Augie Game 1 Football NotesTHIS WEEK: The Augustana College football team kicks off the 2004 season Saturday night with a home non-conference game against Concordia University-St. Paul. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Howard Wood Field in Sioux Falls.
TICKETS: Ticket prices for Saturday’s game are as follows: Adults - $10; Children in grades K-12 - $5. Augustana College students, faculty and staff are admitted free with their campus ID. Augustana booster club passes are also honored. Tickets for the game are sold only at the gate beginning one hour before kickoff.
RADIO: All Viking football games can be heard on KXRB Radio (AM-1000). The game can also be heard on the internet at: www.kxrb.com. Veteran broadcaster Jeff Fylling will call all of the action, while John Schultz, a former All-NCC quarterback with the Vikings, provides color commentary. The broadcast begins with a pre-game show 30 minutes prior to kickoff.
THE SERIES: Saturday will be the first time Augustana and Concordia-St. Paul have met on the football field. A longtime NAIA school, Concordia-St. Paul made the jump to NCAA Division II and the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference in 1999.
FACING THE NORTHERN SUN: Augustana plays four Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference opponents to open the 2004 season. After Concordia-St. Paul, the Vikings entertain Northern State on Sept. 4, before traveling to Southwest Minnesota State on Sept. 11 and Minnesota-Crookston on Sept. 18.
AUGUSTANA SPORTSSCENE: Augustana Sportsscene makes its debut this season on UPN cable channel 10 in Sioux Falls. The 30-minute weekly television show airs from Noon-12:30 p.m. on Saturdays. The first show airs on September 11 and will run for 25 consecutive weeks through February 26, 2005.
Augustana Sportsscene will be hosted by Viking director of athletics Bill Gross. The show will include Viking highlights, interviews with various coaches and student-athletes and promotion of upcoming Augustana athletic events.
Augustana Head Coach Jim HeinitzJim Heinitz is in his 17th season as the Augustana Vikings' head football coach in 2004. He is the longest-serving head coach in Augustana's history, surpassing the legendary "Lefty" Olson in 2002. In addition, in 2003 he became the school’s all-time winningest coach, again surpassing Olson. Heinitz’s career record stands at 79-94-1.
Heinitz was named the Vikings’ head coach late in 1984 and served for eight years. He resigned after the 1992 season to enter private business and then returned to Augustana in December of 1995 to resume his career.
Coach Heinitz came to Augustana in 1982 as the offensive line coach. He was named head coach in November of 1984 and after patiently reconstructing the program, led the Vikings to consecutive NCAA Division II play-off appearances in 1988 and 1989.
Heinitz was named the North Central Conference Coach of the Year in 1988 and again in 1992. He was also selected as the Kodak College Coach of the Year in Region Four in those same years. The South Dakota Sportswriters Association named him Men's College Coach of the Year in 1988 and 1992.
A 1972 graduate of South Dakota State University, Heinitz was an All-North Central Conference linebacker for the Jackrabbits. He has previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Sioux Falls, Sioux Falls Washington High School, Sioux Falls Lincoln High School and was head football coach at Rapid City Stevens High School prior to joining the Augustana staff.
HOWARD WOOD FIELD: Howard Wood Field is the home for Augustana football. The off campus facility is located at the corner of Elmwood Ave. and Russell St. To get to Howard Wood Field from I-29, take the Russell Street Exit (Exit 81). Go east on Russell Street one mile to get to the stadium.
During the summer of 2003, a new artificial turf called Field Turf was installed at Howard Wood Field, making it the first outdoor stadium in South Dakota to have this type of artificial surface. Field Turf has a life expectancy of 10-14 years. Other teams that play their home games on Field Turf include the University of Nebraska, the University of Michigan, the Atlanta Falcons and the Seattle Seahawks.
2004 SENIORS: The Vikings have only 8 seniors on the roster for the 2004 season. The list includes Ryan DeGraff (QB), Gabe Garcia (DL), Rob Hutchinson (SS), Eric Rice (WR), Brett Scherschligt (LB), Ian Stark (OL), Mike Stotz (FS) and Allen Ware (DB).
TEAM CAPTAINS: The Vikings have tri-captains in 2004. They are senior quarterback Ryan DeGraff, senior linebacker Brett Scherschligt and senior safety Mike Stotz.
BROTHERLY LOVE: The Viking roster has two sets of brothers:
Daren Randall (R-Fr., DB) and Dustin Randall (R-Fr., DB)
Eric Rice (Sr., WR) and Dustin Rice (R-Fr., DB)
ABOUT THE VIKINGS: Augustana returns a young but talented nucleus for the 2004 season. Of the 91 players, only 22 are either seniors or juniors. The Vikings return 36 letterwinners and 13 starters from last year’s 3-8 team.
Offensively, the Vikings return five starters, but only one offensive lineman. Leading the way will be a trio of seniors - quarterback Ryan DeGraff, wide receiver Eric Rice and tackle Ian Stark. Last year, DeGraff passed for 2,179 yards and 11 touchdowns. Rice was one of his favorite targets, hauling in 63 catches for 719 yards and three scores. Stark, meanwhile, was an anchor on the line, starting all 11 games at left tackle.
The other returning starters are sophomore wide receiver Ryan Rothenberger and sophomore tight end Eric Simons. Rothenberger caught 16 passes for 165 yards and one touchdown in 2003, while Simons had 11 receptions for 87 yards.
The offense also receives a spark with the return of sophomore quarterback Tommy Flyger. Flyger redshirted last season after being called into emergency duty in 2002. After DeGraff went down with a season-ending injury, Flyger stepped in and started five games for the Vikings before suffering a season-ending injury of his own. DeGraff and Flyger figure to split time.
