Eighth-year Allegheny head coach Mark Matlak believes the North Coast Athletic Conference Coaches’ preseason poll holds more weight this year than any in his tenure.

The rankings, which were released Wednesday, have the nationally-ranked Wabash Little Giants at the top, followed by Wooster, Wittenberg and Allegheny in the No. 4 spot.

“I think the coaches’ poll, this year more so than any other in my time at Allegheny, was really reflective of the teams,” said Matlak, who is 36-35 overall at AC. “I think the three Ws are clearly the cream of the crop in our league. They certainly have the most talent.

“I think particularly Wabash is a powerhouse football program at this point. All the other ones are muddled up from Allegheny on down. They could go in any order. Fortunately we ended up fourth in it. We have a long way to go, and it’s certainly a place to start off at.”

Wabash earned its top spot with 28 wins in the past 29 NCAC contests and four straight conference titles. Wooster was last year’s runner-up and had its last title in 2004.

Wittenberg was a conference co-champion in 2006, but the Tigers fell to the Gators in 2008.

Allegheny is followed by Denison, Ohio Wesleyan, Hiram and Oberlin tied for seventh, Earlham and Kenyon.

The Gators were 5-5 overall in 2008, 4-3 in the NCAC with wins over Ohio Wesleyan, Wittenberg, Kenyon and Oberlin. Their losses were to Wooster, Wabash and Denison in the conference.

In non-conference action, AC was 1-2 with a win over Juniata to open the season, and losses to Westminster (6-2) and Carnegie Mellon (41-14).

Key returning players include quarterback T.J. Salopek (1,624 yards, 11 TD, 11 INT); running backs Matt Deivert (led with 235 yards), Rodney Still, Eric Mastrogiacomo and Taylor O’Brien; fullback David Tate, receivers Jake Vite (led with 434 yards) and Terry Hartford (led with 4 TDs, also leading punt returner); placekicker Ryan Zipf; inside linebacker Andy Schleihauf (led with 89 tackles); free safety C.J. Bell (second in tackles, led with five INTs); and Saegertown native and starting cornerback Kyle Wilson (second in picks).

Key players lost were fullback Matt Cellini; receivers Pat Kahle, Bobby Burkes and Rob Carlisle; and linebacker Aaron Walter.

Salopek will be the definitive starting quarterback headed into the season, but Matlak is confident in the skills of backup David Strawser as well.

“I feel like T.J. Salopek’s been our quarterback for about a year-and-a-half now,” he said. “We probably were on the bottom of our league on the offensive side of things last year, but that certainly was not T.J.’s fault. He made some drastic improvements in the spring.

“David is also a capable backup and if we feel we need to make a change, we’ll do it.”

In addition to Wilson, Matlak expects all the local players to make an impact this year.