Sports

Know thy new league enemy

By Matthew Semisch

08/05/2014

With the new upcoming college football season comes life in a new conference for the Lumberjacks of Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB).

Starting this year, DCB is a football-only member of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference (MCAC). The league is mainly made up of junior colleges from around Minnesota and western Wisconsin, but two North Dakota schools are beginning MCAC play this fall.

Joining the MCAC along with the Lumberjacks are the Wildcats from North Dakota State College of Science (NDSCS). The Wahpeton school and DCB are firm rivals on the athletic fields of play, and their football teams play each other in hopes of winning the traveling Lumbercat Trophy.

DCB and NDSCS will be split up within the MCAC, which has two divisions. The Lumberjacks will play in the league’s north division, while NDSCS is in the south division.

Apart from DCB, the MCAC’s north division is entirely made up of Minnesota schools. The Lumberjacks’ new division rivals are Mesabi Range (Virginia, Minn.), Vermillion (Ely, Minn.), Itasca (Grand Rapids, Minn.), Fond du Lac (Cloquet, Minn.) and Central Lakes (Brainerd, Minn.).

The south division is made up of Minnesota West (Worthington, Minn.), Ridgewater (Willmar, Minn.), Minnesota State-Fergus Falls (Fergus Falls, Minn.), Rochester (Rochester, Minn.) and NDSCS.

Fergus Falls will be a familiar name to DCB fans. New DCB athletic director and head men’s basketball coach Brandon Colvin served as the Spartans’ head men’s basketball coach last season.

DCB will open its 2014 football season with two games against MCAC south division teams over three weeks.

Starting Sept. 13 at home against Central Lakes, DCB will spend the rest of the regular season facing competition from its own division.

DCB’s first game of the season is Aug. 23 at home at against Minnesota West. The game is set to start at 12 p.m.