The UW-Platteville football team has added two strong Iowa schools to its present and future schedules, Pioneer Coach Mike Emendorfer announced.
The Pioneers will face St. Ambrose in 2007 and 2008 and begin a four-year series with Buena Vista in 2008.
UWP starts the upcoming season with St. Ambrose on Sept. 8 at 1 p.m. in Ralph E. Davis Pioneer Stadium. The Pioneers will play in Davenport the following year. The Fighting Bees were 10-0 in the regular season and dropped a 38-31 double-overtime loss to Morningside in the first round of the 2006 NAIA playoffs.
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| The Pioneers open 2007 with a new foe. |
"By adding St. Ambrose to the schedule, we've added another top-notch team that went 10-1 last year and competed in the NAIA playoffs," Emendorfer said. "They have a strong tradition. It's not only going to be competitive in the fall, but we also run across them numerous times in recruiting. It will be a competition 12 months of the year."
Buena Vista, located in Storm Lake, was 4-6 last season and played three overtime games. The Pioneers will make the trip to northwestern Iowa in 2008 and 2010, with the Beavers coming to Platteville in 2009 and 2011.
"Buena Vista is in one of the top conferences in the country," Emendorfer said. "After we lost the University of Dubuque from the schedule, we wanted to find someone from the Iowa Conference who will continue playing us. We're happy they extended the contract for four years. It allows us to focus on other things rather than worrying about scheduling every year."
The Pioneers will face NCAA I Drake for the last time in 2007 and continue their series with Augustana, Ill. through at least 2009.
"With St. Ambrose, Buena Vista and Augustana on future schedules, we have three strong teams that will prepare us well for our conference season," Emendorfer said.
The Pioneers begin spring practices Sunday, April 1. UWP returns 37 lettermen and 16 starters from last year's 5-5 club.
"Our players have had an exceptional off-season training program," Emendorfer said. "We're bigger, faster and stronger at this point than we have ever been in our eight years here. There is tremendous excitement among our team, especially with all the seniors we have on the team. We also have some young players who were freshmen last fall eager to get out and continue to learn. With these practices with no pads, it's a chance to get back out and work on our fundamentals."
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