After a two-week layoff, the University of La Verne football squad returns to action when it faces Linfield College Saturday in the Leopards' home opener at Ortmayer Stadium.

Kickoff time for Saturday's game is 12:30 pm.

A perennial power in the West Region, Linfield reached the NCAA semifinals last season before falling to eventual national champion Wisconsin-Whitewater.  The Wildcats began the season ranked 4th in the d3football.com Top 25 poll.

"We simply embrace the challenge," said La Verne head coach Andy Ankeny.  "Their history and tradition speak for itself.  They are one of the top teams in the country and we're going to prepare as best we can for Saturday's game."

Both the Leopards and Wildcats enjoyed bye weeks after opening game losses.   La Verne fell to Azusa Pacific 59-14 in its season opener on Sept. 11.  Linfield is making its second trip to Southern California in three weeks after a 47-42 defeat to Cal Lutheran in Thousand Oaks, also on Sept. 11.  The loss was the first in 22 games for the Wildcats against teams from California since 1998.

Linfield, currently ranked #16 in the latest d3football.com poll, is led offensively by veteran quarterback Aaron Broehme.  The senior threw for 361 and four touchdowns against the Kingsmen.  Receiver Diedre Wiersma caught nine passes for 132 yards in the loss to CLU.

"A big strength for Linfield's offense is their quarterback," said Ankeny.  "He does a great job of executing their offense.  A challenge for our team defensively is to stop the run and negate big plays."

One bright spot in the Leopards' setback to the Cougars was the rushing of sophomore Erek Brown, who totaled 110 yards in the season opener.  Quarterback Josh Ross passed for 95 yards, completing 12 of 25 pass attempts against APU.

"The bye week helped for us," said Ankeny.  "We were able to clean up a few things with the extra week and we look to improve how we execute."