FOOTBALL TIGERS TAPPED No. 2 IN ODAC PRESEASON POLL

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY, VA (July 30, 2004)—Hampden-Sydney College’s football team was picked to finish in second-place in the 2004 Old Dominion Athletic Conference preseason coaches poll as announced at media day on Friday.  The Tigers return 15 starters from a 2003 squad that finished the year 9-1 overall and 5-1 in the ODAC.

Three-time defending champion Bridgewater garnered the top pick, followed closely by Hampden-Sydney at No. 2, with Emory and Henry, Catholic and Randolph-Macon filling spots three through five, while Guilford and Washington and Lee tied for sixth.

Coach Marty Favret’s Tigers have been ranked as high as 13th nationally in the preseason by Street and Smith’s magazine as the team features two preseason All-Americans on offense, junior quarterback JD Ricca (Gaithersburg, MD/St. John’s) and senior running back CW Clemmons (Covington, VA/Alleghany), along with nine starters and six seniors on defense.

“Offensively, we’re going to be balanced, we'll spread the ball around and continue to do the things we’ve done in the past to score points,” said Favret.  “Defensively, I’m excited with the addition of new defensive coordinator Jon Shields and I think we’ll be a little bit different, but with nine starters back I hope we’ll also be a little bit better.”

The Tigers blitzed through nine of ten opponents in 2003 en route to leading the nation in scoring, averaging 47.2 points-per-game, along with racking up a team-record 521.4 yards of offense per contest.  The 2004 season, which kicks off with the Tigers traveling to Sewanee, TN, to take on the University of the South on September 4 at 1 pm CST, promises to be yet another fine season in “death valley” for the H-SC football program, which has won 19 of its last 22 contests dating back to 2001.

-www.hsc.edu/athletics-