The Calvin University football team will head to the suburbs of Milwaukee this weekend as it faces Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin. Calvin will face the host Falcons on Saturday at noon (CDT) at Concordia's Tomasini Stadium.

Calvin is under the direction of head coach Trent Figg who guides his 112-member roster into year one this fall. 

How to Watch/Listen: The Calvin football team can be followed live in several different ways during the 2024 season.
 
Saturday's game can be followed by Live stream, live audio and live stats.

The Concordia live stream broadcast can be found online at: Calvin-Concordia Live Stream Broadcast

A Calvin audio broadcast sponsored by Mercantile Bank will air on Michigan Sports Radio.  The broadcast can be found at: Calvin-Concordia Audio Broadcast Sponsored by Mercantile Bank on Michigan Sports Radio.

The live statistics of the game will be produced at: Calvin/Concordia Live Stats

The Lead-Up – Calvin is in its first season of intercollegiate football. The Knights are coming off a 50-6 win over Oberlin College this past Saturday. Concordia did not play last week with its season opener coming this afternoon. Calvin is a member of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association while Concordia is a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference. Concordia placed second in the NACC a year ago, finishing 7-3 overall and 6-2 in the NACC. At 7-3, Concordia reached the 7-win mark in back-to-back seasons for the first time since the 2012 and 2013 seasons.

The Calvin Coach-Head coach Trent Figg was hired on January 6, 2023. He is a native of Chillicothe, Missouri, located an hour-and-a-half from Kansas City. He is a 2008 graduate of William Jewell College where he was a four-year member of the football program as a special teams ace and defensive back. He later earned his master's degree from Northwest Missouri State in 2013. He began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at (then NAIA) William Jewell and later had stints as the special teams coordinator and defensive coordinator at D2 Southern Arkansas, defensive coordinator at William Jewell and special teams coordinator at Missouri State. He later spent two years (2019-21) at the University of Hawaii, serving as chief of staff of the football program and later associate head coach. In 2022, he serve as the lead offensive analyst for the University of Oregon football program under head coach Dan Lanning. Figg and Lanning are former teammates and roommates at William Jewell College and stood up for each other at their respective weddings.

A Look at the Concordia Coach – Greg Etter heads into his 17^th season as head football coach at Concordia University. He is a graduate of Mankato State University (Mn.) and is 61-45 all-time as Concordia's head coach. Prior to arriving at Concordia, he was the defensive coordinator at Carthage College. He also has prior stints as an assistant coach at South Dakota State University and the University of Wisconsin.

More on Concordia  - Concordia's projected quarterback starter is sophomore Roman Funk who appeared in all 10 games for the Falcons last fall, completing 43 of 79 attempts that included three touchdowns and three interceptions. Funk was the primary backup behind now graduated starter Michael Purkey. The Concordia offense features a pair of seniors who finished 1-2 in rushing for the Falcons. Thomas averaged 5.5 yards per carry, toting the ball 149 times for a team-leading 813 yards and a team-leading 13 touchdowns. Senior Pierre Thomas III is also back after carrying the ball 112 times for 548 yards and six touchdowns. Junior Jason Leanord is the top returning receiver as he hauled in 25 catches for 277 yards. Senior linebacker Justice Kaneta leads the Concordia defense after racking up a team-high 98 tackles last fall as a junior along with four interceptions. Junior defensive tackle Marquiton Sellers is the top returner on the line as he tallied 2.5 sacks last fall along with 34 tackles. Sellers and Kaneta were both D3football.com Third Team All-Region selections last fall. Kaneta was an All-NACC First Team selection while Sellers was named to the All-NACC Third Team.

Special Teams Ace – Concordia features a standout sophomore punter in sophomore Luke Droegenmueller who was named to the All-NACC First Team and to the D3football.com All-Region Second Team as a freshman Droegenmueller averaged 36.6 yards per punt while dropping 16 punts inside the opponent 20 yard line.

