Southern Virginia Athletics: Knight’s Football
By Dillon Seawright
With the start of the fall season underway, and the leaves begining to change, Knight’s football season is nearing it’s fifth week of play and second conference game.
So far, in the season, the Knight’s football team record remains 0-4. Despite this rocky start, the team is looking to turn things around mid-season.
On Thursday, September 1, the Knights first game was held at home. Although the Knights were going strong with a 13-7 lead in the second quarter, the team ultimately fell short with a 52-27 score.
For their second game, on September 10, the Knights traveled to play Bridgewater. The Knights opened the game with a strong defensive presence, ending the first quarter 0-0. Throughout the rest of the game, the Knights made several key mistakes which lead to a final score of 58-10 (Bridgewater).
On September 17, the Knights traveled in their biggest challenge of the season, competing against Randolph-Macon College (18th ranked in DIII Top 25). The Knights came out playing tough, ending the first quarter with a 3-0 lead, holding Randolph-Macon to their first scoreless quarter of the year. By halftime, the Knights were only down 19-13. Randolph-Macon, in return, responded with three touchdowns in the 3rd quarter. The final resulted in a 47-20 loss for the Knights.
Head Coach Edwin Mulitalo, when asked about the Randolph-Macon game, said he was proud of the fight the team showed; the first half showed that our team can play with anybody, we just have to have enough discipline to put it all together in four quarters.
When asking Mulitalo what he sees in his team for the rest of the season, he responded saying the goals haven’t changed from the start of the season: win the conference.
Headed into week four, Southern Virginia had a chance to start conference play with a win against opponent North Carolina Wesleyan. The game started out with a strong defensive; the Knights shutting out N.C. Wesleyan, and holding them to a 6-0 lead at the half. Starting out the third quarter, the Knights scored making the score 13-0 N.C. Wesleyan responded with a touchdown of their own, making it a 13-6 game. In the fourth quarter, N.C. Wesleyan scored a touchdown taking the lead of 14-13. Southern Virginia got the ball back late in the game with a chance to go ahead with under two minutes left the Knights drove the ball all the way down the field. Then fourth down came and the Knights brought out the field goal unit with a chance to take a late lead but the kick went right and the Knights lost 14-13.
Looking at the rest of the season, the key for the Knights football team is to be consistent throughout a whole game, limiting mistakes and capitalizing on opportunities.
Some key players to watch lead this team on the offensive side is junior quarterback Colton Shumway (‘24), receiver Senior Captain Chase Wester (‘23), along with Jacob Wood (‘25)(who leads the team in rushing yards). On the defensive side of the ball, look for defensive lineman and Captain Kymani Vaivai (‘25), freshman defensive lineman Maikeli Tuinakauvadra (‘26), and Colby Hyder (’24) junior linebacker and leader on the team in tackles.
