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Fighting Bees rank on top in preseason league poll

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By Steve Batterson | Monday, August 4, 2008 11:24 PM CDT | () comments

Only eight starters return from a year ago, but the St. Ambrose football team will begin the season in the spot where the Fighting Bees hope to conclude the year.

St. Ambrose is the preseason pick of coaches in the Mid-States Football Association to earn its third consecutive conference title, selected to finish first in the Midwest Division on ballots of seven of the eight coaches in the league.

“We realize the pick is based on what we did last year, and that it doesn’t mean a thing now,’’ second-year Fighting Bees coach Mike Magistrelli said.

“It’s reflective of the expectations we have here, though. At Ambrose, we expect to contend for the conference title and we expect to be a top-25 team. I wouldn’t want our guys to think any other way but we all also realize that we’re like everybody else at 0-0 right now.’’

The Fighting Bees have not lost a game within their division in the past two seasons. A year ago, St. Ambrose finished 8-3 overall and went 7-0 in Midwest Division play.

McKendree received the other first-place vote and finished second in the balloting of the league’s coaches. It was selected to finish ahead of Olivet Nazarene and William Penn in the upper half of the standings.

Quincy, Trinity International, St. Francis (Ill.) and Iowa Wesleyan were picked to finish fifth through eighth.

St. Ambrose opens preseason camp Sunday, when more than 150 players are scheduled to report and begin preparations for the Aug. 30 opener at South Dakota.

Magistrelli said developing practice plans for the largest squad the program has ever fielded is presenting some challenges.

“We will have to do some things creatively to make sure that we give everybody an opportunity and get a chance to evaluate everyone properly,” Magistrelli said.

Steve Batterson can be contacted at (563) 383-2290 or sbatterson@qctimes.com.