September 10, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                             

CONTACT: Cristina Diaz
Media and Community Relations Manager
215.753.3684

Philadelphia, PA- Twelve years after going coed, Chestnut Hill College will once again make history by hosting its inaugural sprint football game versus Princeton University at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School on Saturday, Sept. 19, at 12 p.m.

The second newest of the College’s 20 athletic programs, sprint football is governed by all of the same NCAA rules with one caveat: players must weigh no more than 172 pounds. This promotes a more fast-paced style of play with a stronger emphasis on athleticism and agility at all positions on the field.

Chestnut Hill College was accepted into the Collegiate Sprint Football League (CSFL) in July 2014 and will begin play this semester as a provisional member, taking part in a five-game schedule that will see the College face Princeton in a home-and-home series to bookend the season and Mansfield, Post and Franklin Pierce in between.

The program has been a symbol of growth for the College, bringing in more than 30 new and transfer students who have come from Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., New York, Alaska and Australia just to name a few, as well as a student who is coming from four years active duty in the military and two tours in Afghanistan. They are all here for one common reason: to play football for the love of the game.

In addition to the new enrollments, sprint football brings with it the creation of a brand new cheerleading squad, increased enthusiasm and spirit among the College community, and a platform on which new traditions and rituals, such as pep rallies, tailgates and homecomings, will form.

A pre-game tailgate, hosted by the office of Alumni Relations, the first of these new traditions, will take place before the home opener at 10 a.m. Big Griff, the College’s mascot, will be on hand as well as the Chestnut Hill College Cheerleaders, as the campus community prepares for kick-off.

Additionally, the College’s partnership with ESPN Williamsport, which provides online audio streaming of the men and women’s basketball teams, will extend to sprint football, as all games, both home and away, will be broadcast by the station.

“We’re not just building a program, we’re building a culture,” says Head Sprint Football Coach, Mike Pearson, “one which we plan to maintain and sustain for years to come so that when former players come back with their families 10-15 years later, they can look back on sprint football as having been a positive and just fun experience.”

For more information about sprint football and the league, visit the Collegiate Sprint Football League’s official website at http://www.sprintfootball.com/. To watch Chestnut Hill’s official video, click here.

About Chestnut Hill College

Celebrating 90 years of tradition and risk, Chestnut Hill College is a four-year coed Catholic college in the Ignatian tradition that offers a traditional liberal arts undergraduate program as well as accelerated undergraduate degrees, master’s and doctoral programs. The College has been rated by US News & World Report as among the best master’s universities in the North, as among the best Northeastern colleges by The Princeton Review, and has been classified as selective by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Since 1924, the College has offered a rigorous curriculum that provides students with a broad background in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. The goal of Chestnut Hill College has been to prepare students for life’s challenges by helping them to grow intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, and socially.