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Lycoming dominates Western Connecticut State to stay unbeaten in Landmark

By Jon Gerardi 7 min read

Western Connecticut State opened Saturday's game at David Person Field at Girardi Stadium with a tremendous start. The Wolves went 16 plays, ate up more than eight minutes off the clock, and culminated the 80-play drive with a touchdown pass from Dylan Jackson to Dallas West.

On the sidelines, the message was simple.

"Just score. I mean it's pretty simple. We gotta tie it back up, you know?" Lycoming quarterback Joe Lyons said.

Lycoming not only tied it up, but completely dominated from that point forward.

Lycoming needed 10 plays on its ensuing possession to go 65 yards and tied the game up and one offensive play by the Wolves later, Lycoming got the ball back on a fumble recovery. The rout was on from there as Lycoming pummeled the Wolves, 48-7, in a Landmark Conference contest on Saturday afternoon to move to 4-0 in the league.

The Warriors scored off the fumble recovery just two plays later on a Terrence Oliver touchdown run for a 14-7 lead. After losing a fumble, Lycoming then recovered one against Wilkes and Khalil Johnson returned it for a touchdown with 12:34 left in the second quarter for a 21-7 lead.

Lycoming attempted a pooch kick and recovered the onside ball, then went eight plays to punch in another score for a fast 28-7 lead against Western Connecticut State.

"That was big momentum wise, I don't love one or two of the turnovers, but man we forced several turnovers. Defensively, I think special teams wise, we had two," Lycoming coach Mike Clark said. "It's a good way to steal possessions and limit them. It was a really good plan."

Former Muncy standout football coach Sean Tetreault is on Lycoming's football staff and told Clark they should go for the onside pooch kick attempt and it paid off.

"We've been practicing it. Honestly, I wasn't sure if we'd recover it. It looked OK on film. I was terrified to kick the ball to No. 6, that kid is really good and had a big punt return against us last year, so that was more of an initial switch up. But Sean Tetreault was like, 'hey you gonna do it?'" Clark said. "He was a really good head coach at Muncy, said go for it, we'll get the momentum and then sure enough, what a great kick by Vasco (Granitto). ... That was a huge, huge momentum piece there."

It's something quarterback Joe Lyons agreed about.

"Once you get that, the momentum just starts coming to your side," Lyons said. "You start getting mroe hype and we start understanding the assignments."

All around, Lycoming was outstanding in the win. Offensively, the Warriors gained 337 yards of total offense and defensively, Lycoming held the Wolves to 177 yards of total offense and never let the Wolves get a running attack going. Western Connecticut State ran it 40 times for only 18 yards.

"It's just us working every day, coming in and making sure we do what we have to do," Trinity Hill-Caleb of Lycoming said. "Just make sure we're all moving on one accord. This is not a defense, this is a family. This is one unit, this is one unit and we're coming for it all."

Hill-Caleb was constantly in the backfield for Lycoming, coming up with a team-high three sacks as Lycoming piled up five total and shut down the Wolves after their initial touchdown.

After that first 16-play, 80-yard drive, the Wolves had two drives end with fumbles, one with an interception by Hughesville graduate Aiden Barlett, five with punts and two via turnover on downs.

Only one of those 10 drives resulted in going more than 50 yards.

"We thought they would struggle. We're not big and earlier in the year that hurt us against some people. People had success running the ball against us. You have to move around. We're not big enough to line up and play so we use our speed and athleticism to our advantage," Clark said. "Other than Catholic, I think that's three straight games we've held someone to seven. You hold someone to seven points, you have a really good chance of winning a football game."

Lycoming took a 28-7 lead into the half when Spencer Ferguson punched in a score with 9:14 left until the break. In the third quarter, Joe Lyons found Loyalsock graduate Brendan Clark for a 55-yard touchdown. Lyons got the defense to bite perfectly on a fake handoff to Oliver and found Clark wide open, who then went down the far sideline untouched for the score and 35-7 lead.

