Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Football Team To Play Spring Game at Williams Valley High School
4/18/2001 8:00:00 AM | Football
April 18, 2001
LEWISBURG, PA - The Bucknell University football team will play its annual Spring Game at Williams Valley High School's Viking Stadium this Saturday, April 21 at 1:30 p.m. In what is believed to be the first off-campus Spring Game for the Bison, Bucknell will wrap up 15 days of spring practice with the annual orange and blue clash.
Bucknell attempted to take the Spring Game off campus last year, but heavy rains during the week leading up to the contest forced Mount Carmel High School to move the game out of the Silver Bowl and back to Bucknell.
Prior to the game, the Bucknell players will be holding an instructional clinic from 10:00 to 12:00 for children ages 10-14.
Head Coach Tom Gadd is looking forward to bringing Bucknell football to the Williams Valley School District community. "We're excited about this opportunity to give the Williams Valley community a close-up look at our football program. We have about six kids on our roster from that county, including our current starting tight end, Greg Readinger."
Randy Russelavage, the director of athletics at Williams Valley, is equally excited to have the Bison coming to town. "We consider it an honor to have a program like Bucknell's playing their spring game at our school. Our students, especially the elementary kids who will be taking part in the clinic, are very excited about Saturday. It's all they have been talking about for weeks now," he said.
Russelavage is convinced that the game will also provide a good opportunity for the Williams Valley football players to get an up close look at football on the Division I-AA level. "I think our kids will be impressed with the size of Bucknell's players and the speed at which they play the game. It will be good for them to get a taste of what's needed to play at that level."
Again this year, the Spring Game rosters will be set by the seniors, who will split into two groups and then draft the underclassmen. And, again this year, the losers will have to serve the winners at the postgame barbecue. "Our kids look forward to this each year," commented Gadd who implemented the current draft/barbecue Spring Game format when he arrived in 1995. "It's a great way to close spring drills, and I think the players get excited to compete against their teammates."
For the first time ever, this year's Spring Game will be broadcast live on the radio and across the internet. The Voice of the Bison, Doug Birdsong, and color commentator George Burman, will call all the action beginning with the pregame show on WMLP 1380-AM at 1:15 p.m. Head Coach Tom Gadd will also join in on much of the broadcast. If you are out of the WMLP listening area, you can hear the game on the internet at www.BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell, which recorded its sixth straight winning season last year, opens its 2001 season at Division I-A Kent State on Saturday, September 8 at 6:00 p.m.
