LIVONIA, Mich. - The Madonna University football program has been accepted into the Mid-States Football Association (MSFA) as its sixteenth member beginning Aug. 1, 2019. The Crusaders will compete in a league schedule beginning in the 2021 season and joined Judson University (Ill.) as programs to be accepted into the association at the annual MSFA meetings on Monday, May 6 on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Illinois.
The Crusaders will compete in the Mideast League when they begin conference play, in Fall 2021. Their league will include Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference members Concordia University - Ann Arbor, Lawrence Technological University (LTU) and Siena Heights University as well as regional opponents in University of Saint Francis (Ind.), Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU), Marian University (Ind.) and Taylor University (Ind.). LTU and IWU will be competing in the MSFA for the first time in 2019, which will give the Mideast League three of the four newest additions to the association.
"I am excited about our acceptance into the Mid-States Football Association," said Madonna Head Coach Brian Foos. "This is one of the most challenging conferences in the NAIA and will provide our student-athletes the opportunity to compete against some of the top teams in the country."
Each team's schedule will include seven league games and a pair of crossover contests against members of the Midwest League which include: Missouri Baptist University, Olivet Nazarene, Robert Morris University - Chicago, Saint Ambrose University (Iowa), Saint Xavier University (Ill.), Trinity International University (Ill.), University of Saint Francis (Ill.) and Judson.
"We are grateful to the MSFA and commissioner Gary Newsome for accepting the Crusaders into the MSFA," said Madonna Athletic Director Scott Kennell. "Finding a conference home is the first step in building what we believe will be a championship caliber program and to be accepted into one as prestigious and successful as the Mid-States Football Association is a great honor. We look forward to facing some of the best the NAIA has to offer on a weekly basis."
The MSFA was established in 1993 and is the premier league in the NAIA with nine NAIA National Championships, including six of the last eight…Saint Francis (Ind.) (2016 & 2017), Marian (2012 & 2015), Grand View University (Iowa) (2013) and Saint Xavier (Ill.) (2011). The University of Findlay (1995 & 1997) and Westminster College (1994) also won national titles as members of the MFSA.
To learn more about Madonna University football and how you can join #CrusaderNation, please visit www.mucrusaders.com/football.
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