Monday, August 27, 2007

UAPB, UCA agree to resume rivalry


BY NICK WALKER, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Central Arkansas and Arkansas Pine-Bluff are ready to play football again.

Athletic directors Brad Teague of Central Arkansas and Louis “Skip” Perkins of UAPB confirmed Saturday that the schools have an oral agreement to play at War Memorial Stadium for two seasons beginning in 2008.

In 2003, Central Arkansas and Arkansas-Pine Bluff began what was supposed to be an annual football game at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock, originally called the Capital City Classic, only to see the series stop after one game.

Teague said he wasn’t concerned about the prospect of being jilted by UAPB for a second time. In 2004, UAPB scheduled another game for the same week the two teams were supposed to play. Central Arkansas scrambled and scheduled NAIA opponent Iowa Wesleyan for the open date.

“Their leadership is on the page with us,” Teague said. “They are really interested in it. In fact, they contacted us about it.”

“We’d like to play [the series ] a lot longer than that, but worstcase scenario, we’re going to be playing the game for the next two seasons,” Perkins said.

The game will not be the season opener for either team and it will be a home game for UAPB both years.

Whether it will be called the Capital City Classic has not been determined.

“It doesn’t look like the first game is available for either school,” Teague said. “It looks like the game will be played either the second or third week of the season.”

A crowd of 13, 274 showed up in the rain for the first Capital City Classic on Sept. 11, 2003, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. Central Arkansas defeated UAPB 42-28 after jumping out to a 35-7 third-quarter lead.

The prospect of large crowds, plus an opportunity to reach out to alumni and fan bases in Little Rock, made the resumption of the series a natural for both new athletic directors. Teague started at Central Arkansas in January and Perkins was hired less than a month ago.

“It was important to me as I was coming on board to bring back some of the things that were important in the past,” Perkins said. “We also will play Arkansas-Monticello. Renewing some of these state rivalries is important to us. We thought it was important to play a Division I school like UCA.”

UAPB already has a game scheduled in Little Rock, with the Delta Classic 4 Literacy against Grambling on Oct. 14, but Perkins said he wanted to re-establish the school’s roots.

“The Grambling game is awesome, but it’s great to have an in-state opponent,” Perkins said. “Everybody that’s been talking about this game said it was one of the better games they saw two years ago.”

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