Nebraska Wesleyan at Concordia, 1 PM - The lone day game this weekend shapes up to have a little more intensity as the Bulldogs look to grab a 2-0 start in 2010 after winning only 3 games all of 2009. Concordia used an opportunistic offense against Peru State as two of their three scores came after a wide receiver pass and an interception deep in Bobcat territory. Coach Winter's crew will need to keep good care of the ball again (one turnover last week) and put pressure on the opposing Qb; they held PSC to a 45% completion rate. Nebraska Wesleyan starts the year looking for leadership at the Qb spot after graduating a 2-year starter from a 5-5 squad. Whoever does replace Matt Hagge will need to keep Concordia's defense honest threw the air to keep the running lanes free for Steve Fricke, heir apparent to all-league Kory Kahlandt at Rb. The Prairie Wolves have to replace 6 starters on defense but Coach Keller knows DC John Bates has produced top ten defenses the past 4 seasons.

Hastings at Briar Cliff, 6 PM - The Broncos ride into the year fresh off a post season appearance, their first since 2004 and a 9-3 mark overall. Troy Huebert is back for a final campaign at Qb and his experience is a plus. Hastings lost Maurice Mansfield, a huge part of the offense in 2009, but expects to replace him with more depth at wide out and in the running game. Defensively, Coach Mierkiewicz expects improvement with the return of most of the d-line and linebackers. Briar Cliff aims to produce its first winning record in 2010, but will need to have a new offensive line come together early. Proven skill people are there at Qb, Rb and Wr in Lehi Tonga, Stavhn Leavy and Chase Colvin respectively. The defense behind senior Linebacker Eric Bolin returns 8 starters from the GPAC's 2^nd ranked squad that finished with 3 wins in its last 5 games to end 4-7 last fall.

Doane at Morningside, 7 PM - Doane Coach Matt Franzen enters his 4^th season in Crete looking to get the Tigers off the 4 win mark they've hit all three of his years. The return of 10 starters on both sides of the ball may make that happen in 2010. Qb Anthony Dunn returns for his junior campaign looking to find more consistency though he ended 2009 third in the league in passing yards per game and fourth in total offense. The defense will be led by Lb Dalton Ryba and d-lineman Selau Sunia. The Tigers won 3 of their final 4 games a year ago, losing only to 5^th ranked Morningside in that stretch. Morningside comes into 2010 again ranked 5^th but with more question marks than usual on offense. Coach Steve Ryan joked that he was the only returning starter on offense from a 10-2 team. 9 new starters will dot his offense, but 8 regulars are back on defense led by all-GPAC D-end Ben Haugen and Marshall Tuttle.

Dakota Wesleyan at Dordt, 6 PM - Coach Brad Pole welcomes back 8 starters on offense but 4-year starters Jon Doom Qb and Bubba Slaba Wr aren't among them. The record setting duo will be hard to replace, but one of 3 freshmen are expected to win the Qb job, while transfer Nate Ovenden will help supply Wr depth. James Hanson was an all-league O-lineman who will lead up front. All eleven starters on defense return from a 4-6 team, led by an all senior linebacking corp. Dordt Coach Jon Heavner believes his third edition of Defender football has the ingredients to compete every week. Qb Justin Knott and Rb Josh Van Kempen lead 7 returners on offense. Db James Rowenhorst and Dt Brice Kroeze led a defense that returns 10 starters. That much experience should help increase the win total from one each of the past two seasons.

Midland Lutheran has a bye week before hosting Sioux Falls September 11.