Northeastern Oklahoma A&M’s Dale Patterson, win or lose, certainly doesn’t see today’s scenario as a coach riding off into the sunset.
Patterson’s Golden Norsemen face College of DuPage at 1 p.m. in the Citizens Bank Bowl at Pittsburg State University.
“It is a bit emotional,” Patterson, stepping down after a second stint as head coach, said on Saturday. “But I haven’t had much time to dwell on it. I’m not leaving.”
Patterson, of course, is remaining to concentrate on the duties of athletics director of the Miami school.
“I want the kids to win 10 games,” Patterson said. “NEO hasn’t won 10 games since the 2003 season.”
College of DuPage coach Gary Thomas didn’t sidestep questions on Saturday about the future of football at the school located in Glen Ellyn, Ill.
“I don’t know,” Thomas said. “The administration decided to play another season (2012) after three schools in our Midwest Football Conference dropped the sport.
“There is the possibility (football will be dropped),” Thomas said. “School officials have been analyzing (the pluses and minuses of continuing). I’ve been involved in the process by supplying data. The decision soon will be announced.
“I try not to think about it,” Thomas said. “I can’t control it.”
NEO, ranked ninth by the NJCAA, and No. 15 College of DuPage have respective records of 9-2 and 8-2.
Thomas is in his seventh year overall at College of DuPage and second as its head coach.
Today’s test at Carnie Smith Stadium on Brandenburg Field will be the fifth road game in a row for the Chaparrals. Their last home outing was on Sept. 22 (a 49-21 win against North Dakota Science).
“We were scheduled to play a home game on Nov. 4 against the Air Force Academy junior varsity,” Thomas said. “But Air Force canceled the game and we scrambled. We actually found both Illinois Wesleyan and Wisconsin-Whitewater for road games against their jayvees.”
This is the first time the Chaparrals have been invited to a bowl where they haven’t had a conference affiliation (the Graphic Edge Bowl) or played in the McKinnon Travel Midwest Bowl they hosted from 1990-94.
College of DuPage losses during the regular season were conference losses at Ellsworth (49-42) and top-ranked Iowa Western (65-21).
NEO lost 65-59 in two overtimes at Tyler during the SWJCFC regular season and to Navarro (62-24) in the championship game of the league postseason playoffs.
NEO’s last bowl appearance was in 2005 at the Dalton Defenders Bowl in Coffeyville. Rob Green’s Golden Norsemen beat Mississippi Gulf Coast 21-19.
Sports
December 1, 2012
NEO eyes win No. 10
- High School Sports
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Baxter's Elias places second in 400 meters
Cody Thorn/Special to The Globe Colton Mays of Rose Hill nips Kacey Elias of Baxter Springs by .01 seconds for first-place honors in the Class 4A 400 meters on Saturday afternoon at Cessna Stadium in Wichita.
- Lynn fights off cramp to win state tennis title
- Crusaders end Bulldogs' hopes in quarterfinals
- Cards' Williams medals in state track
- Mercer accepts baseball position at Baxter Springs
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- Missouri Southern Sports
- Pittsburg State Sports
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Three in Borgard family followed parents to athletic careers at MSSU
Courtesy photo The Borgards posed for a family picture at Missouri Southern's Fred G. Hughes Stadium (left to right): Stacy Courtney, Brian, Rick, Sharon, Chris and Shannan.
Without Rick Borgard’s knee injury midway through his high school football season and Sharon Fees’ change of mind before entering college, the Missouri Southern blood that runs predominantly through their family may have never started pumping.
Continued ... - Lynn fights off cramp to win state tennis title
- Hardy earns All-America honor in high jump
- Cards' Williams medals in state track
- Tony Roper Memorial set tonight at Monett
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