70th UAAP football season kicks off at Ateneo Sunday

UAAP Football Schedule Sunday, January 13 9 am - opening ceremonies Men's Ateneo College Field 1 10 am - UP vs ADMU 1 pm - FEU vs UE 3 pm - UST vs DLSU Women's Ateneo College Field 2 1 pm - UST vs DLSU 3 pm - UP vs ADMU The 70th UAAP Football season will officially kick off on Sunday at the Ateneo football field with games that will surely draw the interest of college football fans. The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Booters, this year's defending champs, will open their title defense against La Salle at 3 p.m. to cap a three-game bill on Sunday at the Erenchun Field in Ateneo. The Tigers will be without most of their veterans so they will rely on reigning MVP Ricardo Becite and last season’s Best Rookie David Basa. "Kaya we are taking it one game at a time," second-year UST coach Marjo Allado said. "Hindi muna namin hinahangad ang championship." After the 9 a.m. opening ceremonies, the University of the Philippines (UP) takes on Ateneo at 10 a.m., while FEU, last season’s losing finalist, squares off with UE at 1 p.m. In women’s action, the title race will certainly be tighter as traditional powerhouse De La Salle University (DLSU) returns to action. Hans Smit, the men’s and women’s teams coach, downplayed the youthful Lady Archers’ chances, which boast of 16 rookies. In games Sunday, DLSU plays UST at 1 p.m., while UP and Ateneo battle at 3 p.m. at the Ateneo’s Ocampo Field. The defending champions FEU Lady Booters will start their bid to keep the women’s championship versus Ateneo this coming Wednesday. First round games for the men's and women's football tournament will last up to January 27 while the second round games will last up to February 14. The championship game for both the men's and women's football will start on February 17 (Sunday) also at the Ateneo football field. In other developments, a demonstration sport, juniors’ football, debuts on Saturday with De La Salle-Zobel and FEU opening competition at 1 p.m. at the Ateneo Erenchun field. The other game pitting Ateneo and UST is set 3 p.m. Aside from soccer, other UAAP events that will open this weekend include softball at the UST field and lawn tennis at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center. A fifth straight softball championship will be the Lady Falcons’ goal when they open their bid against the Lady Archers at 9 a.m. Saturday, while UST shoots for another sweep when tennis gets going at the RMTC this weekend. - GMANews.TV