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For Immediate Release
Sept. 19, 2009
Eureka Hosts Martin Luther in Search of Second Win
EUREKA, Ill. – The Eureka College football team will return to McKinzie Field Saturday, hosting UMAC North Division member Martin Luther College for a 2 p.m. kickoff. Both teams enter the game with a 1-1 record.
Eureka is coming off a 34-21 loss at Concordia (Ill.) last weekend. The Red Devils were plagued by four turnovers in the contest, but did receive several solid individual performances. Senior quarterback Nick Lindsey (Homer, Ill./Heritage H.S.) threw for 245 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the game, while sophomore Wes Schmidgall (Eureka, Ill./Eureka H.S.) had a career-high 128 receiving yards on five catches. Although the Red Devils came up short in their bid for their first 2-0 start in more than a decade, Eureka can still secure its first 2-0 start at home since 1997.
Martin Luther also enters Saturday’s game with a 1-1 record. The Knights rolled to a 44-0 win over Maranatha Baptist to open the season on Sept. 5, holding a 405-83 advantage in total yards. Senior running back Alexander Hunt ran for 118 yards in the win. Last week, the Knights were blanked 34-0 by Hamline University in a game in which Martin Luther was held to just 17 passing yards and 123 yards overall.
While both teams are football members of the UMAC, Saturday’s game will not be considered a conference game for either squad. The conference is using a divisional format through 2009. Eureka competes in the South Division, while Martin Luther competes in the North Division until the conference drops the divisional format in 2010.
Saturday’s festivities will include a halftime ceremony for Eureka College Hall of Famer Leo “Doc” Traister, who celebrated his 90th birthday on Sept. 9. Fans and former players are invited to join the ceremony on the field.
Traister came to Eureka as a student-athlete in 1939, earning four letters in baseball, three letters in football and two letters in track before graduating in 1948. After earning his master’s degree from the University of Illinois and serving as a high school coach and administrator at Viola and Winola High Schools, Traister returned to campus in 1956 to serve as Director of Athletics and coach all EC sports until 1966. He remained on various coaching staffs until as late as 1990 and finished his stint on the basketball coaching staff in 1974 as the all-time wins leader at EC with 168. He was inducted into the Eureka College Athletics Hall of Fame in 1977 and the new on-campus soccer facility was named in Traister’s honor on Oct. 24, 2008.
Fans can listed live to Saturday’s game online by visiting http://ecsports.youcastr.com/broadcast/eureka-vs-martin-luther-football. Eureka College student Bryce Swanson will call the play-by-play.
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For More Information Contact:
Bryan Moore
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