Football Projected to Win Appalachian Division Again, Set to Take on Point Saturday

Special Thanks to MSC Sports Information

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Reinhardt (Ga.) is picked as the favorite to win the Mid-South Conference (MSC) Appalachian Division in the 2020-21 season according to the MSC Football Preseason Coaches' Polls, MSC officials announced on Friday.

The Eagles received 36 voting points, including six of the seven first-place votes from the coaches.

Reinhardt is coming off a 9-3 season in 2019, including winning the Appalachian Division with a 6-0 record. The Eagles -- who reached the NAIA Football Championship Series a season ago -- have won five MSC divisional titles.

St. Andrews (N.C.) finished second in the balloting with 31 voting points and the final first-place vote. Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own team in the poll.

Faulkner (Ala.) is third with 22 voting points followed by Point (Ga.) at fourth with 20 voting points.

Bluefield sits in fifth place in the preseason standings with 16 points while Kentucky Christian and Union (Ky.) is sixth and seventh with 15 and seven points, respectively.

The Appalachian Division's 2020 regular season, along with the NAIA Football Championship Series, was moved to this spring due to COVID-19 protocols.

A pair of games Appalachian Division are slated for Saturday, Feb. 6. Reinhardt travels to Point and Union travels to Bluefield. The remainder of the Appalachian Division schedule continues on Feb. 13.

"Super excited for us to have the opportunity to play," head coach James Miller said. "Tremendous sacrifices were made by players and coaches – their families – medical staffs, athletic directors and our athletic department in general for us to be able to go out and play on Saturday. We are very blessed and grateful for this opportunity and will do everything in our power to take full advantage of it. The first game is always tough because you don't really know what people have, all you're going off of is what they have on film from the year before… But, it's not about who we are playing, it's about how we play; we must take care of the football and limit mental mistakes, especially in special situations.

"I can't express how blessed and humbled we are to just be able to have this opportunity to go out and play a real football game. Our kids are excited, our coaches are excited and our universe is excited; I just really want to thank everybody involved – our head trainer Ashley Wolary, our head football trainer Matthew Warner, Bill Popp, Jeffrey Pourchier and Dr. Mark Roberts; just everyone involved that had made this opportunity possible."

Kickoff with the Skyhawks at their place is set for Saturday at Noon.

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