GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College football team is on their way to Mississippi and the second round of the 2008 NCAA Division II Playoffs. The Pioneers (9-3) left campus Friday morning as 75 members of the campus and Greeneville community assembled to bid the team farewell and wish them good luck as Tusculum travels to Cleveland, Miss. to take on fourth-ranked Delta State University.

Tusculum departed via Greene Coach bus charter to the Tri-Cities airport. The team, coaches and athletic staff will board a charter jet and fly to Greenville, Miss. where they will again board charter buses to take them to Cleveland.

The Pioneers are scheduled to practice this afternoon at Parker Field-McCool Stadium in preparation for Saturday's 1 p.m. (EST) kickoff. It will be the first meeting between the two programs. Tusculum (No. 4 seed in NCAA Super Region 2) rallied with 20 points in the fourth quarter in a 34-22 win over Albany State University. Delta State, the top seed in Super Region Two, earned a bye through the first round.

Radio coverage of Saturday's game can be heard locally in Greeneville and world wide on the Internet on the Pioneer Sports Network. Fans can listen on WSMG 1450-AM in Greeneville and on the Internet at www.tusculumpioneers.com and www.redzonemedia.com. The "Voice of the Pioneers" Brian Stayton, along with Justin Jeffers and Joe Byrd will describe all the action. The pre-game show begins at 11:45 a.m. (EST).
The winner of Saturday's game will advance to next week's region final and face the winner of the North Alabama/Valdosta State game.

- TC -