By Nick Porter

RICHMOND, Ind.—In his first game at the helm of the Southern Virginia University football program, Coach Joe DuPaix and his rushing offense led the Knights to a 28-18 victory at Earlham College.

After winning the coin toss the Knights (1-0) elected to defer to the second half, and started the season opener on defense. In less than 60 seconds Southern Virginia forced two incomplete passes and a two-yard tackle for a loss, forcing the Quakers (0-1) to punt.

"Our defense played lights out all day long," commented DuPaix after his head-coaching debut. "I'm proud of our guys (both offense and defense) for fighting through and playing each and every play."

It only took the Knights two minutes and two seconds to march 53 yards to the end zone, scoring on the opening drive of the season, and first offensive drive of DuPaix's Southern Virginia career.

Senior Lakeith Hopkins rushed 45 of his 68 yards in the opening drive, setting up a single-yard rush from quarterback Shawn Honeycutt to get the Knights on the scoreboard.

In the second quarter Southern Virginia took a 14-point lead after a three-yard rush from Keenan Galeai. The scoring drive started when Adam Davis forced and recovered a fumble from Earlham's quarterback.

The fumble was the Knights' third takeaway of the half, preceded by back-to-back interceptions from defensive back Neil Davis.

Southern Virginia wasn't errorless in their first game, with two fumbles of their own-one of which was ran back for an Earlham touchdown-but won the turnover battle with five total takeaways.

The Knights recorded 375 yards of total offense, 336 coming from the ground, and 21 total first downs. Although Southern Virginia didn't score in the third quarter, runningbacks Seth Hanson and Michael Frye rushed for touchdowns in the final period.

"We're going to take it one game at a time, and get healthy and clean a few things up during our bye week next week," DuPaix concluded, "We never gave up today, and played through the good and the bad. We just need to continue to focus on the fundamentals of football."