Football | 3/29/2017 9:17:00 AM

Wingate, N.C.----This year's Wingate University spring football game is Saturday, April 8 in Irwin Belk Stadium and John R. Martin Field. The festivities will begin at 11:30 a.m. with gates slated to open at 11 a.m. For the fifth consecutive year, the game is sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club of Union County. Admission is free, but donations for the Boys and Girls Club are welcomed. 
 
Over the last four years, Wingate football fans have donated over $10,000 to the Boys and Girls Club of Union County. Head coach Joe Reich and the Bulldogs hope Wingate fans will help them add to this total in 2017.  In addition, the WU football team is selling raffle tickets to help raise money in order to purchase gold jerseys for the players to wear on Saturdays. Bulldog fans can buy raffle tickets through TicketReturn at this link.
 
The first-place raffle prize is $1,500. The second-place prize is $750 and the third-place prize is four WU football season passes for the 2017 season. The drawing will take place following the conclusion of the spring game. If the football team meets its goal for the raffle, they will donate an additional $1,500 to the Boys and Girls Club of Union County. 
 
Wingate compiled an 8-3 overall record in 2016, finishing second in the final South Atlantic Conference standings. The 2017 Bulldogs will feature a new starting quarterback in James Whitaker and a young receiving corps of JT Stokes, Malik Bledsoe, BJ Muckelvene and Jay Hood, among others. With a talented group of running backs and a veteran offensive line, offensive coordinator Mike Long believes the offense should be fun to watch next season. 
 
Defensive coordinator Rashaan Jordan led one of the top defenses in NCAA Division II last season. In 2017, the Bulldogs return their entire secondary and every linebacker save one. The defensive line loses four seniors from the 2016 squad, but Jordan believes they have the potential to be an elite force next season.
 
The spring game gives Bulldog fans the opportunity to come and check out the 2017 Wingate football team as they are preparing for the upcoming season. Irwin Belk Stadium and John R. Martin Field are located at 660 North Main Street in Wingate.    
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Wingate University, consistently ranked as a top 10 "best value" in the South by U.S. News & World Report, serves more than 3,200 students on three campuses in Wingate, Charlotte and Hendersonville, N.C. Founded in 1896, the University offers 35 undergraduate majors, 35 minors, 12 career concentrations, nine pre-professional programs, master's degrees in accounting, business, education, physician assistant studies and sport management and doctorates in education, pharmacy and physical therapy.
 
With a 14 to 1 student/teacher ratio, Wingate students gain the tools and support needed to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. To view current news, video and story ideas, visit www.youtube.com/wingateuniversity. 
 
In addition to a robust intramural athletics program, Wingate student athletes compete in 22 NCAA Division II sports. The University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past 10 years. For more information, go to www.wingate.edu.
               
Wingate is first among NCAA Division II Academic All-America®-producing colleges in the 2000's with 88 selections. Among North Carolina's colleges and universities, Wingate is number one in this millennium with 88 Academic All-America® honorees. Wingate is tops among all SAC schools with 97 lifetime Academic All-America® picks. For more information on WU athletics, go to www.wingatebulldogs.com.
 
(Wingate University volunteer assistant football coach David Stadler contributed this article. A quarterback for the Bulldogs, Stadler graduated in 2016 with a degree in Sport Management.)