Just four short years ago, the population here at SHU started to dramatically increase, not just in overall students but noticeably in the number of male students. That had a large part to do in the creation of the football team. Now the freshmen that started the team have begun to establish a program that can compete at a high level on Saturday afternoons against great competition throughout the NAIA.

In their fourth year in the program, the Saints football team has scheduled games against NCAA Division II schools and has competed. This past weekend the Saints took a twelve hour bus ride to play against the Virginia Union Panthers, a Division II school. Unfortunately, the Saints weren’t able to pull out the victory against the Panthers and senior tight end Donovan Campbell says that it was their inability to execute on critical situations.

“We were 0-4 in the red zone and we won’t beat any team doing that,” says Campbell. “We took that team for granted and being a below .500 team (combined 9-11 the last two seasons), we can’t look past anybody and that’s what we did.”

That game and that week are over. The Saints now have to focus on a team they’re more familiar with; the Saint Joseph’s College Pumas, a team they beat last year down to the wire 34-31. St. Joe’s is another Division II team coming to SHU looking for revenge. The Saints are looking to defend their win from last year, but they’re also hoping to improve from the past week. Last week was the first time the Saints have ever been shut out in game since the start of the program. They’re not just looking to put up some points, they want to win.

“Expect the Saints to come out with a win on Saturday afternoon, bottom line,” says Campbell.

The Saints football team is looking to grow together as a group, and with the senior leadership they have, they believe they can achieve all of their goals and that everyone will contribute to each win, no matter their rank on the depth chart. Campbell, being the first football NAIA All-American in school history, believes that his role hasn’t changed even with the label to his name.

He says that it’s the same as it’s always been and he just needs to continue making plays, being a leader, and doing whatever he is capable of doing to make the team achieve success.

Even though this senior group will always be known as the school’s first football team, they want to be known for something else.

“We’ll always be remembered as the foundation, but we want to be remembered as the class that led their group to a championship and did things the right way on and off the field,” says Campbell.