SELINSGROVE, PA – The Landmark Conference announced its inaugural Football All-Conference Monday afternoon, decorated with 17 placements by conference champion Susquehanna University. In addition, the River Hawks locked in three of the four major awards with receiver Kyle Howes voted Offensive Player of the Year, defensive back Keith Green III Defensive Player of the Year, and head coach Tom Perkovich and his staff Coaching Staff of the Year.

Howes hit the All-Landmark board twice, receiving First Team Wide Receiver and Second Team Kick Returner. Green took First Team Defensive Back. In all the River Hawks had 11 First Team selections in Cameron Noble (Defensive Line), Jake Schultes (Defensive Line), Tommy Grabowski (Running Back), Garrett Carter (Linebacker), Drew Robinson (Linebacker), Andrew Wells (Defensive Back), Mark Custer (Offensive Line), Nick Gonzalez (Offensive Line), and Eli Kantor (Offensive Line). The program picked up five more Second Team honorees in Josh Ehrlich (Quarterback), Christian Colasurdo (Placekicker), Rowen Hershey (Tight End), and Hunter Shimko (Offensive Line), while Josh Buck (Linebacker) earned Honorable Mention.

For the second straight year, Coach Perk and his staff administered a 10-0 regular season record and a conference title. Accommodating their new home in the Landmark Conference, Susquehanna set off on a four-game non-conference slate to open the year, coming out victorious in all of them, including a pair of hard-fought battles on the road to beat SUNY Brockport and SUNY Cortland in the final moments. This set them up to cruise through their Landmark foes, culminating in a 49-10 win over Lycoming on November 11 to lock up the conference crown and hosting a NCAA Opening Round game for the second straight year. The program set a new school record for consecutive regular season wins with 21 dating back to 2021, surpassing the previous mark of 16 set during the 1985-87 era of SU Football. The River Hawks entered the top ten in the national rankings for the first time in school history, going as high as ninth in the D3football.com poll and tenth in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) poll.

Head Coach: Tom Perkovich; Associate Head Coach: Pat Ruley; Assistant Coaches: Cole Dixon '19, Mike Wiand, Dante Waugh, Todd Tilford, Tom Haughey '18, Tim Kologrivov, Tate Schorr.

Howes excelled as both a receiving and returning threat all season. As the team's most sought-after receiving target, he hauled in 64 passes for 819 yards with nine touchdowns, matching his receiving touchdown total from last year, as well as running in a pair of touchdowns on sweeps. The junior reached 1,000 career receiving yards this season, currently sitting with 1,695 for fourth all-time as well as 19 touchdown catches. This success also translated to the return game as Howes accumulated 226 yards on nine kickoff returns for a 25.11 average and 232 yards on 21 punt returns towards an 11.05 average. He went over 100 yards twice on the year, the first coming at Cortland State where he had a season-best nine catches for 142 yards, tying the game at 35-35 late in the game with a one-handed reception in one-on-one coverage in the back left corner of the endzone. He proceeded to post 141 receiving yards at Juniata on Oct. 14 with two touchdown catches. In the conference-clinching game versus Lycoming Nov. 11 he totaled three touchdowns, two receiving and one rushing in the 49-10 victory.

Green thrived in his HERO position all year long, always appearing to be turning up at the right place at the right time. He was recognized to D3football.com's Team of the Week following his performance at Wilkes where he totaled four tackles with one solo and one for loss, while recovering a pair of fumbles and contributing one sack. His four fumble recoveries not only led the Landmark, but proved opportunistic in most situations. At SUNY Brockport in week two trailing 3-0 just before the half, the River Hawks defense forced a fumble that Green recovered and took down to the 15 yard line, setting up a game-tying field goal as Susquehanna eventually won a 6-5 game. He finally took one back to the house in Saturday's NCAA Opening Round game against Grove City, again coming late in the first half. The Wolverines attempted a 45-yard field goal, but Schultes broke through the line to block it that floated into the hands of Green who ran it back 72 yards for the score. His numbers for the season were 47 total tackles with 21 solo and three for loss, while logging two sacks with one interception and seven pass breakups.

Schultes was a two-time Landmark Defensive Player of the Week, beginning with his day versus Western New England in Week 4 where he had two interceptions with three total tackles, including batting a pass at the line that he picked off himself. His second honor followed Susquehanna's 33-14 win at second-place Moravian in Week 9, making his presence felt all day finishing with five total tackles, including three solo tackles and one sack for a loss of seven yards. He also was a key slab in the defense's goal line stand late in the first half to stonewall the Greyhounds who went away empty-handed. Schultes was SU's second-highest sack contributor with 4.5, while totaling 38 tackles with 16 solo and ten for loss. As aforementioned he blocked one field goal, while forcing a pair of fumbles and pass breakups with three quarterback hurries.

In his first year with the River Hawks, Ehrlich completed 150-of-218 for 1,562 yards with 13 touchdowns and just four interceptions, with his longest pass of the season going for 80 yards. He earned the Landmark's Offensive Player of the Week after the win over Cortland State, passing 16-of-22 for 227 yards with three touchdown passes and rushing for a game-high 162 yards and one touchdown. He threw for 200+ yards one other time in Week 5 against Catholic in the Landmark opener, completing a season-high 22-of-27 for 214 yards and two touchdown strikes, while running for 54 yards on 11 rushes with one touchdown. He threw for two TDs on two more occasions, including Juniata Oct. 14 where he had one rushing TD and Lycoming. Ehrlich amassed four games with at least 100 yards both passing and rushing.

