Lycoming hopes to keep Landmark success going this week
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Ever since the Landmark Conference schedule started for Lycoming's football team, the Warriors have been rolling and playing well on both sides of the ball.
After beating Catholic, 49-25, Lycoming proceeded to hold Wilkes and Juniata to seven points in consecutive weeks by beating Wilkes, 17-7, and Juniata, 42-7.
Now, Lycoming's 3-0 in the Landmark Conference and has another conference game at David Person Field at Girardi Stadium on Saturday against Western Connecticut State. And the Warriors are hoping to start 4-0 in conference play with a kickoff at 1 p.m. this afternoon
"I feel like in conference play, it's anybody's ball game, you know what I'm saying?" Lycoming running back Terrence Oliver said. "So it's really good to see that we're having good weeks and stacking up good Saturdays. Hopefully we can play for that conference championship."
Against Juniata last week, Lycoming dominated from start to finish and limited Juniata to just one touchdown, which came with 34 seconds to play with the game well decided before that. Lycoming held a narrow 3-0 lead after the first quarter before scoring 14 in the third, six in the third and 19 in the fourth to surpass 40 points.
The Warriors accumulated more than 500 yards of total offense and held Juniata to 235 yards, 179 of those coming in the passing game.
"I say this every year, but when you start conference play, your first conference game you're either in first place or last place. We were able to put ourself in first place and for the last two weeks have stayed there," Lycoming coach Mike Clark said.
Western Connecticut State is 3-2 and 1-1 in the Landmark Conference. The Wolves beat Moravian, 29-0, two weeks ago before a tough 28-27 setback last week against Catholic.
Western Connecticut State's only other win came in its season opener against William Paterson University, 27-17.
Dylan Jackson has played well for the Wolves offensively, going 95 for 161 with 1,202 yards, but has thrown six touchdowns to three interceptions.The Wolves have five receivers with more than 100 yards in Serge Lagadere (22 catches for 303 yards), Dallas West (14 for 240), Jayden Leroy (5 for 176), Thomas Schiavoni (15 or 160) and Quinn Speller (6 for 104).
On the ground, Quasim Benson has run for 409 yards on 72 carries and has scored six rushing touchdowns.
"Western Connecticut is good, they have some really good kids. We have to beat them. Pleased that we're in first place, we have an awesome history here of winning championships and it's been too long since we've won one here," Clark said. "If that weight is associated with our Susquehanna game in a couple weeks, then that's OK. But last year that game wans't competitive. We'll worry about that in two weeks. But today, we're thrilled we're 1-0 today and undefeated in conference play still."
A win against Western Connecticut State would set up a huge conference game against Susquehanna at home on Halloween between what would be two teams with perfect Landmark records..
"Good things, bad things can both snowball. So the fact we're getting these wins and we're having good practices, good eneegy on our sidelines, stuff like that, it's brinign our team up to that high standard that we compete at," Oliver said. "Hopefully we can keep stacking (wins)."
The Warriors aren't overlooking Western Connecticut State, and know they hav to take care of this week before Susquehanna comes to town.
"I hope that game means something when we get there (vs. Susquehanna), but it's only gonna mean something if we took care of business today (vs. Juniata) and have to have a really good week (for Western Connecticut State)."
Joe Lyons has thrown for 1,239 yards this year with 12 touchdown passes. Despite missing a game, Terrence Oliver still leads the Warriors with 500 rushing yards on 113 attempts while Spencer Ferguson has 294 carries on 68 rushes. They form a talented 1-2 punch in the backfield that teams often struggle to limit.
And when teams focus on Oliver and try to bottle him up, it allows Lyons to find receivers and beat teams with his arms.
"It's really hard to stop Terrence Oliver and cover all of our guys if we stay whole. It's exciting," Clark said. "I think the combination of our skill guys, but you need a quarterback to make it go and Joe's done a really nice job."