Lycoming’s defensive players all knew that in order to secure a win, they had to make a key third-down stop in the fourth quarter with just over a minute to play.

On third-and-8, the Warriors lined up looking to stop the run, but The College of New Jersey’s Jordan Morrell kept churning his feet.

A burst up the middle and a little move allowed Morrell to get an 11-yard run to pick up the first down.

In a close game that came down to the final possession, that one run was the difference in the game.

TCNJ would knee it out after a Lycoming timeout with 56 seconds left and defeat Lycoming, 27-24, at David Person Field at Girardi Stadium on Saturday afternoon in the Warriors’ Week 1 opener.

“To be honest I can’t say I am happy. I feel like there were some things we showed light of, some things we have to work on,” Lycoming running back Terrence Oliver said. “It’s football, there’s always things to get better at. I’m excited for the season. I feel like we have it in us.”

The Lions scored a touchdown to go ahead by three points with 2:04 to play in the game, but the score came due to a Lycoming penalty by jumping offsides, awarding the Lions a free deep shot which they capitalized on when Erik Garv dove at the goal line for a 40-yard touchdown from Kyle Vellis.

“That’s a lack of discipline. That’s what I just told the guys. That is something they do when you jump offsides. They didn’t call a deep shot there when you jump, which everyone says watch the ball, we had multiple people jump, that guy goes long, they throw him the ball,” Lycoming coach Mike Clark said. “If we don’t jump, they don’t throw that ball. They might still go down the field and beat us, but they don’t on that play. That’s a lack of discipline and focus and high-intensity moment.”

That moment swing the momentum as Lycoming had a costly interception on the next drive before TCNJ iced the game with its big third-down run.

“That’s a sign of immaturity. We can’t afford that. We’re playing guys we think are best players, if they’re inexperienced, it doesn’t matter,” Clark said. “They need to be able to do what they’re supposed to do. We do a conditioning drill that’s tied to that, that’s lack of discipline that cost us. That’s ultimately the difference in the game. But ultimately defensively we were pretty good.”

In the second half, Lycoming did limit TCNJ after the Lions scored 21 first-half points. The Warriors forced three consecutive punts to start the second half before Hughesville graduate Aiden Barlett picked off TCNJ. That was followed by another punt on a three-and-out deep in TCNJ’s own territory.

But the Warriors weren’t able to capitalize on Barlett’s interception as it resulted in a three-and-out and punt by Lycoming.

The Lions had success on the ground, running it 68 times for nearly 300 yards (282).

“They’re outstanding at running the football,” Clark said. “They ran it today for well over 200 yards, almost 300 yards. So we have to get better at stopping the run although they didn’t score points (on the ground).”

TCNJ jumped out to a 10-0 lead to open the game. After Tim Willever kicked a 22-yard field goal, Jay Huber turned the ball over on an interception that Jayden Johnson returned 36 yards for an interception. Those 10 points came in a 49-second span for a fast lead.

But Lycoming kept working at it and Terrence Oliver broke a 22-yard touchdown run with 5:18 to play in the first quarter to cut the deficit to 10-7.

The Lions would record an early second-quarter safety to make it a 12-7 lead before Joe Visaggio broke a 34-yard touchdown run wtih 6:31 to play for an 18-7 lead.

But despite the 11-point deficit, the Warriors didn’t fold and continued fighting and Kash Tobin scored from 2 yards out with 3:19 to play to cut the deficit to 18-14.

“I feel like the best part of that was that the team stuck together. This team we have this year is really gelling as a family,” Oliver said. So the fact that one person can cover another’s weakness and we can hold each other, we all cover our blind spots and that’s how we stick together in games like this.”

Willever would kick a 40-yard field goal as time expired to give TCNJ a 21-14 lead heading into the break.

The Warriors would use a 10-play, 55-yard drive in the third quarter to score when Spencer Ferguson had a 7-yard run to tie the game at 21-all.

“I do (think tying it shifted momentum) and then we had some other chances to go ahead but we didn’t do until late. If you can add another score before the field goal, you can probably win the game too. Especially another touchdown along the way wins,” Clark said. “Two touchdowns would have won it. Did momentum shift some? Absolutely, but they can back and made a play when they needed do. We had an opportunity late in the game, but we didn’t get it done.”

“When I went down, they were able to still go down and score,” Oliver added. “I believe we breathe through the running back. You’ll never hear ‘pass the ball to open up the run.’ I like to see that Spencer Ferguson came in and picked up where I left off. Lot of heart.”

Oliver ended his day with 91 rushing yards and averaged 6.5 per carry.

Stopping the run is what hurt Lycoming. Visaggio carried the ball 21 times for 125 yards and Jordan Morrell ran it 13 times for 66 yards. In addition, Andrew Spano had nine carries for 41 yards and Alex Dille had five for 26 as all four Lions averaged 4.6 yards per carry or better in Saturday’s win.

Lycoming struggled to establish a passing game on Saturday. Jay Huber went 10 for 24 with two interceptions for just 61 yards and was sacked once. But of those 10 completions, four receivers were able to record catches.

That included Loyalsock graduate Brendan Clark, who is back in his first game since Week 4 last year after being injured, who had four receptions for 31 yards and Muncy graduate Ross Eyer, who had two receptions for 16 yards. Eyer also nearly reeled in a diving catch in the back of the endzone that was just off his finger tips as he extended for it.

TCNJ 27, Lycoming 24

First quarter

TCNJ–Tim Willever 22 field goal, 8:50.

TCNJ–Jayden Johnson 36 interception return (Willever kick), 8:01.

L–Terrence Oliver 22 run (Vasco Granitto kick), 5:18.

Second quarter

TCNJ–Safety, 9:22.

TCNJ–Joe Visaggio 34 run (kick failed), 6:31.

L–Kash Tobin 2 run (Granitto kick), 3:19.

TCNJ–Willever 40 field goal, 0:00.

Third quarter

L–Spencer Ferguson 7 run (Granitto kick), 2:28.

Fourth quarter

L–Granitto 40 field goal, 5:08.

TCNJ–Erik Garv 40 pass from Kyle Vellis (Willever kick), 2:04.

TEAM STATISTICS

TCNJ L

First downs 23 13

Rushes-yards 68-282 29-128

Passing yards 101 61

C-A-I 6-10-1 10-24-2

Total yards 383 189

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 6-55 3-38

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING–TCNJ, Joe Visaggio 21-125 TD, Jordan Morrell 13-65, Andrew Spano 9-41, Alex Dille 5-24. Lycoming, Terrence Oliver 14-91 TD, Spencer Ferguson 8-32 TD, Michael VanHorn 4-7 TD, Jay Huber 3-(minus 2).

PASSING–TCNJ, Kyle Vellis 4-5-0 68 TD, Dean Licari 2-5-1 33. Lycoming, Jay Huber 10-24-2 61.

RECEIVING–TCNJ, Erik Garv 4-82 TD, Alex Dille 1-19, Ryan Mendes 1-0. Lycoming, Brendan Clark 4-31, Ross Eyer 2-6, Jared Zimmerman 2-7, Karson Kline 1-4.

INTERCEPTIONS–TCNJ, Justin Kurc 2. Lycoming, Aiden Barlett 1.

SACKS–TCNJ, Dylan Patscher 1. Lycoming, Khalil Jackson 1.

RECORDS–TCNJ (1-0), Lycoming (0-1).