The Western Carolina Catamounts have added the Presbyterian Blue Hose and the Elon Phoenix to their future football schedules, FBSchedules.com has learned.
Copies of contracts for both opponents were obtained from Western Carolina University via a state public records request.
Western Carolina and Presbyterian have signed a contract for a single game at Western Carolina’s E.J. Whitmire Stadium in Cullowhee, N.C., on September 17, 2022. Western Carolina will pay Presbyterian a $95,000 guarantee for the contest, according to the copy of the contract.
Western Carolina and Presbyterian first met on the gridiron in 1950 and have played a total of 19 contests. In their most recent meeting in 2015, Western Carolina defeated Presbyterian 33-21 to take a one-game lead in the overall series, 10-9.
Presbyterian, currently a member of the Big South Conference, announced last November that they are phasing out scholarships and will move to the non-scholarship Pioneer Football League beginning with the 2021 season. All other Presbyterian sports will continue to compete in the Big South.
Western Carolina and Elon will compete in a home-and-home series in 2024 and 2025. Elon will host the first game of the series at Rhodes Stadium in Elon, N.C., on September 28, 2024, before the series concludes at E.J. Whitmire Stadium on September 13, 2025.
Elon leads the overall series with Western Carolina 24-17-2. The two schools haven’t met since a 2013 contest in Cullowhee, which Western Carolina won 27-24 to snap a seven-game losing streak to the Phoenix.
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