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By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent
Saint Xavier has released its 2024 football schedule, which has the Cougars opening the season in Michigan.
SXU will travel to the Detroit suburb of Southfield to play Lawrence Tech on Sept. 7 in a Mid-States Football Association crossover.
The Cougars’ home opener kicks off at noon on Sept. 14 when they welcome St. Thomas (Florida) to Bruce R. Deaton Memorial Field.
SXU has one night game on the schedule, a 6:30 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 28 against Concordia University-Ann Arbor (Michigan) in a MSFA crossover game at Deaton Field.
Saint Xavier renews its long-time rivalry with St. Francis (Illinois) on Oct. 19, when the Fighting Saints visit Chicago for homecoming.
The Cougars will welcome Marian (Indiana) to Deaton Field for the first time since 2017. The Knights have joined the MSFA Midwest League for the 2024 season.
Saint Xavier head coach Mike Feminis said the Cougars will face a challenging schedule.
“Marian and Saint Francis are our two biggest competitive rivals, so them joining us on the Midwest side of the MSFA is like going back in time to when we were all in the Mideast League from 2007-12,” he said. “I’m not sure if there’s another team in the NAIA who has three playoff teams from last year on their schedule.”
Feminis said there are “landmines” throughout the schedule, but he’s looking forward to his team tackling it. The Cougars will face preseason No. 5-ranked Marian, sixth-ranked Indiana Wesleyan and 15th-ranked St. Thomas as well as Concordia, which is a regular in the Top 25, and Olivet Nazarene.
“This is one of the reasons student-athletes come to SXU, they know they’re going to play top-notch competition,” Feminis said.
The Cougars finished 8-4 in 2023. They knocked off Marian, 31-21, in the first round of the NAIA playoffs before falling to Northwestern College (Iowa), 34-17.
