Colonels

Every autumn Wilkes travels the short distance to Wilkes-Barre to face King's College.

The program dates to 1946, when George Ralston took over as head coach and ran the table at 6-0 in his first year. It played then as the Golden Horde, a name later dropped for Colonels. Games are held at Schmidt Stadium, part of the Ralston Athletic Complex named for that founding coach.

The best of it came under Frank Sheptock, still the winningest coach in school history. His 2006 side went 19-4, won the MAC Freedom Conference and reached the NCAA Division III playoffs, a run that included a 42-0 beating of Washington & Lee. That title was the third of only three the Colonels have collected in the Freedom Conference, the earlier two coming in 1974 and 1993.

Wilkes left the Freedom Conference for the Landmark Conference in 2023. Sheptock's tenure is remembered as much for what it produced off the field as on it: 12 All-Americans coached under him.