RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lycoming’s Dathan Tyson (25) and Joey Rivituso (3) bring down Widener’s Jack Fiucci (80) during a game this year.

While every football team heads into every outing hoping to come out victorious, some games carry a bit more weight than others. Whether it’s a rivalry, a conference or divisional matchup or purely situational, these games are often approached with added urgency.

In Lycoming’s case, the need to win in Saturday’s matchup against Hilbert is situational. Not only are the Warriors looking to end their two-game losing streak before it snowballs, but they’re also looking to gain some momentum heading into their bye week, which precedes their Landmark conference opener against Wilkes.

“It’s super important for us to win this weekend,” said Lycoming head coach Mike Clark on the matchup. “We know we have to win this weekend. Then, we can go into the bye having won a game hopefully, improve next week and then really shift our focus to Wilkes.”

“At the end of the day, we need to win this week and to win this week would be great for us,” emphasized wide receiver Billy Coppock. “I feel like our bye week is perfect for us because that gives us a whole extra week to really focus on us before conference play.”

After facing two teams that combined for 23 wins last season, Lycoming does receive a bit of a break this weekend. On top of returning to Girardi Stadium after two games away from home, it faces a team in Hilbert that has yet to win a game since its football program’s inception in 2022, having lost 18 straight heading into this matchup with the Warriors.

It’s a developing program that’s inexperienced in numerous key positions on both sides of the ball. And in experiencing a tough start to the season featuring two NCAA tournament teams and the defending national champion, it’s been outscored 176-6.

However, none of those factors have affected the team’s mentality as it looks to get back to .500. It isn’t planning on underestimating anybody on its way to getting back on track.

“Obviously, Hilbert is younger and less experienced than we are in a game I think we are more than capable of winning. But we’ll have to play well to beat them and take care of the ball. It’s the same old stuff,” said Clark on the matchup.

“It’s going to be up to us to jump on them from the beginning when they get off the bus, be aggressive defensively, take advantage of those opportunities on offense and really try to play and perform at a high level.”

Due to its size, Hilbert runs the triple option and has passed the ball just twice this season. Freshman running back Mike Hanlon leads the way for the Hawks with 143 rushing yards on 45 attempts (2.7 yards per carry) and sophomore Shemia Clark has also eclipsed 100 rushing yards, with 101 on 33 attempts (2.6 yards per carry).

Defensively, Clark was quick to highlight Hilbert’s defensive line, its most experienced position group on the roster, as a factor that could hinder them.

Junior Matt Bertke, senior Clifford Zeigler and junior Imari Jenkins round out a decent three-man front that has combined for 27 tackles (nine solo) and 3.5 tackles for loss on the season. They also have a senior at defensive back in Taivaughn Roach that’s worth keeping an eye on as well, with Roach leading the team in total tackles (30), solo tackles (18), sacks (one) and forced fumbles (two).

“Their D-Line is actually really good. Their three-down linemen,” said Clark. “They’re a young team but they also have some good players. Obviously, they have some numbers concerns.”

Along with avoiding their third straight loss, the biggest focus for the Warriors is on alleviating mistakes.

Against Utica, they turned the ball over twice, committed 13 penalties for 100 yards, struggled against the run and failed to make the most of their opportunities, with issues with pass accuracy and drops being a factor in the former and latter.

Outside of those issues, Clark felt they matched up well with Utica, as they led the Pioneers in first downs and third down efficiency and trailed them in total offense by 41 yards.

“It wasn’t like they physically manhandled us,” said Clark. “We missed a ton of tackles, and you give them some credit for that. But we had opportunities to create turnovers and didn’t. We had opportunities to score touchdowns and didn’t. Turnovers, not finishing drives, it’s all connected. So, we’re focused on being more resilient, tougher and executing better. Everybody’s got to play better.”

“We watched the film and it’s more of just us beating ourselves. Now, we’re more worried about what we can do to be better, focus on the little things, and simply do better as a team,” emphasized Lyco wide receiver Dawson Debebe. “It’s more about fixing what we can fix and moving on to the next one. This week, we’ve brought a lot of competition in practice, mixed guys in and have tried to light a fire under some of our guys.”

In its last non-conference game of the regular season, Lycoming has a great chance to regather itself before the going gets more urgent. The game is set for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Girardi Stadium.