The University of West Alabama department of athletics has announced its 2010 football schedule, which features five home and away games along with a neutral site contest in Demopolis.

UWA, which is coming off its best season in 34 years, opens the 2010 slate on Saturday, Aug. 28 against NAIA member Shorter College at Demopolis High School. The Demopolis City Board of Education recently approved UWA to play its season opener at DHS with a unanimous vote.

“The way all this transpired is that the mayor of Demopolis came to me before Christmas and asked if we wanted to play a football game there. I talked with our president (Richard Holland) and our provost (David Taylor) and Coach (Bobby) Wallace,” UWA Director of Athletics, Dr. E. J. Brophy said. “We decided it would be a good idea to accept the invitation and felt it was a good way to thank our great friends in Demopolis for all they do for the University of West Alabama. This was not merely an athletic department decision, but rather a total university decision. Demopolis has a nice facility, and Marengo County has the second-highest UWA alumni base of any county in the United States.”

The Tigers’ first road contest comes the following week as the Red and White travels to the University of Arkansas at Monticello before returning for two consecutive home games against Lambuth (Sept. 18) and West Georgia (Sept. 23).

UWA begins the month of October with two straight road games, visiting Delta State (Oct. 2) and Harding (Oct. 9). The Tigers return to Tiger Stadium on Oct. 16, welcoming Henderson State to the Livingston campus for Homecoming 2010, followed by Arkansas Tech (Oct. 23) and rounding out the month at Southern Arkansas on Oct. 30.

The final two regular season games on the slate are a Nov. 6 meeting at North Alabama before concluding the schedule on Nov. 13 at home against Valdosta State.

The Gulf South Conference retains the right to change dates and opponents on the schedule due to potential television implications. All game times will be set at a later date.