Apprentice School · Next-Season Outcome Band2018 National Club Football Association title
Builders beat Oakland 56-14 for the program's first national championship — a club, not NCAA, crown
Apprentice School0-3Verdict Begins·Offseason
The Builders of Newport News, the football team of a shipyard apprenticeship school founded in 1919, where the players are working welders and machinists who took the 2018 National Club Football Association title.
Standard GapA vocational school whose roster clocks into Newport News Shipbuilding —…
Apprentice School's players are real shipbuilders, not scholarship athletes, and the football world treats a trade-school team like it can't be taken seriously — then it won a national club championsh…
low signal
The Builders hold the line.
Apprentice School · Next-Season Outcome Band
Floor / Base / Ceiling
Floor 0-12
Base 0-12
Ceiling 3-9
floor0-12Rebuild year. Below .500.
base0-12Mid-table finish.
ceiling3-9Conference title race. Bracket qualifier in range.
Variance assumed at ±2 wins from last-season record. Replace with the season-path projection once preview data is built.
Recent Form · last 10 games · incl. 2024
Cold
One of five. The film room is busy this week.
Streak L3Last 5 · 1-4Last 10 · 3-7
The forecast
Opens Sep 5
vs Christopher Newport · away
Game Week
9 days
until kickoff · at Christopher Newport · Sat Sep 5 · 23:00 UTC
The experience
The Builders of Newport News, the football team of a shipyard apprenticeship school founded in 1919, where the players are working welders and machinists who took the 2018 National Club Football Association title.
DIVISION III · THE PATH TO THE STAGG BOWL
Apprentice School sits 2nd in the Independent DIII Conference and 240th of 240 in the CFB Zeitgeist — outside the at-large picture — the path runs through the conference title.
Independent DIII · 2025
| Team | Conf | Overall | Index | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keystone | 0-0 | 1-1 | 45.3 |
| 2 | Apprentice School | 0-0 | 0-3 | 25.9 |
| 3 | Wesley College | 0-0 | 0-0 | — |
25.9 CFB Zeitgeist#240 of 240 D343.0 strength of schedule
Win the Independent DIII Conference for the automatic berth into the 40-team NCAA Division III bracket. Miss it and the path is an at-large bid, selected by NPI — the metric the CFB Index mirrors. Six wins survive the bracket to the Stagg Bowl.
Source: CFB Zeitgeist — conference records + NPI-style rating from 2025 games · the field is 40 teams, NPI-selected
THE 2025 SEASON · 0-3
Signature win 19-20 over Methodist; toughest day 16-49 against North Carolina Wesleyan.
Community pulse
No high-engagement r/cfb discussions tracked for this program in the last year.
The Pulse on Apprentice School
—
The Builders hold the line.
What moved it — fall camp · last 14 days
Camp
Fall camp open — install + scrimmage cycle
ongoing
"Go Apprentice School"
— Apprentice School fanbase · recurring line
0 mentions · awaiting signal
Player stats — 2025 season
No player stats logged for this program yet — stats appear once the season is underway.
Apprentice School · 2025 schedule & results0-3
| Wk | Date | Us | Opp | Line | Opponent | Result | Record | Conf |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Sep 6 | — | — | — | @Southern Virginia | L 6–27 | 0-1 | 0-0 |
| 3 | Sep 13 | #565 | #556 | — | North Carolina Wesleyan | L 16–49 | 0-2 | 0-0 |
| 5 | Sep 27 | #595 | #622 | — | @Methodist | L 19–20 | 0-3 | 0-0 |
Home-Field Advantage · Apprentice School · 2018-present
Strong
40% home win rate vs 14% on the road. margin runs +11.2 better at home. Apprentice Field seats 800.
Home2-3Away1-6
Venue texture
74°F average kickoff temp; 0% of games had measurable precipitation; 7 mph average wind.
Based on 5 home games with weather data.
All-Time Record
3-10
since 2011 · 5 seasons · .230 win rate
HOME
2-3
AWAY
1-7
NEUTRAL
0-0
2010s
2020s
Program memory
What this program never forgets
Most weeks vanish. These didn’t.
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