Ward Sutlive, sports editor

The Berry College Mountain Day football game has been a part of the yearly weekend celebration since 2021. This year, the Southern Athletic Associations (SAA) conference schedule did not align with Mountain Day Weekend. Students are upset that they won’t have their usual football game.

According to Director of Alumni Relations Cecily Crow, this is because the SAA conference that Berry plays for scheduled an away game for the football team, which coincidentally took place on Mountain Day Weekend.

“When we started football, the question was asked, could we always have a game scheduled for us on the first weekend of October and the answer was no,” Crow said. “We’ve asked, but if they did that for us, they’d have to do it for all the schools and then that gets tricky.”

One of the reasons behind this change was that the SAA had to adjust for the teams that were added or removed from the conference. According to Crow, the conference lost several colleges such as Birmingham Southern which closed in 2024. The conference also gained colleges, including Trinity University and Southwestern University, both located in Texas.

According to Crow, her department tried to schedule Mountain Day and the football game on the same day but were unable to due to the SAA’s firm stance on the matter and the schedule not lining up.

“In the past maybe three [or] four years, the conference has undergone a lot of change,” Crow said. “We’ve had these changes with a schedule that was created back in 21’, 22’. So, the schedule is kind of in these changes [where] they’ve got to adjust and catch up with one another.”

Many fans such as sophomore Viking Fusion Sports Broadcast Assistant Riley Sampson were disappointed with the revelation that there would be no Mountain Day football game. While Sampson was happy that this gave the Viking Fusion team the opportunity to enjoy Mountain Day, he does feel that it is a missed opportunity to not hold the game as usual.

“It feels wrong to have this special weekend in fall without having any football and we won’t have that celebration that Berry deserves.” Sampson said “It’s the big weekend at Berry and it’s sort of our homecoming and I think we lose that aspect a little bit without it.”

Junior wide receiver Cameron Coleman said he will miss the sense of community that comes alongside the event, saying that it was almost like a homecoming game in terms of atmosphere. He believes that the camaraderie shared by the fans and the team is unmatched.

“I feel like when you have everybody on campus, you’re kind of looking for that big moment,” Coleman said. “I feel like the football game is something that everybody’s looking forward to and you’re missing that camaraderie with everybody on campus.”

Crow said that before football, a soccer game became the annual sport tradition on Mountain Day Weekend. This is just a part of the phases that the college goes through in terms of what game accompanies Mountain Day weekend.

“Before football came along, it was always a soccer home game,” Crow said. “The traditionalists were upset that there was no longer soccer games on Mountain Day. This is part of the evolution with Berry: growth, enrollment, various growth and athletic offerings; things have to adjust.”

Contrary to what some people believe, the Mountain Day game is a relatively recent tradition in Berry history. While occasionally the game would occur on Mountain Day in the past, it only became a regular practice in 2021. Despite the lack of a football game, the number of alumni attendance for Mountain Day events has increased.

“For some of our events, we’re having record numbers of alumni register,” Crow said. “[Mountain Day Weekend] is not being impacted by not hosting a football.”

In lieu of a football game, a volleyball game against Centre College will be held on Friday at 7 p.m. in the Cage Center.

“Students may miss having the football game but I say go support Berry volleyball instead,” Crow said.

Coleman is looking forward to the game against Trinity with a great deal of anticipation, as Trinity has proven itself to be a worthy opponent in previous games.

“I’m feeling great about the game against Trinity,” Coleman said. “[They’re] a great opponent and it should be a really good game out there in Texas.”