By Laura Workman

BUENA VISTA, Va.—In the first official football game played at The Fields, the Southern Virginia University football team fell in its Homecoming matchup against NJAC opponent Montclair State University, 35-15, Saturday afternoon in Buena Vista, Virginia.

Sophomore running back Denzel Nieves led the Red Hawk offense with 117 rushing yards and two touchdowns while junior Eric Gargiulo led the Montclair defense with five interceptions.

The Knights' Mitch Stevenson had a total of 131 passing yards and one touchdown, but threw five interceptions as the Southern Virginia defense faced multiple short field situations in Montclair's favor. Knight backup quarterback Bryan Phillips recorded 50 passing yards and threw one touchdown pass, as well.

Southern Virginia totaled seven turnovers on the afternoon.

"We need to do a better job of limiting our turnovers and find a way to establish a running game," said Southern Virginia head coach Jason Walker. "We also need to put ourselves in more manageable situations on third downs where we're not forced to throw the ball, which is what contributed to their interception total.

"I thought our defense played hard given the short-field situations they were put in. Certainly there is much more room for improvement, but I was pleased with their determination."

On defense, Matthew Gregory had a season-high 12 tackles, while fellow senior Robert Robbins tallied 11 tackles of his own. Sophomore Justin Gonzales registered two pass breakups and four tackles for the day.

The Red Hawks were able to make their way down the field for a touchdown early in the first quarter to gain a 7-0 lead on the Knights. The following Redhawk possession led to another touchdown and quick 14-0 lead.

The two squads tirelessly defended the end zone through nearly all of the second quarter. After a fumble recovery deep in Red Hawk territory, Stevenson found Chris Harper at the other end of a 20-yard pass for the first Southern Virginia touchdown. Shawn Honeycutt led the Knights to a successful two-point conversion to cut the deficit 14-8 for Montclair State.

The slim margin was short lived, however, as the Red Hawk offense quickly responded with 60-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Davies to Aaron Williams for a 21-8 lead over the Knights with 10 seconds remaining before halftime.

The Red Hawks went on to score 21 unanswered points until the end of the fourth quarter. Davies completed a pass to Zach Liguori for a seven-yard touchdown. Tariq Turner had a 33-yard rush to the end zone for a final Red Hawk touchdown early in the fourth quarter for an insurmountable 35-8 lead.

In the game's final moments, Phillips connected with Austin Hekking in the end zone for the final touchdown for the Knights.

"I thought we provided an awesome venue to play in and I'd like to thank our administration and facilities crew for making it happen," Walker said. "It was a great atmosphere for Homecoming

Southern Virginia continues its inaugural season of play in the New Jersey Athletic Conference with a road game next Saturday at Cortland State. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Cortland, New York.