This post sponsored by Beeze Tees.

RINDGE, N.H. (September 16, 2021) -- The Franklin Pierce University football team is set to open its second season of Northeast-10 Conference play on Saturday night, when the Ravens welcome American International College to Sodexo Field, for the lone night kickoff of the 2021 campaign, sponsored by Beeze Tees.

The Ravens will look to “Black Out” Sodexo Field on Saturday night, and all fans in attendance are encouraged to wear black apparel to the game. Black t-shirts will be available to the first 100 members of the Franklin Pierce community in attendance, with their valid University ID.

Franklin Pierce has suffered a pair of losses in non-conference contests to open the season, and will look to get into the win column against an AIC squad which has gone 2-0 out of the gate. The Yellow Jackets have had two wildly different games thus far, as they slogged to a 14-9 win at Millersville to open the season and then bettered NE10 opponent Pace in a non-conference shootout last week, also on the road, 40-33. AIC went 4-6 (3-5 NE10) in 2019.

Junior EJ Burgess (Pearland, Texas) has emerged as the focal point of the Franklin Pierce offense on the young season. The running back has averaged more than 100 yards per game on the ground over the opening two games, while rushing for a pair of touchdowns as well. The Lone Star State native also has a team-best 10 catches to go with another touchdown through the air.

As for AIC, keep an eye on junior quarterback Jayson Demild, who has thrown for 514 yards (257 per game) and six touchdowns over two games for the Yellow Jackets. His favorite target thus far has been senior Samad Davila, who has a team-high seven catches for 67 yards, while freshman Jaheim McGuire has hauled in four catches for a team-best 157 yards and two scores.

When the two teams met in October of 2019, Davila (132 yards) and Chase Speller (107) both rushed for more than 100 yards to lead the Yellow Jackets to a 34-12 victory at Abdow Field in Springfield, Mass.

This weekend marks the first week of conference play around the NE10. Elsewhere, Southern Connecticut State will host Saint Anselm on Friday night, while Saturday afternoon sees Assumption host Pace and Stonehill pay a visit to Bentley. New Haven has the lone non-conference game on the schedule, as the Chargers will host Bowie State.