Photo by Michael Lipscomb
By Jacob Miller
The Susquehanna football team is going to face a lot of changes this upcoming season. Head Coach Tom Perkovich has left the program to coach at the FCS Division I level at the University at Albany.
Perkovich led the River Hawks as the head football coach for 11 years, totaling 84 career wins and a .771 winning percentage, both ranking second on SU’s all-time list. Over the last four years, Perkovich led his squad to a 43-7 record, leading his team to conference championships in all four of those years. In 2024, Perkovich and the River Hawks reached the final four in the Division III Football Playoffs, the farthest any SU team has reached in program history.
“I’m happy for Coach Perk. He was a great coach to me and the team. I’m just proud of him… he deserves it so much,” Jaydon Handy said. Handy is a two-year starter at nose guard for the River Hawks and is heading into his senior season.
With this promotion Coach Perkovich is taking some players with him, most notably is sophomore All-American running back Rahshan La Mons. La Mons rushed for over 2500 yards and had 30 touchdowns in his two years at Susquehanna University. Other starters leaving to other schools or UAlbany include, wide-receiver Daniel Growney, cornerbacks Romero Lavalais Jr. and Xavier Maple, Quarterback Josh Ehrlich, and All-American kicker Dominic Bourgeois who left for Middle-Tennessee at the FBS division one level. Offensive Coordinator Mike Wiand also followed Coach Perkovich to be the same role as offensive coordinator.
The River Hawks will also lose some of their seniors from their 2025 team, including Captain Defensive Linemen Brian Layton. Layton was named to the All-Landmark first team after his stellar 2025 season where he finished with 42 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, and three sacks.
“When you have a guy like Brian Layton on the team, it’s hard when he’s gone because it’s hard to fill that void. He’s like the Captain America of the group… So, its next man up mentality, which is what he preached to us a lot,” Handy said.
Susquehanna has yet to find their next head coach, but Tim Kologrivov, who served as the team’s defensive coordinator, will take over as the interim head coach for now. With all the uncertainty, the River Hawks still have plenty of high-impact starters that are returning for the fall. The biggest of all is Galen Limantour, now a senior defensive end who earned a regional defensive player of the year nod in 2025. Limantour finished his junior year with 13.5 sacks, good for second all-time in Susquehanna history, and 55 total tackles.
Incoming senior Liam Kelly Is returning from his gruesome leg injury he suffered in week 1 of the 2025 season. Kelly was a starter for the River Hawks in the 2024 season and post season.
“It definitely wasn’t fun. It sucked. Sucked bad… But I had to move on. I had better things to do. I thank God,” Kelly said.
With the departure to Ehrlich, all eyes will be on senior quarterback Tommy Wright who is slated to be the starting quarterback for Susquehanna. Wright has played in a few games over the past three years, throwing six touchdowns and rushing for one in nine games in 2025.
“Oh, my quarterback Tommy Wright, big year this year,” Kelly said. “He’s showing that he can play and what he can do in practice,” Kelly said
The River Hawks have played deep in the playoffs, falling one game short in 2024 and two games short in 2025 to reach the national championship. Nevertheless, even with major changes to the Susquehanna football program, a DIII national championship is still on the minds of all the River Hawks.
“We just got to win the big play margin in the games because the teams we play are hardworking, talented, just like us,” Handy said. “I think if we win those matchups, we’re going to be all right.”