Panthers have much to prove in football opener

Even though Virginia Union will begin this football season with its third coach in three seasons, the Panthers hardly seem distracted.

Two weeks ago, the Panthers put in a hard day of drills without complaint. The offense appeared to click and the defense looked steady.

That's good news for first-year coach Michael Bailey.

Bailey, who doubles as the school's athletic director, is hoping all the hard work pays off when the Panthers open what they hope will be a season of redemption at 7 tonight at Hovey Field against East Stroudsburg.

"We watched film of our game against them last year, so we feel very comfortable about game plan against them," said linebacker Hurley Hemphill, who led VUU's defense last year. "We won't approach this game any differently that we do any other.

"We aren't sleeping on anybody. But I feel we really need to win this game to set the right tone for the season."

All-conference linebacker Steve Johnson agreed.

"This game is really big for us," Johnson said. "It will tell us a lot of what we need to work on. We know it's going to be a tough game."

Hemphill and Johnson must lead by example for the Panthers to better their preseason ranking. The CIAA coaches predicted them to finish no better than fifth.

"We aren't concerned about our ranking," Hemphill said. "We have to earn respect from everybody in the league.

"We do our part, then the offense will do their part. We have enough returning people to make us good on both sides of the ball. We'll get the job done. We expect a lot of ourselves."

Virginia Union, which limped Away from the 2008 season with a 5-5 record, faces a tough East Stroudsburg team in this non-conference matchup. The Panthers suffered a narrow 14-11 loss in a defensive battle at East Stroudsburg in last year's season-opener.

For the Panthers, who lost four of their last five games last season, it's paramount that they get off on the right foot. With so many questions surrounding the offense, particularly with all-CIAA quarterback Lamar Little gone, the Panthers will lean heavily on a defense that arguably has the best linebacker corps in the conference.

Johnson and Hemphill will enter tonight's game driven by their desire to prove to everyone in the conference that last year's late collapse was simply an aberration.

"We just lost our momentum," Hemphill said, "and we couldn't get it back. But this is a new season and we have a new attitude."