Westfield State football coach Pete Kowalsi participated in the MASCAC media day conference call last Thursday. Kowalski called in from the Owls conference room overlooking the Alumni Field stadium. (Photo courtesy Westfield State Sports)
WESTFIELD – Westfield State head football coach Pete Kowalski joined his peers in the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference’s first virtual media day, as reporters from New England and national media outlets joined via conference call as the league coaches previewed their seasons.
The media day was held in conjunction with the MASCAC’s release of the preseason coaches’ poll. Westfield was picked to finish eighth in the nine-team league, while defending champion Framingham State was picked at the top of the poll again this year.
The coaches were unanimous in applauding the conference call format to give the league more publicity, and in wishing their league mates good health throughout the ongoing pre-season camps.
Coach Kowalski called the MASCAC a “line of scrimmage league – if you can’t run the ball or stop the run, you’re in trouble. It’s a great league and I think around the league there are great coaching staffs. It’s tough to outcoach our opponents so we have to out work them.”
Fitchburg State head coach Patrick Haverty said that the MASCAC “has great talent, the teams are well coached, and every week each team has the opportunity to win. Over the next few years I think the MASCAC will garner more respect as a league across the country.”
Western Connecticut head coach Joe Loth wished each of the MASCAC teams good luck in all the early non-conference games, noting that winning games against the other leagues in the Northeast was a way for the league to enhance its reputation.
Kowalski noted that his Owls team will be young this year.
“Coach Kelley, welcome to my world,” Kowalski noted after Framingham’s Tom Kelley said that he was honored to see his Rams picked number one, but he thought the Rams would be very young this season.
Kowalski’s Owls number just four seniors and 19 juniors on a roster that is down to 89 players after almost two weeks of preseason. “Overall we are young, and looking to get as much experience as we can in our scrimmage and our two non-conference games, but we’re excited and looking forward, healthy and ready to play,” said Kowalski.
Westfield State begins the 2016 season with a home game at Alumni Field against non-conference opponent Nichols College on Friday, September 2 at 7:00 p.m. – Courtesy of Westfield State Sports
