Edward Waters Joins Inaugural Sun Conference Football League

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – The Sun Conference will begin sponsoring football beginning in the fall of 2014. The announcement was made by league Commissioner Mark Pope recently. The new football league will include four current members of the Sun Conference, as well as two additional schools that will join the league as single sport members. These six institutions will be able to compete for the inaugural Sun Conference Championship this fall.

Having six teams sponsoring football makes The Sun Conference champion eligible for NAIA postseason play and allows the league to appoint a rater, who will rate teams on the national level on a weekly basis.

"Football is a significant sport of interest in the Southeast and we are thrilled to offer football as a sponsored sport," Pope said. "In addition to the possibility of postseason play and the addition of a rater, our student-athletes will now compete for All-Conference honors. Adding football continues our primary goal of providing a great competitive and educational experience for our student-athletes."

The three league teams that currently sponsor football are Ave Maria, Warner and Webber International. Warner and Webber International have been TSC members since the league's inception, while Ave Maria joined the conference in 2010. Webber International has fielded a football team since 2004, competing as an independent for the last 10 seasons. Ave Maria started it football program in 2011, while Warner football completed its first season of competition in 2013.

In 2012, current league member Southeastern announced the addition of a football program on its campus. The Fire will play its first home game against Warner on Sept. 13, 2014 in the new Fire Football Stadium currently under construction.

The two single sport members are Edward Waters and Point University.  Edward Waters (Jacksonville, Fla.) is no stranger to The Sun Conference as the Tigers were members of the league before moving to the Gulf Coast Athletic in 2006.  Located in West Point, Ga., Point is a member of the Appalachian Athletic Conference and the Skyhawks' football team will be in their second season of competition in 2014.



“The move by the Sun Conference to sponsor football is a significant step toward legitimizing the NAIA football playing universities which now make up the Sun Conference,” Southeastern head coach Keith Barefield said in a statement. “This development, coupled with the recent announcement that the NAIA Football National Championship contest will be played at Daytona Beach starting in December, shines the national spotlight on the state of Florida as well as the Sun Conference.”

Football brings the number of sports sponsored by The Sun Conference to 16. The league also sponsors championships in baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, men's and women's soccer, softball, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, and women's volleyball.

COURTESY THE SUN CONFERENCE.COM

NOTE: Edward Waters will continue to play its eleven other men and women sports programs in the NAIA Division I, Gulf Coast Athletic Conference (GCAC). Alvin Wyatt, Sr. is the New Head Football Coach at EWC.