The running game suffered a blow when junior Ryan Corcoran, the team’s top returning rusher, was injured during spring practices. His availability for the 2004 season is unknown. Expected to fill in is sophomore Josh Fulton, who rushed for 157 yards in 2003.
Joining Stark on the offensive line will be junior tackle Steve Thul, junior center Chris Driving Hawk, junior guard Kyle Kayser and sophomore guard Ryan Van Regenmorter.
Defensively, the Vikings return eight starters but must replace two of the NCC’s best in defensive end Austin Flyger, the 2003 NCC Most Valuable Defensive Lineman, and All-NCC strong safety Ben Nauman, who signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Vikings.
Leading the defense is senior middle linebacker Brett Scherschligt, who recorded a team-high 84 tackles in 2004. Joining him at linebacker is junior Lucas Smith, who had 34 tackles a year ago. Projected to start at the third linebacker spot is sophomore Chris Buckley.
Senior free safety Mike Stotz returns to lead a secondary that returns three of four starters. Also back are junior cornerbacks Drew Hilgenberg and Yohance Christie. Senior Rob Hutchinson takes over at strong safety.
Despite the loss of Austin Flyger, the defensive line should also be strong with three returning starters. Holding down the front line will be senior Gabe Garcia and sophomores Craig Bosch and Ryan Aker. Sophomore Matt Muller is expected to start at the other defensive end position.
Freshmen will handle the kicking duties. Andy Olson appears to be the favorite to be the placekicker, replacing career field goals leader Adam Brinkman. Freshmen Joe Nordin and Tom Hill are battling for the punting job.
GOLDEN BEAR HEAD COACH MARK MAUER: Mark Mauer (Nebraska, 1981) is in his first season at Concordia-St. Paul. The former Nebraska quarterback came to Concordia-St. Paul after spending the past three seasons as the wide receivers coach at New Mexico State. Prior to that he was the assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at North Dakota State from 1996-99.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN BEARS: Concordia-St. Paul returns 13 starters and 25 letterwinners from last year’s team that went 8-4 and won a share of the NSIC title. The Golden Bears lost to Missouri Western 24-14 in the Mineral Water Bowl to conclude the 2003 season.
The Golden Bears will lean heavily on junior quarterback James McNear. Last season McNear generated a potent offense that averaged 466.5 yards per game and 33.2 points per contest. McNear passed for 2,778 yards and 16 touchdowns, while rushing for 495 yards and eight scores.
Defensively, Concordia-St. Paul returns three of its top four tacklers. Senior linebacker Brian Doyle led the team with 101 tackles, while senior free safety Jeremy Axel was fourth with 57 stops.
Concordia-St. Paul was picked to finish third in the NSIC preseason coaches’ poll. Winona State, who tied Concordia-St. Paul for the league title in 2003, was picked to win the NSIC, while Northern State was picked to finish second, just ahead of the Golden Bears.
NON-CONFERENCE SUCCESS: Augustana has had a lot of success in non-conference games dating back to the 1996 season. The Vikings are 16-2 in their last 18 non-conference encounters. Augie had won 14 straight non-conference games before falling to Northern State 24-21 last season. The Vikings went 2-2 in non-conference games in 2003. Following the NSU loss, Augustana defeated Southwest Minnesota State and Wisconsin-Stout. The Vikings ended the season with a loss to I-AA Northern Colorado.
Prior to the Northern State loss, Augustana’s last non-conference setback was a 12-8 loss to Central Missouri State to open the 1996 season.
OH SO CLOSE: The Vikings had their share of close games in 2003. Three of Augie’s losses were by a combined 10 points. The three defeats were a three-point loss at Northern State (24-21), a four-point setback to South Dakota (31-27) and a three-point loss to St. Cloud State (20-17). All three of those games were decided in the final 30 seconds. A fourth loss was a 13-3 setback at North Dakota in a game that was 6-3 in the fourth quarter. Another loss was a 28-14 defeat to Nebraska-Omaha. Augustana trailed 21-14 and was driving for a possible tying score with under 5 minutes to play.
SLINGIN’ SOUTHPAW: Junior quarterback Ryan DeGraff, who suffered a season-ending broken leg against Northern State in the first game of the 2002 season, rebounded very well in 2003. He completed 214 of 374 passes for 2,179 yards and 11 touchdowns, with 8 interceptions. He was sixth in the NCC in total offense (206.6 ypg) and seventh in passing offense (194.6 ypg).
He enjoyed his best day in a Viking uniform against South Dakota. He completed 33 of 50 passes for 369 yards and 3 touchdowns, all of which were career highs, and no interceptions. It was DeGraff’s second 300-yard passing day of the season. He threw for 330 yards against Northern State.
MR. EVERYWHERE: Linebacker Brett Scherschligt was the Vikings’ leading tackler in 2003. The junior had 74 total tackles (50 solo, 34 assists). His best game of the year was a 12-tackle effort against Wisconsin-Stout. In that game, he also intercepted a pass, recovered a fumble and broke up two passes. Scherschligt was second on the team in tackles in 2002 with 65.
POINTS PER CARRY: Thad Roche, a redshirt freshman in 2003, made the most of his rushing attempts. Roche had 20 carries this season for 24 yards. However, he was second on the team with four touchdowns. All four of his scoring runs were 1-yard plunges.
MEMORABLE CATCHES: Justin Sheppard’s 1-yard touchdown pass against Nebraska-Omaha was the first career reception for the redshirt freshman. He caught his second pass of the season against Minnesota State, Mankato. It, too, went for a touchdown.
