Football fans in Warrenton won’t have to wait until the high school season beings to get their gridiron fix.

The St. Charles Cyclones, a semi-pro member of the Great Midwest Football League, plans to make Warrenton its new home.

The team will begin playing in Warrenton this Saturday, as it hosts the Nashville Storm at Black Hawk Middle School at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $5 per person.

Quarterback and team spokesperson Mike McMullen says the team is excited about the transition and plans to change its name to the Warren County Cyclones by the 2011 season.

“We’re really hoping to get the community behind us,” said McMullen. “Hopefully we can get some local kids back into football.”

McMullen says a networking effort between one of the coaches and local businessman Scott Costello helped spur the move. The team had trouble keeping a consistent home field while playing closer to the city.

“In St. Louis there are so many fields that get filled up quickly,” said McMullen.

Costello sees this as a prime opportunity for the school district to reap the benefit of having a turf facility.

“Hopefully this will help some people who were skeptical to see the undeniable benefits of this (turf) project,” said Costello.

McMullen says the team is also looking to build its fan base.

“In St. Charles there are so many teams and so much going on that the people don’t support our team,” said McMullen. “We thought it was in our best interest to go somewhere else.”

The program has been in existence since 2001. It spent the first few seasons playing in St. Charles, before moving to Vandalia for the 2004 and 2005 seasons.

The Cyclones returned to St. Charles in 2005 and have had several different home fields. They most recently played their home games at Christian Brothers College.

McMullen says the ultimate plan is to use the new turf field being finished at Warrenton High School.

The surface is expected to be finished by Aug. 6, and the first varsity football contest will be on Sept. 3 versus Duchesne.

McMullen says the Cyclones want to the give the Warrenton football team a chance to play on the field first.

“When the playoffs start, we’d like to play on it,” said McMullen. “But the field belongs to those kids, and we want them to have the chance to play on it first.”

The school district will benefit from the Cyclones using the field on two different levels. 

McMullen says the program will pay $700 per game to use the Black Hawk Middle School field. Plus, the Big Red Boosters will operate concessions at each home game and will be able to keep 100 percent of the proceeds.

McMullen says the team is also focused on developing its relations within the community with other projects, including helping out with the Little League program.

“We wanted somewhere where we could give back to the community,” said McMullen. “ ... For kids who want to continue playing, this is a perfect opportunity. They can come out and play, build up some film and send it out to colleges.”

McMullen says the team encourages local athletes who are at least 18 years old and no longer in high school to try out. There is no binding contract and players are not paid, so they do not sacrifice their college eligibility.

“This is kind of like a junior college for some kids coming out of high school who haven’t matured enough yet,” said McMullen. “You can make a statement and try to sell yourself to colleges.”

McMullen says the Cyclones have been an outlet for some players to get noticed by colleges. Last season the team had a player get signed by Cleveland Browns.

Most of the players are from the St. Louis area, and the most notable name is probably Zack Abron, who was a starting running back for Mizzou.

For more information about the team, visit www.stcharlescyclones.com.