GLVC Football Weekly Release - Sept. 1, 2015
GLVC Prepares to Kick Off Fourth Season
The Great Lakes Valley Conference is set to kick off its fourth football season with defending league champion Indianapolis looking for its fourth-straight title. The Greyhounds swept the league slate in 2012 and 2013, and nearly put forth an undefeated conference campaign in 2014, but were dealt a 27-24 loss to William Jewell in the season finale. UIndy finished the year 9-2 overall and 7-1 in conference play, two games ahead of a four-way tie for second place. Saint Joseph’s (8-3), Truman State (6-4), McKendree (5-6) and William Jewell (5-6), who all finished with identical 5-3 marks in league action.
The 2015 season opens Thursday, Sept. 3, with two GLVC teams hosting non-conference opponents while another two hit the road. Missouri S&T welcomes Chadron State, and UIndy will bring in Saginaw Valley State to play on brand new synthetic turf at Key Stadium. Saint Joseph’s and Southwest Baptist both hit the road to start their seasons at Edinboro (PA) and Grand Valley State, respectively. On Saturday, McKendree welcomes College of Faith, while Lincoln heads to Langston, William Jewell opens at Drake, and Truman State travels to Midwestern (Texas) State. Quincy is the lone GLVC team idle on the opening weekend.
GLVC’s Top Players Return to Gridiron in 2015
Three of the four major postseason honorees return to the gridiron this year, as well as 16 of the 36 standouts, who received first-team All-GLVC recognition last year. Indianapolis senior wide receiver Reece Horn is the reigning GLVC Offensive Player of the Year, McKendree junior lineman Lucky Baar earned the league’s Defensive Player of the Year honor, and Quincy sophomore running back Chris Harris is back to build on a successful rookie campaign in which he was named the unanimous Freshman of the Year. Other top returnees include two-time first-team All-GLVC selections Indianapolis senior defensive lineman Lee Campbell and Saint Joseph’s senior running back Braxton Shelton, who rushed for 1,280 yards to lead the conference last year. First-team All-GLVC recipient Nathan Mourik of Southwest Baptist was one of the nation’s top receiving targets in 2014, ranking third in NCAA Division II in both receiving yards (1,398) and receiving yards per game (127.1), and eighth nationally in receiving touchdowns (8).
Three New Faces to Pace GLVC Sidelines
Saint Joseph’s College’s Daniel Day, Southwest Baptist’s Robert Clardy, and William Jewell College’s Shawn Weigel will lead their respective programs as head coach in 2015, as all three men were promoted from within in the offseason. Day joined the Pumas as the offensive line coach prior to the 2011 season and was promoted to the head position last December following Cory Sanders’ departure. Clardy, who spent eight seasons on the Bearcats’ coaching staff, was recently promoted to the interim position after the resignation of Craig Schuler. Weigel took the reins of the William Jewell program in January after the departure of Jerod Kruse, the 2014 GLVC Coach of the Year. He served as assistant head coach under Kruse for nine years.