The Roanoke College football team will be at Salem Stadium Saturday afternoon for their first Old Dominion Athletic Conference football game. The Maroons will play Gallaudet University, who is also new to the ODAC football conference.
Kickoff time is 2 pm for the game. It will be Family Weekend at RC and this event is designated the “Deaf Awareness Game.” Located in Washington, DC, Gallaudet University is a private federally chartered university for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children.
The “Bison” have started the season 1-1 and this will be their second ODAC game. Last Saturday in Washington they defeated Averett University, 39-30.
A main cog in the Bison offense was junior Marcus Brown-Gabriel (#1) as he ran for 217 yards on 26 carries and two touchdowns. The win is the first for Gallaudet head coach Stefan LeFors and the first for the Bison this season. They opened with a 9-7 loss to Albright College of Pennsylvania.
“I am so proud of how our team competed today. It was definitely a team win,” said LeFors after the Averett game. “There were so many big plays made in all three phases of the game. Some key forced turnovers by our defense, nice returns on punt and kickoff and the play of our offensive line and Marcus Brown-Gabriel was huge! I am really happy for our players and staff to be able to get this win!”
While the first year Maroons are made up mostly of freshmen and sophomores with a handful of juniors, Gallaudet has 14 seniors on the roster. The Bison won five of their last six games last year to finish 5-4 on the season.
The Maroons were off last weekend after opening with wins over Virginia University of Lynchburg, at home, and Greensboro College in North Carolina. Beginning Saturday Roanoke will have eight straight ODAC games, including home games with Randolph-Macon on October 4, Shenandoah on October 18 and Guilford College on November 1. All games are 2 pm Saturday games except for Guilford, which will be a 6 pm kickoff at Salem Stadium.
