But whether Lycoming is at home or on the road, it doesn’t matter to coach Mike Clark. The coach, in his 18th year at the helm this season and the longest tenured coach in the Landmark Conference, knows you have to win no matter what.

That’s why he referenced Hoosiers on Tuesday at the Landmark Conference’s media day at Susquehanna.

“The field dimensions are the same,” Clark said, referencing the scene in Hoosiers where coach Norman Dale measures the basketball court. “You have to be a team that’s resilient and overcome all the distractions. I know that’s coach speak, but maybe there’s home field advantage, maybe there isn’t, but if you’re focused on the things you’re focused on, there’s minimal impact. It’s not like you’re playing at Penn State during a White Out and noise is an issue.”

The Warriors are coming off a 4-6 season last year and Clark and his players want to be better than that. They know the team is capable of getting onto the winning side of things.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lycoming coach Mike Clark is the longest tenured coach in the Landmark Conference as he is in his 18th year with the Warriors.

“(Philadelphia Eagles coach) Nick Sirianni said we want to do ordinary things better than anybody else. We had a team meeting and I sat down with everybody and asked a question about accountability,” Clark said. “By the time we counted, there was a clear reason and I told our team we struggled to show up or be on time. If you can’t do the little things right, you can’t do the big things right.”

Being resilient is what matters to Clark and his players, not where the games will be played at.

“The locations won’t matter, we’re going to be a tougher, more resilient group or we’re not,” Clark said. “I think our players believe we can do those things.”

Lycoming wide receiver Dawson Debebe is back after a 36-catch, 684-yard season last year, which included an impressive 10 receptions against Catholic in a 14-12 loss last season. But Debebe was quick to point out that there were lessons learned from 2024.

“We struggled with adversity sometimes and it was hard, but we were in position changes a lot of young guys were in the game, but now we’re focused on keeping the young guys level-headed,” Debebe said. “Now that they’ve grown, it’s easier to stay level-headed if things get hard.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lycoming quarterback Jay Huber (5) hands off to Quasim Benson (1) during a football game against Keystone College last year.

“We struggled with adversity last year, but over the offseason we’ve been really pounding into the guy’s heads we have to work better and get better as a team,” Lycoming defensive back Ryan Pentz, a Central Mountain graduate, said.

The Warriors know every game in the Landmark Conference will be tough this year, and that includes against No. 4 ranked Susquehanna midway through the season, a team coming off an outstanding 12-2 season and undefeated mark in the regular season. Susquehanna hasn’t lost a Landmark Conference game since 2021.

The Riverhawks were nationally ranked last season as well (No. 6) and know they have a target on their backs. But, as the Riverhawks get better and improve, so does the rest of the conference. That was a common theme throughout Wednesday’s media day. All the teams in the conference continue to improve at the rate Susquehanna has.

“We’re definitely seeing the competition improving. Moravian always gives us a good game, they’re very solid and the addition of Western Connecticut, we’re going to see some good talent this year,” Susquehanna linebacker Jesse Ruisch noted.

“We try to take it a day-by-day approach and not go game-by-game,” Susquehanna coach Tom Perkovich added. “We have quality opponents Week 1, Week 2 that we got to get through. We’re a team that’s graduating 15 starters, so we have a lot of work to do to get better as a team and I think we really have to have a growth mindset throughout the season.”

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Susquehanna's Rahshan La Mons (28) is brought down by a pack of Lycoming Warriors during a game at David Person Field last season.

Lycoming’s defense struggled last year in games as the Warriors allowed 70 points in a loss against No. 2-ranked Cortland, 42 in a loss at Utica, 53 in a loss at Wilkes and 55 in a loss at No. 6-ranked Susquehanna. But there’s been improvements defensively from last year, and junior defensive back Mario Samony sees the defense playing better this season.

“It’s more of trusting our scheme. Last year we had a lot of guys who wanted to do their own thing, and they got a little nervous when we were down,” Samony said. “This year, we’re more focused on playing and doing our job and I think it’ll make us a more consistent defense.”

Last year was last year, and coach Clark and the Warriors are hoping to get off to a strong start and carry it throughout 2025.

“We ended the 2023 season on a high note, came in with some optimism and felt great after Week 1 (win vs. Widener, 48-12) but we were thoroughly dismantled by Cortland in Week 2 and that impacted us in a number of ways,” Clark said. “We lacked some resiliency and lacked some accountability. Along the way, there were times I met with the leadership group and the guys and we had a number of talented guys last year that didn’t make that jump that we expected them to make.”

Clark continued his remarks to the media.

RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Lycoming’s Aiden Barlett catches a pass against Hilbert last season.

“The guys that are willing to be accountable for doing the little things right, it kind of goes back to the basics. I don’t wanna talk about who we don’t have anymore, because we should really focus on these guys who do things the right way and will help us make significant strides,” Clark noted. “We had to tighten some things up, it was disappointing in a lot of ways, and ultimately that lies with me. We worked hard to be a better and closer team this offseason.”

And Lycoming will look to show off that offseason work when the Warriors open the season on September 6 against TCNJ at home for a 1 p.m. kickoff.