Springfield, Mass. -- November 15, 2010 -- The Springfield College football team will be hosting its second straight Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III championship bowl game when it takes on Mount Ida College this Saturday (Nov. 20) at Amos Alonzo Stagg Field at 1:00 pm.Last year, Springfield defeated Plymouth State University, 42-13, in what was tabbed as the ECAC Division III Northeast Championship Bowl at Stagg Field. This year, the game is being tabbed as the ECAC Division III North Atlantic Championship Bowl.
It will be the third straight year that Springfield will play the Mustangs. In 2008, SC defeated Mount Ida, 43-23, at Stagg Field. In 2009, SC defeated Mount Ida, 42-15, in Newton Centre, Massachusetts.
It will be the fourth time that Springfield College has received an ECAC Bowl bid. SC is 3-0 in ECAC post-season games. It defeated Cortland, 49-26, in 1995; defeated Fitchburg State, 53-7, in 2004; and, as mentioned, defeated Plymouth State, 42-13, a year ago. All three previous times Springfield has been in an ECAC post-season bowl, the game was played at home.
Including NCAA post-season games, this marks the ninth time in 16 years that Springfield has played in a post-season game.
The Pride of Springfield College will enter this contest with an 8-2 overall record. The Mustangs of Mount Ida College will enter with a 6-4 overall mark. Springfield's two losses were to Empire 8 foes Alfred (35-28) and Ithaca (23-14). Alfred is going to the NCAA Tournament.
Mount Ida suffered its losses to Bridgewater State (34-25) in its opening game of the year; to Castleton State (38-34) in its fourth game; to undefeated SUNY-Maritime (37-35), which is going to the NCAA's; and Empire 8 foe Hartwick (27-12) just last Saturday.
Springfield and Mount Ida have played two common opponents. Springfield defeated Husson (51-0) early in the year, while Mount Ida defeated Husson (25-23) on October 30. Springfield defeated Hartwick (39-20) on October 30, while Hartwick defeated Mount Ida (27-12) on November 13.
The Pride has won 18 of its last 22 games, dating back to the last two games of the 2008 season under Head Coach Mike DeLong who now has 170 victories over 29 years of head coaching. Those 170 wins make him the winningest active coach in New England Division III. A total of 158 of those wins have come in the past 27 years as the head coach at Springfield College.
Michael C. “Mike” DeLong ’74 enters his 31st season as a head football coach in the fall of 2012. He enters his 29th year at Springfield College alone. For the past 28 years, he has been the head coach at Springfield, his alma mater. Mike had also been the head coach at Maine Maritime in Castine, Maine in 1979 and 1980. Read more.