The fourth quarter saw backups get time and they excelled in their roles. Jersey Shore graduate Elijah Jordan punched in a 1-yard touchdown run with 12:54 left to go ahead 42-7 before Dylan Cerciello would score with just under two minutes left to make it a 48-7 lead.

Lyons finished the game with 114 passing yards, going 6 for 13, and had his touchdown pass to Clark. The Warriors' ground game was led by Oliver, who carried it 19 times for 93 yards and a touchdown before exiting midway through the third quarter with the game all but sealed.

Oliver is just 58 yards from becoming the second all-time leading rusher in Lycoming history.

"It helps when our run game is doing a lot," Lyons said. "Our run game was very successful today, which made life a lot easier for me and everyone else because we kept the drives going no matter what."

The Warriors saw five players catch a ball with Clark having tow for 70, Isiah Johnson having one for 34, David Grayton catching two for 26, Spencer Ferguson catching one for 12 and Oliver catching one for six.

And having Ferguson and Oliver as options in the backfield to throw to is something that benefits the Warriors offense as well, giving Lyons numerous options to find when throwing.

"It's phenomenal," Lyons said. "It's an extension to the run game. If we get him out wide, make a play."

Lycoming 48, Western Connecticut State 7

W.C. St. 7 0 0 0 -- 7

Lycoming 14 14 7 13 - 48

First quarter

W--Dallas West 15 pass from Dylan Jackson (G. Damboise kick), 6:24.

L--Joe Lyons 2 run (V. Granitto kick), 1:13.

L--Terrence Oliver 6 run (Granitto kick), 0:49.

Second quarter

L--Khalil Johnson 35 fumble return (Granitto kick), 12:34.

L--Spencer Ferguson 1 run (Granitto kick), 9;14.

Third quarter

L--Brendan Clark 55 pass from Lyons (Granitto kick), 8:17.

Fourth quarter

L--Elijah Jordan 1 run (Granitto kick), 12:54.

L--Dylan Cerciello 2 run (kick failed), 1:55.

TEAM STATISTICS

WC L

First downs 14 15

Rushes-yards 40-18 48-189

Passing yards 159 148

C-A-I 15-28-1 7-14-0

Total yards 177 337

Fumbles-lost 4-3 1-1

Penalties-yards 10-75 5-45

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING--Wester Connecticut St., Donald Highsmith 3-23, Quasim Benson 17-21, Paul Ronga 6-4, Dylan Dunn 1-1, Joseph Motes 4-(minus 7); Dylan Jackson 9-(minus 24). Lycoming, Terrence Oliver 19-93 TD, Elijah Jordan 7-41 TD, Lamar Wilson 6-23, Spencer Ferguson 5-18 TD, Jason Lajara 3-13, Dylan Cerciello 2-4 TD, David Grayton 1-1, Joe Lyons 5-(minus 4).

PASSING--Western Connecticut St., Dylan Jackson 12-24-1 116 TD, Joseph Motes 3-4-0 43. Lycoming, Joe Lyons 6-13-0 114 TD, Jason Lajara 1-1-0 34.

RECEIVING--Western Connecticut St., Jayden Leroy 5-51, Serge Lagardere 5-45, Dallas West 2-23, Jace Solomon 1-23, Marco Delima 1-9, Joshuah Larkin 1-8. Lycoming, Brendan Clark 2-70 TD, David Grayton 2-26, Isaiah Johnson 1-34, Spencer Ferguson 1-12, Terrence Oliver 1-6.

SACKS--Western Connecticut St., Joshua Sampson 1, Jordan Tyler 1. Lycoming, Trinity Hill-Caleb 3, Khalil Johnson 2, Christon Mitchell-Brown 1 1/2, Saveion Beckett 1/2, Yahseam Stokes 1/2, Braden Baum 1/2.

INTERCEPTIONS--Lycoming, Aiden Barlett 1.

Starting at /week.