We’re here and we’re ready to roll

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Live from The College of New Jersey, Pat Coleman along with Gordon Mann from the Lions Stadium press box.

We’re a little less than an hour from air time and we think we have all the kinks worked out on my new laptop. I hated to let the old one go, but since it wouldn’t stay running for more than 20 minutes at a time I had no choice.

Drove past my usual exits to go to Division III schools Catholic and Johns Hopkins. Felt lucky to get gas for $3.05 a gallon in Maryland. Drove right past former Rowan coach K.C. Keeler’s new place of employment at University of Delaware. Got here without issue.

Nice evening, little breeze. Both teams warming up below. Ready for kickoff. We’ll try to check back in at halftime if the dial-up connection is stable.

Some more last-minute reading

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Before the season kicks off tomorrow night (Game of the Week, Muhlenberg at New Jersey, 7 p.m. EDT), here’s some of what the local papers are talking about in the final hours.

Old School: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks with Wisconsin Lutheran’s 32-year-old kicker.

Whole new season: Living in the past serves no useful purpose for Carthage coach Tim Rucks, Racine (Wis.) Journal Times.

Titans looking to defensive experience: Reeling from death of senior captain Doug Schmied, Illinois Wesleyan doesn’t know what to expect from untested offense, Bloomington Pantagraph.

Miello injects life into WPU: New coach tries to rebuild William Paterson program, NorthJersey.com.

Insider: ‘Cats get back to work

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Dear reader:

We’ve asked a few Division III players and coaches to join our blog and give us an inside look into life in Division III football. Introducing Linfield senior center Dwight Donaldson:

DonaldsonToday the ‘Cats went back to work after a short break over the weekend. Most had a really low key weekend after our morning scrimmage on Saturday with a couple different guys having bbq’s. Campus has become flooded with students again after the whole place was empty over the summer. It’s great to see familiar faces again but I might be willing to trade it back for open parking spaces. There’s nothing worse than having 30 seconds to get to meetings and you can’t find a spot to park. Some guys just resort to leaving their flashers on in a yellow, but then you run the risk of draining your battery and needing a jump to move it so a semi can get through.

Getting back out on the field after the time off was a little tougher than many of us were expecting. Warming up for our morning workout we felt like we’d just played a game the day before. Guys were groaning just doing a couple of functional exercizes. I guess that’s what happens when you go for 9 or 10 days straight.

Our afternoon practice was a little sluggish but the seniors will make sure it doesn’t happen 2 days in a row. We finished up the day with evening meetings which is par for the course. The team spent about 20 minutes talking with the freshman about tips for class schedules and then studied film on Saturday’s scrimmage and today’s practice.

Tomorrow will be a true double with full practices at 8:30 and 7 and meetings in the afternoon. The evening practice is sure to be spirited. There’s just something about being under the lights that gets guys fired up. It’s also our last practice of doubles since classes start on Wednesday. Which also means I will have finished the last doubles of my career, a truly bitter-sweet event.