The Iowa Community College Athletic Conference recently released its 2021 spring football schedules.

Every squad across the country is limited to eight regular-season games. The three ICCAC teams – Ellsworth Community College, Iowa Central Community College and Iowa Western Community College - will play a home and away game against each other. Outside of those four games, they will play four non-conference games.

For second-year Panther head coach Mitchell Kleinschrodt, they are just happy to get on the field and play again.

"I'm definitely happy about it. I think regardless of who we played, it didn't matter. We just want to play football. Whatever games they would have stuck in front of us, we would have been just fine with it," Kleinschrodt said. "Now that we have some dates to work on, we kind of work backward in a sense to create our next schedule and our plan for the next seven months and how we get prepared for that season and get these guys on the right track."

The renovated season gives squads an opportunity to face teams they never would have before. Since the 2014 season, the Panthers and the other ICCAC teams have had eight dates reserved for their agreement with the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. One of those new teams is Arkansas Baptist. The two have played each other twice, the last time in 2013. The Panthers will host perennial top-25 squad Snow College and an upstart program out of Southern University at Shreveport (SUSLA).

"I think everyone is ready to play," said Kleinschrodt. "But, all things in life are worth waiting for and I think this will be a good opportunity to see just how good we can be before we get strapped up March 1 and start practice then."

For the full schedule and more on the upcoming season, visit http://www.timescitizen.com/sports/spring-football-schedules-released-with-ecc-facing-new-blood/article_7e9908e6-e7cf-11ea-a560-ffdfc7d8f3ef.html