- DIVISION II -

Lenoir-Rhyne football will play 7 home games this season

Bowie State, Tiffin, Mars Hill part of the Bears’ early-season slate

Published

March 4, 2024

Lenoir-Rhyne went 13-2 a year ago, won the South Atlantic Conference and advanced to the D2 semifinals. Photo courtesy Lenoir-Rhyne athletics.

Lenoir-Rhyne’s 2024 football season will feature seven home games, an early rematch of last season’s South Atlantic title tilt and an mid-September showdown against the top team from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference.

The Bears, 13-2 a year ago, released their schedule last week and it includes a number of intriguing match-ups as new coach Doug Socha assumes command of the program.

Lenoir-Rhyne will open the season at home on Saturday, Sept. 7 against Bowie State of the CIAA. The Bulldogs went 6-4 a year ago.

The following weekend, the Bears will entertain Tiffin, the reigning champs from the Great Midwest. The Dragons won their first 11 games last fall before losing to Slippery Rock in their first game in the Division II playoffs.

The first road contest will come Sept. 21, but the Bears won’t have to leave the state. LR will travel to Mars Hill, an eight-game winner from 2023. The Lions were just a few plays away from making the SAC championship but lost to Tusculum in double overtime.

Speaking of Tusculum, the Pioneers will serve as Lenoir-Rhyne’s fourth opponent on Sept. 28. The Bears will be at home again for that rematch. LR beat Tusculum 48-7 for the SAC title last November.

After a road trip to Emory & Henry on Oct. 5, Lenoir-Rhyne will face off against familiar SAC Piedmont Division rivals — Newberry, Barton, Limestone, Wingate and Catawba. Limestone will serve as this year’s homecoming foe on Oct. 26. Wingate was the only team to beat LR in the regular season in 2023.

This year’s SAC championship game will be Nov. 16. This year, the Piedmont champion will host. If Lenoir-Rhyne is not in that game, the Bears will face Anderson, which is debuting football this season.

Seven of this year’s football foes had winning records in 2023. Mars Hill, Wingate and Limestone each won eight games. Catawba (5-6) is a program on the rise.