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Other MAC
Scores:
Wilkes 36 Del Val 19
Kings 41 Juniata 16
Susquehanna 49 Lebanon Valley
33
Photos By John Green
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.tmp) Lycoming Football Back In Drivers Seat with 45-22
Victory Over Widener, DelVal Defeated.
By John Green
November 8, 2003
Williamsport - If you were to write a dream script for the
Lycoming Warriors, today would have been the day. Lycoming College
and Delaware Valley were tied for the MAC championship at kickoff,
with Delaware Valley holding the tie breaker because of their
victory over Lycoming just one month age. To have a shot at the
conference championship, Lycoming needed a win and Delaware Valley
had to lose to Wilkes or next week to have a chance for the crown
and guess what happened? Lycoming defeats a hard fighting Widener
team that would not give up on the day and Delaware Valley dropped a
must win against Wilkes 36-19. So today, as the sun set in the clear
shy to the west, it was a “beautiful day in Pennsylvania.”
| Interviewes:
QB Phil Mann who missed last
year's game with Widener because of a separated shoulder said,
"I don't know if this is the biggest game I've ever played but
it is one of the biggest. It was fun out there
today." Phil thinks "Rep's" (Ryan Repko) punt block at
halftime was the turning point of the game. It is the
most fired up he has seen them going into the locker room and
they came out the second half "ready to go."
Head Coach Frank Girardi
said "our penalties hurt us quite a bit in the end, we had
two big ones called back and that sort a deflated us a little
bit but the fact of the matter is that we did everything we
had to do to win the football game" Talking about big plays,
Frank commented, "Pinto with an interception, Repko with a
blocked punt was big and of course Repko there at the end, but
they still had to score two and get two 2 PAT's when Repko
intercepted it but we made some big time plays and we were
trying to manage the clock a little bit there at the
end. It was three weeks ago when Girardi told the
team... "We are going to win the MAC" after the Moravian game
in the post game meeting on the field. Girardi, the
motivator still thinks that but there is Susquehanna, always a
rivalry standing in the way. Talking about Susquehanna,
"They are going to come in here storming and they are going to
give us everything we want. We have to be ready to play
next week, but in our frame of mind, we are going to be ready
to play.
Freshman Ryan Repko said
this was the best game he ever played in. "We had to win
one for our seniors today and we have not beaten Widener in a
long time and it is good to give them a win against
them. About the interception, "I was actually on the
back covering man to man and he (his man) ended up blocking so
I sunk back and ended up picking the ball off and I was
getting caught down there ... I was running out of gas towards
the end." About possibly setting an all time record for
an interception return Ryan said "I hope so, it would be a
nice record to set." |
But the real story for today was players
on Lycoming’s offensive, defense and special teams that came up with
big plays when Lycoming needed them to put this game away. You
cannot say enough about the offensive as they scored back to back
touchdowns early under some adversity. Their best running back,
Robert Miller was still suffering from a rib injury he received
against the Juniata game last week. Although there were no broken
bones, they can be very painful. So who steps up but a fist full of
offensive players with big plays? Tim Brown was on the receiving end
of a 41 yard pass play setting up a Mann to Sean Hennigar touchdown
completion in the left end zone completing a five play drive with
just 5:33 remaining in the first quarter.
.tmp) Lycoming came right back in the second quarter
marching 82 yards on 12 plays. QB Mann used the a 15 yard rushing
play and three pass plays to keep the offense moving to pay dirt.
Ricky Lannetti caught a 9 yard strike from Mann in the corner of the
end zone to cap off the drive (Click On Photo). The extra point was
good and Lycoming took a 14-0 lead.
It didn’t take long for Widener to return
the favor. QB Mike Lomas (37-67-3 INT for 379 yards) benefited from
a 15 yard pass interference penalty and connected to Jeff Chick for
39 yards to the Warrior 12 yard line. Two plays later, Michael
.tmp) Gandy took it over from the four yard line. The
momentum shifted as Phil Mann was sacked and fumbled the football on
the next series. Widener started at the Lycoming 36 yard line
looking to square the match and on a third and ten, Lomas tried
throwing a long strike to the end zone, but Nick Pinto intercepted
(first of two on the day) the pass for a touchback. This was turning
point number one in the game. Lycoming marched down the field for a
field goal extending their lead to 17-7.
