One of the best opening-night games in 2012 was Charlotte at St. Johns. The host Redwings scored a touchdown and added the two-point conversion late in the game to escape with a 21-20 win and fuel a regular-season run that ended with a playoff berth.
This year St. Johns makes the trip to Charlotte on Thursday Aug. 29 and the host Orioles will be looking to snap a seven-game winless streak against St. Johns.
The visiting Redwings were hit hard by graduation and will be breaking in several new starters. St. Johns does return senior running back T.J. Havens who paced the Redwing ground attack last fall.
Charlotte returns a host of players from last year’s squad but must replace three-year starting quarterback Ryan Bartolacci. The Orioles return a trio of all-conference linemen up front and have a defense with a pair of all-conference linebackers back in Colton Walser and C.J. VanAlstine.