Football

BEREA, OHIO --  The Baldwin-Wallace College football team is expecting to have an outstanding season in 2003.  With 43 lettermen and 15 starters returning, the Yellow Jackets hope to contend for the prestigious Ohio Athletic Conference title and a spot in the NCAA Division III National Playoffs.  B-W is also already receiving some preseason respect.

 In its 2003 preseason NCAA Division III preview, Street & Smith's magazine has selected the Yellow Jackets as the sixth best team in the nation.  In addition, B-W senior quarterback Dan Larlham (Brimfield/ Walsh Jesuit), one of six returning starters on offense and the second-team All-OAC QB in 2002, was tabbed by Street & Smith's as its preseason Division III All-American signal-caller.

 "We are both pleased and surprised," said second-year Head Coach John Snell, the OAC Co-Coach of the Year in 2002 when he led his Yellow Jackets to an 8-2 record.  "We are pleased that we are so highly regarded, and our young people should be very proud of the ranking.  But, we have a long way to go to win an OAC title and get back to the playoffs.

 "We play in the best Division III conference in the country," continued Snell.  "The team picked by Street & Smith's to win the national title again this year is in our conference.  The team picked 25th in that same poll is in our conference.  A team that is unranked this year in this poll, one that can never be overlooked and made it all the way to the semifinals of the national tournament last year is in our conference.  Every game that we play in 2003, both in the OAC and in nonleague action poses a challenge for our young men.  We will have to be ready to play every week.  If we do that, and we are successful, then hopefully we can look back at this day as being the beginning of something really special in Yellow Jacket football."

A year ago, the Yellow Jackets surprised both Snell and the OAC by finishing 8-2 overall and losing only close games to two of the final four teams in the Division III national playoffs.  This year, Larlham and the rest of the returning B-W players are looking to step up to the next level.

"Our goal every year is to win the OAC title and make the Division III Playoffs," said Larlham, who has completed 372 of 613 passes for 60.7 percent for 5,016 yards and 41 touchdowns and run for 1,080 yards and another 26 TD while also maintaining a better than 3.0 grade point average in the classroom in mathematics.  "We know that we play in the best Division III conference in the country and that in every game that the opponent is capable of beating us.  It makes us mentally tough.  It is a challenge that we enjoy and that we must prepare for in the preseason."

The Yellow Jackets open the 2003 season on Saturday, September 6 when they host nonleague foe Allegheny (Pa.) College at The George Finnie Stadium in Berea at 6:30 p.m.  B-W's first OAC game is against defending national champion, Mount Union College, on Saturday, Sept. 20, in Alliance at 1:30 p.m.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on Baldwin-Wallace College football or its other athletics programs, please contact Sports Information Director Kevin Ruple by telephone at 440-826-2327, by FAX machine at 440-826-2329 or via e-mail at kruple@bw.edu.   You can also reach Head Football Coach John Snell by phone at 440-826-2069, by FAX at 440-826-2192 or by e-mail at jsnell@bw.edu.