.tmp) The player of the game was definitely Ryan Repko.
He earned this reward by coming up big two times in the game.
When Widener was backed up to their own 15 yard line and forced to
punt, the backup defensive free safety who plays special teams
blocked the punt with his arms, picked up the ball and ran it into
the end zone as time ran out in the half. With the unexpected score,
Lycoming was feeling real good at intermission leading
24-7.
.tmp) Lycoming took the third quarter kickoff and scored
in 4 plays marching 71 yards. Phil Mann did the honors with a 12
yard rush diving into the end zone for the score. Then Lyco’s
defense stopped Widener on three plays. Ricky Lannetti took a Doug
Schlack punt and brought it back to the Widener 23 yard line. The 56
yard punt return set up Phil Mann’s 14 yard rushing touchdown. With
the extra point through the uprights, Lycoming was routing Widener
38-7.
If there is a statement against Lycoming
this year, it is that they tend to loose focus when they get ahead.
This cost them in the DelVal game and for a while it looked like
Lycoming let up a bit on the scrappy Widener team. Widener played
hard nose football all afternoon and they came back with two
touchdowns late in the third quarter. With a two point extra point,
Lycoming found themselves ahead by the score of 38-22 with a full
quarter to go. This is when our player of the game made his second
move against Widener.
With 4:40 left in the fourth quarter,
Widener was marching for a sure score. They seemed to have a handle
on the inside pass play and moved to the Lycoming two yard line on
another penalty, a pass interference call. Then the defense took
over. Luke Sterling caught Wideners RB Michael Brady in the
backfield for a two yard loss. With third and goal from the four
yard line, Widener QB Lomas threw over the middle and Ryan Repko
stepped in front of the receiver and picked off the pass in the end
zone running the ball back 100 yards which at least ties a school
record. Repko stunned the Widener offense and just sliced through
them before they knew what had hit them. Repko had enough
steam to make it to the end zone.
.tmp) Lycoming went on the win
45-22 in a thriller. Meanwhile, Delaware Valley was loosing to a
good Wilkes Barre team. What a switch at the end of this game.
Lycoming is number one again in the MAC and in the drivers
seat. Next week, Lycoming hosts Susquehanna University. This
series is for the Amos Alonzo Stagg Hat held by Lycoming at this
time. Stagg, the famous football icon, coached for Susquehanna some
years back.
Additional Notes
Other great
players of the day include:
• John Moor who made two catches of
61 yards and 58 yards, tops for Lycoming receivers.
• Phil Mann
who rushed for 74 net yards with Miller on the side lines. Mann also
had a great day in the air as he threw for 293 yards completing 19
of 28 with one interception. Phil scored two touchdowns on the
ground and connected with receivers for two more scores.
• You
have to mention the special teams play. Ricky Lannetti had a 56 yard
punt return and a 31 yard kickoff return late in the fourth quarter
when Lycoming needed field position.
• How about freshman Ryan
Repko and his day. He blocked a punt as the 2nd quarter ended and
picked it up running into the end zone for a touchdown giving the
Warriors momentum for the second half. Lycoming lead at halftime
24-7.
• And the defense played solid in the second half. They
gave up 15 points in the second half, but they were on the field for
half of the third quarter and most of the fourth quarter.
• As
noted, Widener was not giving up easily. They seemed to be a cat
with nine lives. The Warriors could not deliver a knock out punch on
first year coach David Wood’s Widener team.
• Lycoming had three
Widener interceptions, two by Nick Pinto and one great game sealing
interception by Ryan Repko. Repko, who at least has tied the longest
interception for a touchdown picked off a pass up the middle at the
goal line and ran it back 100 yards to seal the victory for
Lycoming.
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