The Championship Subdivision News Log

ST. LOUIS - After a four year relationship between the Pioneer Football League and Northeast Conference, the Gridiron Classic will cease to exist according to information provided to College Sporting News writer Jason Plotkin.

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Staten Island, NY – The Wagner College football team has been picked to win the Northeast Conference by The Sporting News Preseason Football Magazine. In addition, quarterback Nick Doscher has been tabbed by the magazine as the league’s top offensive player.

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UAlbany stands as the unanimous favorite to capture the 2009 Northeast Conference football crown, which would be its third straight. The Great Danes received eight first-place votes to finish atop an annual survey of league’s head coaches for a fourth consecutive season. Monmouth, the 2008 NEC runner-up, garnered the lone remaining first-place nod to finish second in the preseason poll, the results of which were announced during a media teleconference Tuesday morning. The Conference also unveiled its Preseason All-NEC Team during the media session, which served as a prelude to the NEC’s 14th season on the gridiron.

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Set to commence its 14th football season, the Northeast Conference (NEC) today announced plans to televise four games in 2009.

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Back-to-back road games to open the season and a full slate of Northeast Conference games highlight the 2009 Robert Morris University football schedule. Under the direction of 16th-year head coach Joe Walton, the Colonials will play 11 games as part of their regular season in 2009.

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Four athletic administrators from the Northeast Conference (NEC) have been appointed to various positions within the NCAA governance structure. Central Connecticut State Director of Athletics C.J. Jones was reappointed to the Division I Football Championship Committee.

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Robert Morris University head football Joe Walton announced changes and additions to his coaching staff for the 2009 season Tuesday, as assistant coach Scott Benzel has been promoted to co-defensive coordinator, former graduate assistant coach Andrew Richardson has been promoted to a full-time assistant coach and Bill Hurley has joined the staff as an assistant.

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Robert Morris junior linebacker Adam Lawrence (Big Run, PA/Dubois Area) is the recipient of the NEC scholar-athlete award in football.

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This was not the end-of-the-season script that Dave Opfar envisioned when the football season started in August.

Opfar’s St. Francis University Red Flash have been devastated by injuries and enter today’s battle with Northeast Conference rival Robert Morris (4-6, 3-3 NEC) just hoping to pull out a win at DeGol Field.

The Red Flash are 0-9 and will finish with the worst won-loss record in Opfar’s seven years at St. Francis. Many of his players competed in high school against players now at Robert Morris, and that elevates the level of intensity for the game.

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With one senior on the starting defense and three on offense, the future looks bright for Robert Morris, which has experienced tough times in recent years.

The young Colonials (4-5, 3-2 Northeast Conference) seem to be on the upswing after an impressive 27-14 victory against Central Connecticut at Robert Morris’ Moon Township campus yesterday. It was Robert Morris’ third consecutive NEC victory after a 1-4 start.

“We’re starting to recruit a little better kid the last couple of years and a lot of them are playing,” said Robert Morris coach Joe Walton, whose program appeared headed for a third losing season in four years after a heartbreaking, 31-28 loss at Sacred Heart Oct. 4.

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NEW BRITAIN — When the Central Connecticut State football team gathered for practice on Tuesday, the ingredients were in place for a flat day. The Blue Devils were coming off a loss at Monmouth that crippled their hopes of winning the Northeast Conference. The injury bug had bitten Central. Worse yet, the weather was unforgiving. Its hard enough to get ready for a football practice in nice weather. It’s much tougher in the cold rain that fell on Tuesday.

Head coach Jeff McInerney, by his own admission, entered that practice feeling down. By the end of the week, his spirits were lifted and he was back to being his usual jovial self.

The Blue Devils were anything but flat.

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MOON TWP. — Two years ago, Myles Russ was a tiny scatback from Florida, running away from defenses and piling up yardage as the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s 6A Player of the Year. His small stature kept the major schools away, so he found his way to Robert Morris and split time with Raphael Johnson as a freshman.

But even he couldn’t have envisioned this.

Russ set a school record with 37 carries — for 246 yards and two touchdowns — as Robert Morris knocked off Duquesne 34-27 in a Northeast Conference game played in front of 3,942 at Joe Walton Stadium.

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FAIRFIELD – Sacred Heart University celebrated Homecoming on Saturday afternoon, and the campus was in a festive mood.

SHU’s football team contributed to the jovial atmosphere.

The Pioneers defeated Robert Morris 31-28 before a lively crowd of 3,019 at Campus Field. SHU is 5-0 for the first time since 2001, when it finished at 11-0 and won the NEC championship.

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MOON TWP. — What should have been a victory by Robert Morris ended up a crushing defeat.

The Colonials had the game-winning touchdown called back because of an illegal shift penalty and the game-tying field goal blocked — all within the span of 15 seconds — as they lost 17-14 to Bucknell at Joe Walton Stadium.

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MOON TWP. — The payoff for the Northeast Conference is that its champion will get an automatic berth into the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs beginning in 2010.

The price the NEC is paying for getting that guaranteed bid is giving a limited number of scholarships and playing a more difficult non-conference schedule.

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First, it was Duquesne. Now, Bucknell will face its second consecutive Pittsburgh school to open the college football season with a trip today to Robert Morris.

The Colonials will be meeting the Bison at Joe Walton Stadium for the first time. Both teams are 1-0 following home victories this past weekend.

“Hopefully, the confidence our guys built against Morehead State carries over this week,” Robert Morris coach Joe Walton said.

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Springdale graduate Mike Landers butted heads a couple of times with Ian Milanak of Apollo-Ridge in high school football.

Now, along with Ford City’s Mark Szymanski, they have joined forces to put a shoulder into opposing offenses.

The local trio takes pride that they give area football a strong presence at a single Division I-FCS school. The juniors are defensive starters for Robert Morris, which is 1-0 after beating Morehead State, 27-13, last weekend.

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That Robert Morris led Morehead State by 13 points as halftime approached was a comforting thought to the Colonials in their college football opener Saturday at Joe Walton Stadium.

Getting an another touchdown with 29 seconds left in the first half was an unexpected bonus.

Senior quarterback Erik Cwalinski passed for 225 yards, including a 31-yard scoring strike to senior Sherrod Evers just before intermission, and the Colonials offered a balanced mix of running and passing throughout to outclass Morehead State, 27-13.

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It appears that Duquesne will have to earn its respect on the football field this fall in its inaugural season in the Northeast Conference.

Despite winning or sharing 11 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships in the past 14 seasons, the Dukes were picked to finish fifth in the eight-team NEC in a preseason vote of the league coaches. Robert Morris was sixth and Saint Francis, Pa., eighth. Defending champion Albany was chosen to repeat.

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