February 27, 2018
Derek Lee
Since its inception in 1965, UCCS has expanded to field multiple sports, which include soccer, volleyball, basketball, track and field, golf, and more recently, baseball.
But one major sport has been missing from the group: football.
Freshmen Lance Peltier and Dylan Bonge joined together to create the UCCS Club Football team this year. The team held tryouts on Feb. 18, along with a combine that included bench press, box drills and position drills.
“The purpose of the club is to bring tackle football to UCCS and (the) Colorado Springs Area,” said Peltier.
While there is already intramural flag football on campus, this is the first time that tackle football will be recognized as a club sport at UCCS. The roster will consist of about 50 players.
Peltier, who serves as club president, and Bonge, who serves as vice president, wanted to bring more options for football on campus, hence the inception of the club.
“I came up with the idea for UCCS Club Football after exploring all football options on campus, such as flag football. Being frustrated with flag and missing the tackle aspect is when I had the idea of trying to bring tackle football to the school,” he said.
Club Football will compete as part of the Colorado Football Conference, which was established in 1987. The conference consists of 10 teams and includes Metro State University and Northern Colorado Nightmare, both of which have many college students in the area, according to Peltier.
All UCCS Club Football home games will be played at Mountain Lion Stadium.
There are four coaches on the UCCS Club Football team. Jon Sargent serves as head coach and offensive coordinator; Dennis Cote is the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator; Michael Armstrong is the special teams coordinator; and Christopher Woodworth is the positions coach.
The hope is that sometime in the future, UCCS Club Football will become just UCCS Football and be registered as an official NCAA team, just like UCCS Baseball before them, said Peltier.The team is currently looking for potential sponsors to support the club and its endeavors.
The Mountain Lions’ first game will be away against the Rocky Mountain Wildfire. Time and location are still to be determined, but games will normally take place on Saturdays.
For more information on the club football team, email [email protected] or visit their website at uccsclubfootball.com.