SAINT LOUIS – The Pioneer Football League's 33rd season launches with 10 games on the Week Zero schedule, including five Thursday night games. 

Of the 10 season-opening games this week eight of those are home openers and seven are first time matchups. The season gets underway with a 6 p.m., Thursday kickoff in Kentucky as Morehead State hosts Ohio Dominican. A 7 p.m., Thursday triple-header follows the season opener as Davidson, Presbyterian, and St. Thomas each open their home schedules. Drake, the defending PFL Champion, closes out Thursday's action with its season and home opener at 7:30 p.m. in Des Moines.

The league's opening weekend slate features one Friday outing as Marist travels to New Haven. Another four-game slate awaits on Saturday with Butler, Dayton, and Valparaiso opening at home before Stetson meets FCS nationally-ranked foe South Dakota State in the nightcap. 

This Week's Schedule

THURSDAY, AUGUST 27	Kickoff	Series	Streak	Last Meeting
Ohio Dominican at Morehead State	6 PM	1st Meeting
Concord at Davidson	7 PM	1st Meeting
UVA Wise at Presbyterian	7 PM	PC leads, 2-0	PC, W2	Presbyterian def. UVA Wise, 56-7 (10/28/2000)
Winona State at St. Thomas	7 PM	1st Meeting
South Dakota Mines at Drake	7:30 PM	1st Meeting
FRIDAY, AUGUST 28
Marist at New Haven	6 PM	MU leads, 1-0	MU, W1	Marist def. New Haven, 31-14 (8/29/2025)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 29
Fairmont State at Dayton	Noon	1st Meeting
Georgetown (Ky.) at Butler	1 PM	BU leads, 10-1	BU, W7	Butler def. Georgetown (Ky.) 31-21 (9/17/1994)
Lawrence Tech at Valparaiso	2 PM	1st Meeting
Stetson at #3/3 South Dakota State	7 PM	1st Meeting

PFL Notes

• The PFL welcomes two new head coaches in 2026: Drake's Matt Walker and Presbyterian's Matt Rahl. The league has seen 9 of its 11 head coaches join the league in the past three seasons. St. Thomas head coach Glenn Caruso becomes the dean of PFL head coaches as he begins his sixth PFL season and 17th at St. Thomas. Dayton head coach Trevor Andrews starts his fourth season as Dayton's head coach, making him the league's second-longest tenured head coach. 
• San Diego is the PFL preseason favorite by a narrow margin in the league's preseason coaches' poll. The Toreros received five first-place votes and 90 points in the poll. Drake was picked second with five first-place votes and 88 points. St. Thomas earned the third-place note with 87 points, as the only team to earn a spot in the Top 3 on all 10 possible ballots. 
• Dayton, which was picked fourth in the league's preseason coaches' poll, had the PFL's representatives on the Walter Payton and Buck Buchanan Award Preseason Watch Lists, presented by Stats Perform. All-purpose back Gavin Lochow and defensive lineman Mirko Jaksic, both returning First Team All-Pioneer Football League selections, earned the preseason recognition. 
• Lochow and Jaksic are two of just seven returning First Team All-PFL selections. The other five returning first teamers are San Diego running back Adam Criter, St. Thomas fullback Luke Schuler, Butler offensive lineman Charles Mackley, San Diego offensive lineman Maicah Talavou, and San Diego punter Emiliano Salazar.
• Salazar, the reigning PFL Special Teams Player of the Year, was one of 14 selections to the 2026 FCS Punter of the Year Watch List and one of 15 FCS placekickers named to the 18th annual Fred Mitchell Award Watch List. 
• Last season, there were 10 PFL alumni on NFL rosters, with seven on active 53-man rosters and three listed on reserve, injured, or practice rosters. Additionally, PFL alumni were featured on the rosters of the Canadian Football League and the United Football League during their respective 2025 seasons.

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