By Nick Porter

BUENA VISTA, Va.—The Southern Virginia football team earned their first New Jersey Athletic Conference win of the year over William Paterson University, forcing six turnovers in the 26-17 win. 

In addition to the defensive dominance, the Knights (2-5, 1-5 NJAC) ran for over 300 yards. Freshman quarterback Ty Jones led the Knights with 86 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns. His first touchdown came in the second quarter on a three-yard run to put the Knights on the board, and take a 7-3 lead.

With 48 seconds to go in the half, William Paterson (2-5, 1-5 NJAC) forced Southern Virginia to punt, and took over on the Knights' 47 yard line. Twenty-three seconds later, Mitch Orme sacked the Pioneer quarterback, took the ball and ran it back for the second touchdown of the game, and the Knights' first halftime lead in a conference game. 

In the third quarter Ty Jones recorded his second touchdown of the day on a 35 yard run up the middle in a :37 possession by the Knights. 

William Paterson would score the next two touchdowns, cutting Southern Virginia's lead to two with 5:27 left in the game. 

The Knights used the next 2:26 to go 62 yards for a touchdown, scoring on Jones' longest run of the day, 36 yards. The extra point would seal the deal for a 26-17 win.

"I'm proud of the team and how hard we played today," Coach Joe DuPaix said after his first NJAC win, "our defense was lights out tonight, and Ty played a heck of a game."

Neil Davis, Josh Christopher and Bryan Lorenzen each had interceptions for the Knights. Simi Moala recorded two sacks totaling 25 yards.

Seth Hanson recorded 76 yards on the ground with a long of 30. Seven other Knights recorded positive rushing yards.

Southern Virginia heads to Kean University next week to take on the Cougars. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.