Eagles Set to Face Southeastern University in the 1st Round of the NAIA Football Playoffs

photo courtesy of Al Levine Photography

Waleska, GA - The 2025 AAC Champions, Reinhardt Eagles, will be traveling to face the Southeastern Fire at Lakeland, Florida, on Saturday, November 22nd. This will be their second time the two schools have faced each other this season, with Southeastern winning the first matchup, 41-20.

The Eagles were up 10-0 in the first quarter, but the Fire stormed back in the 2nd quarter with 21 unanswered points. The Eagles tried to mount a comeback but couldn't withstand the Fire's 305 rushing yards.

The Eagles used this loss at the beginning of the season as motivation to go undefeated in their conference games, and they are peaking at the right time.

Reinhardt's key to this game is to stand on their two-headed monster, running backs Jah Colbert and Jamarion Walker. Colbert is averaging 107 yards a game (1077 total yards for the season), and Walker is the powerhouse with 8 rushing touchdowns. These two and company have helped the Eagles rush for over 300 yards a game.

Defensively, the Eagles will have to stop the Fire's powerful rushing game. The Fire have been a dominant force on the ground in the SUN Conference with names like Curtis Kimmons, Jocquet Jiles, and Nate Mikell. The Fire is averaging 193 yards a game and has 27 touchdowns on the ground.

The Fire lead the head-to-head series 3 games to 1 over the Eagles. This will be the first time the two have faced in the NAIA Playoffs since 2016, when the Eagles won convincingly, 52-22.  Southeastern has won three straight from 2023-2025, all regular-season games.

This is set to be a very competitive matchup for the opening round of the 2025 NAIA Playoffs.  The game should go down to the wire with these two competitive teams, with the Eagles ranked #19 and Southeastern coming in at #15 in the final poll.  They are set to face off this Saturday with the kickoff at 1 p.m. Good luck to our Eagles!

-Bryce Johnson, Graduate Assistant for Reinhardt Athletics

Below are a few important links for this weekend's game, including ticket info for those traveling down to Lakeland, Florida.

Live Stream (pay-per-view): https://team1sports.com/southeasternfire/?B=3100770

Purchase Tickets: https://fire.seu.edu/sports/2024/7/22/digital-ticket-guide.aspx

Live Stats: https://fire.seu.edu/sidearmstats/football/summary