La Plume, Pa. – Football is returning to Keystone College! After a decades-long hiatus, Keystone will expand its athletic offerings by adding football as its newest varsity sport.   

The Giants will now begin the process of hiring a coaching staff to begin recruiting and accepting applications for student-athletes wanting to play NCAA Division III varsity football. The 2018-19 academic year will be a year of preparation and training for the coaches and players, as well as the recruitment of additional student-athletes. 

The Giants will take the field for their first games in the fall of 2019, playing a limited schedule as an independent team not affiliated with any conference. Keystone will seek an affiliation with a Division III football conference and will play a complete schedule beginning in the fall of 2020. Keystone will remain a member of the Colonial States Athletic Conference for all other varsity sports.

The Giants will play their home games at the school's Athletic Field and Track Complex, which opened in 2014. Located nearby is the Eckel Family Pavilion and the entrance to the new Trolley Trail hiking and biking trail, making the eastern edge of the campus a popular gathering place for the college community and the local community. Plans also call for a new field house to be constructed near the athletic field for use by the football program and other Keystone athletic teams.

While football will be a new experience for current students and fans, Keystone has a proud football tradition. The team competed in football in the 1890s as Keystone Academy and the program ended in 1947. In addition to baseball, Hall of Fame pitcher Christy Mathewson was a member of the Keystone football squad from 1895-1897. Thus, the new football program continues a proud gridiron tradition as it becomes Keystone's 22nd varsity sport. The college's most recently added sports include men's and women's lacrosse, wrestling, and women's golf.

Those sports have proven to be successful and productive for student-athletes. Football became the next logical step to continue the growth of the Keystone student-athlete experience. In addition to the games themselves, football on campus will provide an enjoyable and uplifting experience for everyone associated with the college and will bring people together to socialize and share common experiences.  

"We are so excited to reintroduce football as our next varsity sport," said Keystone President David L. Coppola, Ph.D. "This will be a wonderful experience not only for the student-athletes who come here to continue their education and compete on the NCAA  Division III level but for our entire student body and alumni as well. We can't wait to get started and we look forward to the day when we cheer for the Giants as they take the field for the very first time."

 The new program will provide an opportunity for local students, and those from other areas, to continue participating in a sport that has such a long history in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Nationally, the introduction of football programs has expanded as 71 colleges or universities have introduced new programs since 2008, according to the National Football Foundation (NFF).

"Since 1976 when the NCAA changed its method for tracking figures, the number of schools playing NCAA football has steadily increased by 184 schools from 484 in 1978 to a record high 668 in 2016," the NFF reported. 

Enrolling about 1,400 students, Keystone offers more than 40 undergraduate and graduate degree options in liberal arts and science-based programs in business, communications, education, fine arts, natural science, environmental resource management, geology, and social sciences. Located 15 minutes from Scranton, Pa. and two hours from New York City and Philadelphia, Keystone is known for small class sizes and individual attention focused on student success through internships, research, and community involvement.