Southern Virginia 28, Earlham 18
I'd photographed Earlham College's football team on the road twice previously in my tour of Indiana small-college football schools, and both times the results were not pretty.
In fact, entering the 2016 season, the Quakers were in the throes of a two-season-long victory drought. They had last won 21-20 at Anderson on Oct. 26, 2013.
On Sept. 1, 2016, I was hoping the Quakers would put up a good fight against Southern Virginia University at Darrell Beane Stadium, and by game’s end, it was fair to say they had done pretty well. But the outcome just wasn’t what the team would have preferred.
I'd never heard of Southern Virginia before, and I was interested in having a school I hadn't photographed previously as the opponent. Southern Virginia University is in Buena Vista, in the Blue Ridge Mountains. After finding the town of 6,650 people on a map, I would have described it as being more in the west central part of the state than southern, but that’s just me.
The oddity of Saturday’s opener was that the football teams at both schools had 0-10 records in 2015, and as noted above, Earlham also had gone winless in 2014. Sadly, this would ultimately lead to 2016 being the school's pe season of football (more about this below).
Southern Virginia opened the second half with its second longest drive — 53 yards on 11 plays — reaching the Earlham 1-yard line in doing so. The Knights were poised to take a three-touchdown lead, but on fourth and goal, Honeycutt tried another quarterback keeper. This time, Earlham linebacker Lajay Kelly stripped the ball from Honeycutt before the QB could cross the goal line. Kelly then picked up the loose ball and ran the length of the field for a touchdown, putting his team on the scoreboard. The extra point kick was blocked, however, leaving the score 14-6.
The rest of the third quarter was uneventful, except that Southern Virginia missed on another field goal attempt, but the fourth quarter saw both schools score twice.
Seth Hanson rushed for an 11-yard touchdown early in the quarter to widen Southern Virginia’s lead to 21-6, and two possessions later, Earlham scored again. On consecutive plays, quarterback Treylon Anderson and receiver Marcaus Cooper connected on passes of 30 and 10 yards, the latter netting a touchdown (another extra point failed) to reduce the Earlham deficit to 21-12.
Two possession later, Southern Virginia answered, this time on a 25-yard run by Michael Frye, boosting the visitors’ lead to 28-14. The Quakers responded on their next possession, and again it happened via an Anderson to Cooper pass — this time from 37 yards out. A two-point conversion attempt failed, so the score was 28-18.
The Quakers would play two more winless seasons, 2017 and 2018, at which time the team had lost 53 consecutive games. Following the school’s 70-6 drubbing by Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in the last game of the 2018 season, interim president Avis Stewart, a 1974 Earlham alumnus, announced that the following year’s season would be suspended and that the status of the whole program would be under a more thorough review “to examine the factors that are necessary to build and sustain a viable and competitive football program that would attract significant numbers of student-athletes to enroll in our college.”
In his announcement, Stewart hinted at three primary causes for the program’s suspension. He said Earlham had exhibited an “inability to field competitive teams” because it has not recruited a sufficient number of student-athletes to fill a roster. He also cited a need to ascertain appropriate program funding and hire a “highly qualified head coach.”
The oddity of Saturday’s opener was that the football teams at both schools had 0-10 records in 2015, and as noted above, Earlham also had gone winless in 2014. Sadly, this would ultimately lead to 2016 being the school's pe season of football (more about this below).
Southern Virginia scored on its first possession of the game. Lakeith Hopkins’ runs of 34 and 11 yards were key plays on the drive before quarterback Shawn Honeycutt ran the ball into the end zone from the 1-yard line. After an Earlham punt, the Knights put together a 55-yard drive that ended with a missed field goal.
Two interceptions and a fumble cut short Earlham drives in the second quarter, including one near the end of the half. The second interception came on the longest of those drives; the Quakers had reached the Knights’ 9-yard-line. But earlier, after recovering the fumble on Earlham’s 35-yard-line, Southern Virginia needed only five plays to get into the end zone. The touchdown came on a 3-yard run by Keenan Galeai, giving the Knights a 14-0 lead, and that was the score when the first half ended.
Two interceptions and a fumble cut short Earlham drives in the second quarter, including one near the end of the half. The second interception came on the longest of those drives; the Quakers had reached the Knights’ 9-yard-line. But earlier, after recovering the fumble on Earlham’s 35-yard-line, Southern Virginia needed only five plays to get into the end zone. The touchdown came on a 3-yard run by Keenan Galeai, giving the Knights a 14-0 lead, and that was the score when the first half ended.
