being a bottom-up, rather than a top-down decision. "We had to get it the hard way, and we got it done," he said. "It's a great feeling knowing we actually played a part in something bigger than ourselves." Vaughn Seelicke, a rising senior kicker at Tufts, was the chair of the association, and like McGrail, was thrilled with the outcome. "I think there were definitely some points along the way where we were worried that our actions wouldn't be felt," Seelicke said. "We're extremely excited that everything we did worked." NESCAC schools have gradually been participating in NCAA Division III tournaments since 1993. The first NESCAC teams to win team national titles came in 1995. The Middlebury men's hockey team won the national title that winter. Then in the fall, Mike Russo's Williams men claimed the men's soccer championship. "For the schools in the NESCAC, this is a really transformative thing for the football programs and competing on a national stage," Seelicke continued. "I think that playoffs are obviously the epitome of what everyone wants. Everyone wants to compete at the highest level. That's what we came to college to do. Obviously, in the future, that opportunity can be undertaken." This is the second major decision by the NESCAC presidents in the last decade. In 2017, the presidents voted to allow the football teams to play a nine-game schedule. It had been an eight-game schedule before that. And in 1999, the presidents approved the establishment of NESCAC becoming a playing conference with league championships. That started in the fall of 2000. "Obviously, with our A.D., she was a big supporter," Williams football coach Mark Raymond said. "Lisa [Melendy] was really very supportive of it, and I think the rest of them were. The players made a great case to the presidents and got it done. "I'm not surprised when things get some legs." NESCAC will continue to play a nine-game, regular-season schedule. The team that finishes atop the standings, after any tiebreakers are applied, will earn the automatic berth to the tournament. Raymond will begin his 10th season at Williams this fall. He came to Williamstown from St. Lawrence, where he guided the Saints to the 2016 NCAA Division III Tournament. That year, the Saints lost to Mount Union 55-23. The Eph coach has experience coaching against some of the top teams in the Northeast and elsewhere, and said he thought a NESCAC champion could do well in the D-III tournament. "It could be very competitive," he said. "Obviously, it would be who and where you draw, what your draw is in the tournament. When you go into the season, you know there are some teams you know are right in the mix. We opened up with Mount Union one year. That's a tall task. "I think the NESCAC champion can compete with anybody."