ST. DAVIDS, Pa.– Head Coach Billy Crocker today released the 2025 Eastern University Football schedule. Including a non-league opener against Anna Maria College, the Eagles will host five games at Radnor Street Road. Because new construction was delayed in 2023, the Eagles played an unbalanced schedule in each of their first two seasons.

The Eagles open the schedule with a home game on Sept. 6 against the Anna Maria AMCATS. Anna Maria, from Paxton, Mass., is joining the MASCAC this coming fall. The AMCATS reached the NCAA Tournament in 2021 and have been very competitive in their region in the years since. Last fall, the AMCATS scored nearly 38 points per game while racking up 474 yards per game. The Anna Maria offense threw for over 300 yards per game while completing 63.3 percent of its passes. Senior Quarterback Ryan Russell played a huge role in that offensive success. In his three years under center, the West Springfield,Mass. native has averaged 9.3 yards per attempt and has thrown for 6712 yards and thrown 63 touchdowns. He ran for another 883 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The MAC season opens with a home test against Alvernia. Though they finished at the bottom of the MAC table in 2024,  Golden Wolves finished the campaign  with a home win over Misericordia. Sophomore quarterback Colin Payne has thrown for over 4500 yards in his 22 appearances for Alvernia. Eastern Athletics will honor the 2025 Hall of Honor Class at halftime and will induct the group of four individuals and one team in an on-campus ceremony afterwards.

The away section of the schedule starts at Lebanon Valley College on Sept. 20. For Eastern's most veteran players, this will be their third trip to Annville. Eastern's first competitive football game was a against LVC's JV squad on Arnold Field in Sept. of 2022. While the Eagles won that game, the Dutchmen have taken both the match-ups since then. LVC was one of the five teams to finish in a tie for third in the MAC last fall. While senior quarterback Braden Bohannon played a major role in the LVC offense, the Dutchmen featured a balanced attack and solid defense.

On Sept. 27th, the Eagles will travel north to King's. The Monarchs won the 2024 MAC Championship and advanced to the second round of the Division III National Tournament. In leading the that offense, Radnor native Russell Minor-Shaw threw for 29 touchdowns and ran for 13 more. Minor-Shaw accounted for four touchdowns in each of the last two seasons against Eastern. While the Monarch offense will have to look different, the defense and special teams should continue to be good and keep the Monarchs near the top of the league.

After a bye week, the Eagles will return home to take on Delaware Valley for Homecoming on Oct. 11. A perennial power in the MAC, the Aggies will likely feature a run-heavy offense and a stout defense. Before last fall, the Aggies had not lost a league game since 2016.

An Oct. 18 home game against Albright starts the second half of the season. The Eagles have wins over Albright in each of the last two seasons. The following two weeks, the Eagles will travel to opposite ends of 476. On Oct. 25, the Eagles will go up the Northeast Extension to take on Misericordia. Eastern pulled away to 31-10 over the Cougars last fall.

On Nov. 1, the Eagles will go down the Blue Route to Chester in search of their first win against Widener. With tiebreakers, the Pride earned a spot in the Centennial-MAC Bowl series. This year's game starts a stretch of three games where the Eagles will take on teams that finished 5-4 in the MAC last fall.

After playing at Widener, the Eagles will celebrate their seniors on Nov. 8 in their home finale against FDU-Florham. Last year, Eastern rallied from a 33-14 halftime deficit to beat the Devils on the final day of the season. FDU had 40 seniors or graduate students on the roster last fall. With the program in just its third year, Eastern's senior day will be the program's first attempt to recognize multiple players.

The regular season wraps up at Stevenson. The Eagles used a pair of Brett Nabb touchdown scampers to pull away from the Mustangs for a 24-14 win last fall. In 2023, Stevenson needed overtime to secure a spot in the Centennial-MAC Bowl series with a 26-23 win.

The MAC Champion will earn the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The top three teams in the MAC not to qualify for the NCAA Championships will receive bids to the play in the Centennial-MAC Bowl series.

All ten of Eastern's games will be streamed on MAC TV. Home games will feature the call from the Jakib Media crew. That same crew will also stream audio for away games.