Grabowski set the tenth 1,000-yard rushing season in school history this year with 1,005 yards, establishing seven games with 100 or more yards, including a stretch of six consecutive games and a season best 144 yards at Keystone on Oct. 7. He earned Landmark Offensive Player of the Week after running for 125 yards on 26 carries with two touchdowns in the team's 26-18 victory over Western New England to finish their non-conference season a perfect 4-0. His 14 rushing touchdowns on the season ties him for sixth all-time, using four games to score a pair of TDs at the expense of WNE, Juniata, Wilkes, and Moravian.

The work of Kantor, Gonzalez, Shimko, and Custer were part of the "O-Block" group that enabled Ehrlich, Grabowski and the rest of the rushing force to set a new school record for rushing touchdowns in a season with 35, breaking the previous mark of 32 set by the 2019 team. Susquehanna netted 2,696 on the ground for a 230.4 yards per game average to lead the Landmark and 17th in the nation, and possessed the ball for an average of 35:42, which ranks first in all NCAA Division III. Defenses were given dribs and drabs at the quarterback with just 13 sacks all season. The River Hawks' offense netted 404.0 total yards per game, leading to top-25 statistical rankings in Division III, including 39.3 points per game (25th), one lost fumble all year (1st), 256 first downs (16th in NCAA Div. III), 51.0 percent on third down conversions (15th), 72.0 percent on fourth down conversions (6th), 67.5 completion percentage (22nd), and 1.45 turnover margin (12th).

This work on the front lines set up plenty of scoring chances through the air. Ehrlich found time to connect with his most frequent targets Howes and tight end Hershey, who was second on the team with three touchdown receptions, catching 13 passes for 166 yards with a long of 46 for a 12.77 average. Perhaps his most poignant receiving performance came at Cortland State Week 3 with a season-best three receptions for 62 yards, with his last catch a 12-yard touchdown reception in the fourth quarter, cutting the gap to 35-28 and sparking a late rally towards the 38-35 win.

The "Wild Dogs" defense were a forced to be reckoned with all season, providing big plays and momentum-changing opportunities when the team needed it the most. They allowed 13.6 points per game, 17th-best in NCAA Division III and first in the Landmark. On days where the scoring was limited, the unit held as strong as their adversaries to put the ball back in the offense's hands to go ahead. This work contributed to opponents having slim possession times, while holding offenses to 38-of-134 (28.36%) on third-down conversions (14th in NCAA Div. III) and 7-of-21 (33.33%) on fourth-down conversions (27th in NCAA Div. III). The unit totaled 23 takeaways via 10 interceptions and 13 fumbles, while forcing 22 fumbles and logging 29 sacks.

Robinson led Susquehanna with 72 total tackles and 24 solo, while totaling five tackles for loss for 35 yards and 3.5 sacks for 29 yards with four forced fumbles. Noble was a Landmark Defensive Player of the Week selection after Week 2's win at Brockport, where he had seven total tackles with two solo, while his strip sack late in the first half offered Susquehanna a game-tying opportunity with a field goal before the half towards a 6-5 win. He finished the year with 37 total tackles with seven solo, while serving up 2.5 sacks, including one strip sack with two quarterback hurries as the nose guard in the River Hawks' 3-4 scheme.

At linebacker Carter led the team in sacks with five and totaled 55 tackles with 15 solo and ten for loss. The local product from Bloomsburg forced two fumbles with one recovery. Despite missing two games late in the year due to injury, he returned for the NCAA Tournament game with Grove City, assisting on two tackles. He was awarded the first Landmark Defensive Player of the Week for his day at Bridgewater, totaling five tackles with two sacks and one forced fumble, while turning in another Landmark weekly accord versus Wilkes, getting the first of SU's five sacks on the afternoon and finishing with a game-high ten total tackles, accounting for two solo tackles and eight assisted tackles including 3.5 tackles for a loss resulting in a loss of nine yards.

Wells, who shared deep-zone coverage duties with Green, administered 45 total tackles with 24 solo, with his one interception coming at the expense of Moravian to dispel their opening drive. He broke up two passes, while forcing one fumble and blocking a punt, both of which occurred at Bridgewater Week 1 that resulted in touchdown recoveries for Josh Lesense. Buck's presence at linebacker served him well with the fifth-most total tackles on the team with 44 and 16 solo, while jumping the line for 5.5 tackles for loss and three sacks, all accounting for 48 lost yards. He racked up two quarterback hurries with one fumble recovery.

The special teams were truly a catalyst for many scoring opportunities when it wasn't themselves supplying the points. This was perhaps no finer than the first three weeks of the season to aid in the victories. At Bridgewater in the opener the special teams unit was on the field for 21 of those 51 points, with Wells forcing a fumble and blocking a punt on a pair of punt attempts that Josh Lesesne ran back for touchdowns to take a firm hold on the game via a 51-19 victory. Two weeks later at Cortland State, the coverage teams jumped on a pair of fumbles that set up scoring drives in the second half, with the latter a forced fumble by Brennen Miller and recovery by Dominic Winn on a kickoff in the closing seconds to set up the game-winning field goal towards a 38-35 win.

Colasurdo made a lot of noise in the kicking game, especially in the early going when his field goals proved to be the difference in several tight games. Against Brockport in Week 2, his two field goals were the River Hawks lone points in a 6-5 defensive battle, kicking the game-winner with just seconds remaining that earned him Landmark Special Teamer of the Week. He repeated these heroics the following week at Cortland, booting through all five PAT attempts and drilling the walk-off field goal from 32 yards out for the victory. He finished the season 12-of-16 on field goals, matching the school record for field goals made in a season with his predecessor Elijah Hoffman from 2021, as well as Randy Helt in 1988. He made 52-of-55 PATs, good for third all-time.