Southern Virginia opened the second half with its second longest drive — 53 yards on 11 plays — reaching the Earlham 1-yard line in doing so. The Knights were poised to take a three-touchdown lead, but on fourth and goal, Honeycutt tried another quarterback keeper. This time, Earlham linebacker Lajay Kelly stripped the ball from Honeycutt before the QB could cross the goal line. Kelly then picked up the loose ball and ran the length of the field for a touchdown, putting his team on the scoreboard. The extra point kick was blocked, however, leaving the score 14-6.
The rest of the third quarter was uneventful, except that Southern Virginia missed on another field goal attempt, but the fourth quarter saw both schools score twice.
Seth Hanson rushed for an 11-yard touchdown early in the quarter to widen Southern Virginia’s lead to 21-6, and two possessions later, Earlham scored again. On consecutive plays, quarterback Treylon Anderson and receiver Marcaus Cooper connected on passes of 30 and 10 yards, the latter netting a touchdown (another extra point failed) to reduce the Earlham deficit to 21-12.
Two possession later, Southern Virginia answered, this time on a 25-yard run by Michael Frye, boosting the visitors’ lead to 28-14. The Quakers responded on their next possession, and again it happened via an Anderson to Cooper pass — this time from 37 yards out. A two-point conversion attempt failed, so the score was 28-18.
The Quakers succeeded on an onside kick, recovering the ball on the Southern Virginia 39-yard line. Anderson and Cooper connected again on a 29-yard pass play, taking the Quakers to the 10-yard line. But the drive fizzled after a rush for no gain and three incomplete passes thrown in Cooper’s direction.
Leading off the post is a photo I got standing behind the end zone in the third quarter when Earlham was on offense, deep in its own territory. On a third-and-20 play, the Knights’ defense swarmed quarterback Wes Hundley and sacked him for a 5-yard loss. I was fortunate to capture this moment of the sack because, looking at my image stream from the play, the pile became a blur of bodies and no faces in the frame immediately after this one.
Leading off the post is a photo I got standing behind the end zone in the third quarter when Earlham was on offense, deep in its own territory. On a third-and-20 play, the Knights’ defense swarmed quarterback Wes Hundley and sacked him for a 5-yard loss. I was fortunate to capture this moment of the sack because, looking at my image stream from the play, the pile became a blur of bodies and no faces in the frame immediately after this one.
To view a full gallery of images from this game, follow the link in this sentence.
Earlier, I briefly alluded to difficulties the Earlham College football program was experiencing after weathering a string of winless seasons in the second decade of the new millennium.
Earlham College officials began to address the football program issue seriously in 2015, when senior administration, athletics administration and the board of trustees devised what it characterized as “a strategic plan” calling for an analysis of the program and setting benchmarks for the program to attain within a three-year period.
In his announcement, Stewart hinted at three primary causes for the program’s suspension. He said Earlham had exhibited an “inability to field competitive teams” because it has not recruited a sufficient number of student-athletes to fill a roster. He also cited a need to ascertain appropriate program funding and hire a “highly qualified head coach.”
Inherent in the announcement was the fact that Earlham football not only failed to achieve the benchmarks set out in the 2015 strategic plan, but it also failed to make sufficient progress toward reaching them.
In October 2019, almost a year later, the school’s Football Review Committee issued a 32-page report to college president Anne Houtman, who then recommended to the college board of trustees that the football program remain suspended for at least 2019 and 2020. The committee had cocluded that if football were to return, it must be supported with an “all-in” effort from all areas of the college. But neither Houtman nor the board felt that it was an appropriate time to restart the program.
In its report, the committee had noted that in Earlham’s 130-year history, the football program had compiled a .370 winning percentage, with its most successful years falling in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the years since, the committee said, the program was beset with “structural problems that were never adequately resolved.”
Unfortunately, in suspending football, Earlham also took down – or at the least, deactivated – all of the football pages at the institution’s web site. That means that none of the football program’s archives are accessible to interested visitors. Indeed, even d3football.com, which serves as a sort of collection and clearing house for all NCAA Division III football programs as well as a depository and storage area for those teams' stats and current and former records, no longer lists Earlham among its members.
