LANCASTER, Pa. – Muhlenberg has been selected as the favorite to repeat in the 2021 Centennial Conference Football Preseason Poll. In a vote among CC head coaches and athletic communications directors, the Mules received 10 of the 20 first-place votes. Johns Hopkins and Susquehanna both secured five first-place votes apiece. 

Muhlenberg, which captured the 2019 CC title, compiled a total of 151 points to land atop the preseason voting. Hopkins (144) edged Susquehanna (143) by the narrowest of margins to place second in the poll. 

Franklin & Marshall was projected to finish fourth with 109 points, followed by Dickinson (90) and Ursinus (86) in fifth and sixth, respectively. Moravian was picked seventh at 73 points, with McDaniel (45), Juniata (30) and Gettysburg (29) rounding out the voting. 

The Centennial preseason poll has predicted the Conference champion in 20 of the last 22 years. 

The 2021 season kicks off on Friday, Sept. 3 with Ursinus hosting Alvernia in a non-conference contest under the lights. All nine other CC squads open up play on Saturday, Sept. 4 with non-conference matchups. Conference plays begins on Saturday, Sept. 11, with the final day of the regular season set for Saturday, Nov. 13. 

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After a year-long hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Centennial Conference football returns this fall. A talented crop of teams will look to return to the high-level of play that has witnessed some of the most successful seasons in conference history in recent years.

In 2019, Muhlenberg captured its 11th CC title and went on to become just the third team in conference history to advance to the NCAA semifinals. The Mules (13-1) set a new conference record for single season victories, completing a perfect CC regular season and rolling past MIT, Brockport State and Salisbury in the NCAA Tournament before falling to eventual national champion North Central (Ill.) in the semis. 

In 2018, both Johns Hopkins and Muhlenberg reached the NCAA quarterfinals, marking the first time ever that the Centennial had two programs reach the final eight in the same season. The CC has also seen recent postseason success in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series, boasting a perfect 8-0 record over the past three iterations of the annual postseason series with the nearby Middle Atlantic Conference. 

At least 16 All-Centennial selections will be back on the gridiron this fall, with the potential for more as final rosters continue to be published by CC teams. Headlining the list of returning players is Muhlenberg quarterback Michael Hnatkowsky, a two-time All-CC performer who earned CC Offensive Player of the Year honors in 2019 after rewriting numerous single-season and career records. Already the conference's all-time leader in passing touchdowns (97), Hnatkowsky is just 1,649 yards shy of the career passing yards record. The southpaw enters 2021 having thrown at least one touchdown pass in 32 consecutive games, eight more than the next-closest quarterback in CC history. 

Additional All-CC performers returning for the Mules are DB John Washington (2019 1st team), LB Spencer Kirin (2019 honorable mention), and DB Nick Sirico (2019 honorable mention). 

Multiple-time all-conference performers back this fall include three-time All-CC pick Sam Ragland, RB, Ursinus (2019 1st team, 2018 1st team, 2017 HM), Macauley Kilbane, DB, Johns Hopkins (2019 1st team, 2018 1st team), Ryan Hubley, WR, Johns Hopkins (2019 2nd team, 2018 1st team), and Nick Petros, WR, Moravian (2019 HM, 2018 1st team). Entering his senior campaign, Ragland is already one of the most accomplished receiving running backs in CC history. He is the CC all-time leader in receiving yards by a running back (1,247), tied for first in career touchdowns receptions by a running back (10), and ranks second in career receptions by a running back (104). 

Susquehanna welcomes back four All-CC players - OL Dalton Simpson (2019 2nd team), PK Elijah Hoffman (2019 2nd team), WR Kyle Good (2019 HM), and OL Cole Spencer (2018 2nd team). Other returning all-stars include JHU WR Harrison Wellmann (2019 1st team), F&M RB Keshon Farmer (2019 2nd team), Moravian WR/KR Cory Little (2019 2nd team), and Gettysburg DL Alex Raimondo (2019 HM). 

A pair of new faces will coach their first games this season - Gettysburg's Maurice Banks and Juniata's Josh Carter. Both Banks and Carter were hired to their posts following the 2019 season, but have yet to officially coach a game due to the COVID-19 pandemic cancelling the 2020 season. Banks took over the Gettysburg program after stints at the Penn and Georgetown over a six-year span. Carter, a former two-sport star as an All-American football player and standout baseball player at Muhlenberg, spent six years as the special teams coordinator at Muhlenberg prior to becoming Juniata's head coach. 

A trio of CC squads received recognition in the D3football.com preseason national rankings, with Muhlenberg ranked 13th and Johns Hopkins and Susquehanna receiving votes. 

2021 Centennial Conference Football Preseason Poll