TIM WEIGHT/Special to the Sun-Gazette LHU senior Davien Vernon (8) and his teammates walk off the field after a defensive stop during Saturday’s win over Gannon. The Haven won 49-28 to clinch their first winning season since 1981.

While the current decade is on pace to be one of the most successful in Lock Haven football history, there’s quite a discrepancy between its first two years and the last three. 2021 and 2022 saw the Bald Eagles win two combined games and go winless in conference play, continuing the misery that surrounded the program for multiple decades.

That’s what made Saturday’s win particularly special for the program.

Coupled with its obvious history, its coaches, players and fans being more than aware of its winning-season drought, a select few witnessed those low points firsthand, like redshirt senior Markel Morgan and senior Davien Vernon. They got to see the cogs start to turn, the slow but steady climb upward and finally, the program break through a barrier it had only grown close to recently.

“I’m happy for the guys who’ve been here,” said quarterback Jackson Ostrowsky following Saturday’s win.

“Really happy for guys like Vern, guys like Griese (Blake Griesemer), guys like Zay (Izaiah) Scott, guys like Evan (Sylstra). The guys that have been here that were here when Lock Haven was the same Lock Haven we are now. It’s a different Lock Haven, and I’m excited to see what they’ve got in store.”

Despite the hardships of those early seasons, ones which presented a lot of change as Dan Mulrooney took over with a revamped staff alongside the losses, guys like Morgan, Vernon and Griesemer chose to stick around and trust the process. Vernon tried the transfer portal at one point but decided to come back, believing in what Lock Haven’s new coaching staff presented to them.

In choosing to not move on to greener pastures, they got to be a part of Lock Haven’s transition into its own, the first green the program has experienced since long before they were born. They were a huge part in it breaking through multiple barriers throughout their LHU stints, from five wins in 2023, to its first win over West Chester since 1991 in Week 7 to a winning season in the present day.

“I feel good now,” expressed Morgan. “I’ve been here since 2021 when our first head coach got fired, (been through) three head coaches. But never stopped, stayed the course. It feels great.”

“It means a lot because I just stayed down and trusted the process, and not a lot of people do that,” emphasized Vernon. “Honestly, I was a portal victim, my damn self. But I came back out because I trusted the program, trusted my teammates, trusted the love and the community we have. I stuck with it, and I’m happy I did it.”

Even with Saturday’s game not featuring postseason implications, the team didn’t enter it pursuing a moral victory or consolation prize. Getting a win there represented the program’s next step forward, as it breached a barrier that’s haunted it for some time.

“It might not be playoffs, but we’ve still got something to play for,” said senior running back Damir Green. “It’s history at the end of the day. I’m happy for the program; it’s a change. There’s a change going on here.”