CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) announced the preseason coaches' poll for the upcoming 2025 football season. The coaches' poll picked the Spartans to finish in fourth place, the same spot they finished last year after a 5-5 (5-3 A-R-C) record in 2024.
Ryan Maiuri enters his second season as the Spartans head coach. One of the top offenses in Division III last season, the Spartans will be led by sophomore quarterback Joey Rhomberg. After a stellar freshman year where he played in nine total games, he tallied 1,650 passing yards with a 22/5 touchdown to interception ratio. Rhomberg will be one of the most exciting players in the conference to watch this season and will have senior wide receiver Dereck-Earl Saint-Hilaire on the outside, who tallied 28 receptions for 374 yards in 2024.
The Spartans return A-R-C second team senior defensive back Alex Rashid. Rashid tallied 37 tackles, as well as two interceptions and five pass breakups. He will share the secondary with fifth-year defensive back Landen Thomas. Spearheading the pass rush will be fifth-year defensive lineman Parker Navitsky and junior defensive lineman Joziah Perez. On special teams, A-R-C honorable mention sophomore kick/punt returner Blake Heffron returns to improve on a stellar freshman campaign where he averaged over 20 yards per return.
"We're thrilled to kick off another exciting football season and compete in the American Rivers Conference," wrote Maiuri. "Our two challenging non-conference matchups will test us early and help prepare us for conference play. The tremendous growth our team has shown throughout the off-season has us energized and ready to take the field. We can't wait to see what this season brings!"
The Spartans kick off the 2025 season on the road against (RV) UW-Stout on September 6 at 1:00 p.m. The Hall of Fame game will coincide with the Spartans home opener against UW-Platteville on September 13 at 6:00 p.m. A-R-C play begins with the Key City Clash and Senior Day against Loras College on September 20 at 1:00 p.m., as the Spartans look to conquer the Duhawks for a fourteenth consecutive season. After a road contest against Central College (Sept. 27, 1:00 p.m.), The Spartans return home against Nebraska Wesleyan University during Homecoming weekend (Oct 4, 2:00 p.m.). The Spartans will travel to Waverly for a pivotal contest against No. 9 Wartburg College on October 11 (1:30 p.m.), before Buena Vista travels for a 1:00 p.m. contest on October 18 at Chalmers Field. The Spartans travel to Simpson College on October 25th (1:00 p.m.), before playing their final home game against Coe College on November 1 (1:00 p.m.). The Spartans conclude the regular season with a trip to Decorah against Luther College (November 8, 12:00 p.m.).
The top conference record among the league's nine teams will get the automatic berth to the NCAA Division III Football Championships. The Spartans last made the Division III Football Championships in 2015.
Check out all the latest news, information, and updates from football via the University of Dubuque Athletics website at https://udspartans.com/sports/football.
