Juniata Football Will Play In Centennial Conference In 2007
(Posted October 26, 2005)
Huntingdon, PA - Juniata College announced that it will become an associate member in football only of the Centennial Conference in a press conference Wednesday morning on the Juniata campus. The move was announced by Juniata President Dr. Thomas Kepple, wit Steven F. Ulrich, Executive Director of the Centennial Conference also in attendance.
"The move to the Centennial Conference should prove to be a great benefit for our football student athletes," Juniata President Kepple said. "The opportunity to compete against institutions with enrollments and academic standards that are similar to those at Juniata gives our student-athletes a chance to compete on a level playing field, and provides them every opportunity to succeed."
"We are thrilled to add Juniata and Moravian to our football family," Centennial Executive Director Ulrich said. "The combination of outstanding academics and a commitment to excellence in athletics makes Juniata and Moravian a perfect fit for our Conference."
Juniata is currently a member of the Middle Atlantic Conference in football. Fellow MAC member Moravian College will also be making the transition to the Centennial Conference in the Fall of 2007. The Centennial is comprised of 11 nationally-recognized colleges and universities, including seven football-playing institutions.
"Joining the Centennial will have an enormously positive and meaningful impact on the Juniata football program," adds George Maley'92 a former Juniata football player and current Director of Planned Giving at the Noble and Greenough School. "Juniata's football program should thrive in a league with similar academic and athletic philosophies."
The Centennial Conference was formed in 1983 as an eight-team, football-only conference, and then expanded to an 11-team all-sport conference in 1992. The football playing institutions currently in the Centennial are Dickinson College, Franklin & Marshall College, Gettysburg College, Johns Hopkins University, McDaniel College, Muhlenberg College and Ursinus College.
The Juniata football program has a long and storied tradition, which includes competing in the Tangerine Bowl (now known as the Capital One Bowl) in 1956 and playing for the national championship in 1973 against Wittenberg in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl. Chuck Knox, the former NFL head coach for the Los Angeles Rams, Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks, is a 1954 graduate of Juniata. The Eagles have had three consensus first-team All-Americans since 1983, while also producing two first-team Academic All-Americans and an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship recipient. In the 83-year history of the football program Juniata has played 75 games against the current members of the Centennial Conference, and holds a 38-36-1 record in those games.
A decision has not yet been reached in regards to the conference affiliation of Juniata's other 18 varsity sports. The Eagles have the option of remaining in the Middle Atlantic States Collegiate Athletic Corporation through the 2007-2008 academic year and will compete in the MAC in the 2006 football season.
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Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.