NACC Preseason Poll – Concordia was picked to finish fourth in the nine-team NACC preseason poll. Defending champion Aurora was picked to repeat followed by St. Norbert, Benedictine and then Concordia.

A Look at Calvin – Calvin features one of the youngest rosters in America this fall as the Knights feature 88 freshmen (54 true freshman, 34 red-shirt freshmen) as part of their 112-man roster. 10 players feature from other states including Texas (three), Ohio (two), California (one), Georgia (one), Illinois (one), Minnesota (one) and New York (one) with the remaining 102 coming from Michigan. 

The Calvin Offense by the Numbers – (66 total) - Quarterbacks (4), Running Backs (11), Wide Receivers (20), Tight Ends (8), Offensive Lineman (21) 

The Calvin Defense by the Numbers – (45 total)-  Defensive Linemen (15), Linebackers (14), Defensive Backs (16). 

MIAA Preseason Poll – Calvin was picked to finish eighth out of eight teams in the 2024 MIAA preseason poll with defending league champion Alma selected as the MIAA's pre-season favorite. 

Week One Recap – Calvin rolled to a 50-6 win over an undermanned Oberlin College squad last Saturday in Grand Rapids. The Knights rolled up more than 450 yards of offense and limited Oberlin to 150 yards on the defensive end. Calvin turned Oberlin over four times, picking off three passes and returning one fumble for a touchdown. Grad student Chase Bradman was superb at quarterback for the Knights, completing 18 of 31 for 173 yards and four touchdown passes. Freshman quarterback Hayden Slegers came on in mop-up time, running for a nine-yard score. Freshman Hunter Hogan caught a pair of touchdown passes and played multiple snaps on defense, making two tackles on the day while also returning punts. Freshman wide receiver Luke Michmerhuizen caught one touchdown pass with freshman Jackson Cook catching another. Freshman Noah Funk also returned a fumble for 29 yards and a touchdown score. Junior Charlie Garbowski had nine tackles and freshman Trevor Martens seven. Freshman Dylan DeHoop picked off a pair of passes while freshman Carson Schnurstein had one interception. 

Special Teams Unit – Calvin was strong on special teams in its season opener. Freshman placekicker Sal Ruffino was 2 of 3 in the field goal department with a long of 41. Freshman punter Logan Nap punted three times with a long of 48 yards and an average of 44 yards. His first quarter punt down to the one yard line helped set up Calvin's first-ever points as the Knights forced Oberlin into an intentional grounding in the end zone, leading to a safety and a 2-0 Calvin lead. In addition, freshman Caiden Bolduc recovered a kickoff by Ruffino on the Oberlin 32 yard line that led to a 12-0 Calvin lead. 

The Ground Game – Calvin picked up 241 yards rushing in Saturday's win over Oberlin including a team-high 98 on 15 carries from grad student Jaier Harden and 80 yards on 10 carries from senior quarterback Chase Bradman. 

National Honors – Calvin freshman Dylan DeHoop was named to the D3football.com National Team of the Week on Tuesday for his play in Calvin's opener. DeHoop picked up a pair of Oberlin passes including one in the end zone while making four solo tackles. 
  
2024 Schedule: Here is the full schedule for the 2024 Calvin football team. Note that all home contests will be played at Grand Rapids Christian High School.
 
9/7 v. Oberlin – 1:00 PM (Maroon Monsoon)
9/14 @Concordia Wisconsin – Noon (CDT)
9/21 @Anderson (IN) – 1:00 PM
9/28 @Kalamazoo – 6:30 PM
10/5 v. Alma (Homecoming) – 1:00 PM (Knight Nation – Calvin Colors)
10/19 @Adrian – 3:00 PM
10/26 @Trine – 1:00 PM
11/2 @Olivet – 1:00 PM
11/9 v. Hope – 1:00 PM (Gold Rush)
11/16 v. Albon – 1:00 PM (Black Out)