By Mike London
mike.london@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — Lots of returners, lots of transfer-portal additions and lots of optimism around town and in the Catawba coaching offices.

Catawba’s football team is thrilled to finally get things started on Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Davidson.

That’s a prestigious opening opponent. The Indians haven’t seen the Wildcats in nine years.

Adding to the excitement — Catawba is the opponent chosen for Davidson’s first home game in the new, 5,000-seat Davidson College Stadium.

The Wildcats (0-1) played on the road at Georgetown last week and did not fare well, getting trampled for 263 rushing yards and losing 46-24.

But Davidson went 7-4 last season and was one of the better teams in the Pioneer League, a non-scholarship conference that competes at the FCS level.

“Non-scholarship” doesn’t mean that Davidson can’t recruit really good high school football players who want a really good education. Davidson doesn’t give football scholarships, but it can grant need-based and merit-based scholarships to excellent athletes who have the academic credentials to be accepted by Davidson.

While playing Davidson in football isn’t quite the same thing as it would be for Catawba’s men’s basketball team to be taking on the Wildcats, it still will be a challenging game on the home field of a well-drilled squad with smart players and a stout running game.

Davidson runs the ball — a lot. Its two best players may be running backs Mari Adams and 220-pound Mason Sheron. They are horses.

Davidson is a 7-point favorite on Saturday, according to the Massey Ratings, but Catawba is given a 35 percent chance of winning, so it won’t be a shock-the-world situation if the Indians pull it out.

As far as depth of talent, Catawba, with a full D-II roster, probably has some  advantages.

Catawba hasn’t played Davidson since 2015, when the Indians played well at Richardson Stadium and clearly were the better team in a 35-21 victory.

Catawba trails the series 16-7, but it has won the last five meetings.

The series started back in 1910.