Hopes are high for the Wartburg football team heading into Saturday’s season opener at Monmouth of Illinois. After back-to-back trips to the national semifinals The Knights are ranked fourth in the NCAA Division III preseason poll and coach Chris Winter says a run defense that gave up less than 50 yards per game last season looks solid, again.

A new quarterback will lead an offense that expects to be good up front.

Several key players graduated from last year but a number of reserves who have played a lot of football will step into those spots.