As of Oct. 12, 2020, the website https://goearlham.com/sports/football has only a brief status of the school’s position on the program’s suspension and an executive summary of the school’s Football Review Committee report. It contains none of its history and prior accomplishments and/or records.
In October 2019, almost a year later, the school’s Football Review Committee issued a 32-page report to college president Anne Houtman, who then recommended to the college board of trustees that the football program remain suspended for at least 2019 and 2020. The committee had cocluded that if football were to return, it must be supported with an “all-in” effort from all areas of the college. But neither Houtman nor the board felt that it was an appropriate time to restart the program.
In its report, the committee had noted that in Earlham’s 130-year history, the football program had compiled a .370 winning percentage, with its most successful years falling in the 1960s and early 1970s. In the years since, the committee said, the program was beset with “structural problems that were never adequately resolved.”
Unfortunately, in suspending football, Earlham also took down – or at the least, deactivated – all of the football pages at the institution’s web site. That means that none of the football program’s archives are accessible to interested visitors. Indeed, even d3football.com, which serves as a sort of collection and clearing house for all NCAA Division III football programs as well as a depository and storage area for those teams' stats and current and former records, no longer lists Earlham among its members.
As of Oct. 12, 2020, the website https://goearlham.com/sports/football has only a brief status of the school’s position on the program’s suspension and an executive summary of the school’s Football Review Committee report. It contains none of its history and prior accomplishments and/or records.
As of this chapter's activation at Photo Potpourri in 2024, there remains no football at Earlham College.
Above and next three below: Earlham quarterback Treylon Anderson completed 10 of 24 passes for 150 yards, but he also had three of his passes intercepted. He felt pressure from the Southern Virginia defense all afternoon, and one time, it wasn't the opponent creating chaos; it was the snap from center.
Above and below: Passes deflected by Southern Virginia defenders cost Earlham receivers Eric Bryant (above) and Elijah Bilal (below) important gains on at least two plays before the final drive.
Above: Grant Bowersock (45) and Torrie Mayberry (obscured, left) work hard to bring down Southern Virginia running back Michael Frye.
Above: Game officials made a good call — and Earlham avoided giving up another touchdown — in the first quarter when they ruled that Southern Virginia receiver Shay Reid had stepped out of bounds when he caught this 25-yard pass from Shawn Honeycutt on the Knights’ longest drive in the game. Reid went untouched into the end zone after the catch. Several plays after the out-of-bounds ruling, Southern Virginia settled for a field goal attempt, which was unsuccessful.
Above and next five below. Since I've never captured a play that went the length of the field after a turnover, I decided to use all of my best pictures from this sequence. Southern Virginia had reached the 1-yard line in the third quarter, and on a third-and-goal play (above), Knights quarterback Shawn Honeycutt attempted to vault the pile of bodies to reach the end zone, but he was stopped short. So on fourth down, he tried to squeeze into the end zone but fumbled. On the right of the first photo below, Earlham linebacker Lajay Kelly (33) rushed in to the middle of the pile. The loose ball doesn't appear in the frame until the second photo below (bottom left of picture). The remaining photos show Kelly off to the races for a touchdown, Earlham's first of the game.
Above: Lajay Kelly (33) catching his breath shortly after returning to the bench following his 99-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown.
Above and next four below: Earlham quarterback Treylon Anderson and receiver Marcaus Cooper (7) connect for a 37-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
Above: On the Quakers' last drive of the game, Anderson threw three times in a row to Cooper, to no avail. The Knights' Richie Sparrow (8) recorded another key deflection on this pass in that series.
An energetic slice of the home crowd (above) cheered their team during its fourth quarter comeback attempt, but as a whole, the Earlham grandstands seemed bereft of support (next two below). Perhaps it was because it was the Labor Day holiday weekend.
Above and next two below: Southern Virginia's first score in the fourth quarter came early on this 11-yard run by Seth Hanson, after which he did an end zone leap to celebrate with teammates.
Above and next two below: Running back Michael Frye capped a six-play, 69-yard Southern Virginia scoring drive with this 25-yard scamper into the end zone, slipping through tackle attempts by two Earlham defenders along the way.
Above: This Marcaus Cooper 30-yard reception in the fourth quarter put the Quakers on the Southern Virginia 10-yard line. The Quakers scored on the next play on another Anderson-to-Cooper pass.
Next up: Chapter 30, Earlham College campus
Previously in Game Day Revisited:
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