By Akshay Kripalani Contributing writer
The Susquehanna football team lost its opening game 27- 24 on the road to the Lycoming Warriors on Sept. 3.
After winning the Stagg Hat Trophy back from the Warriors last season, the River Hawks were hoping to bring it back to Susquehanna, but their late comeback came up short. The all-time series is now even between the schools, with each team earning 28 wins.
On the offensive side of the ball, the River Hawks made plays throughout the game. Susquehanna picked up 21 first downs, totaling 357 yards to Lycoming’s 20 first downs with 336 yards in the game.
Junior quarterback Matt Theis had an impressive game passing, finishing 15 for 22 with two touchdowns and 196 passing yards. He also rushed for 40 yards in 10 attempts.
Sophomore running back Luke Robertson led the ground game for Susquehanna, as he rushed for 58 yards on 15 total attempts during the game.
Senior reciever Chris Beals led all players in receiving yards with four catcher for 74 yards.
The reigning Centennial Conference Rookie of the Year, Diamente Holloway, also reeled in six passes for 61 yards.
Senior cornerback CJ Williams led the River Hawk defense. He finished with a total of 10 tackles, with eight solo tackles and two assists.
He also sacked Lycoming senior quarterback Chase Whiteman and picked up the ensuing fumble.
The game started off well for the Warriors as they scored the first touchdown of the game on a 13-yard Whiteman pass. The ensuing PAT was blocked, leaving the score at 6-0 Lycoming.
Susquehanna was able to respond with a scoring drive of its own, as Theis was able to punch in a touchdown from the 1-yard-line to give the River Hawks a 7-6 lead with 6:51 to play in the first quarter.
Early in the second quarter, Theis was able to add another score, this time on an 18-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Tommy Bluj to cap off a 10-play, 88-yard drive to make the score 14-6.
Lycoming would recover however, as senior running back Blake Bowman would add two touchdowns on the ground, one for 25 yards and the other for one yard to give the Warriors a 20-14 lead going into the half.
The game would not have another score until Susquehanna senior kicker Evan Argiriou knocked in a 31-yard field goal to make the game 20-17.
Lycoming would respond however with 7:12 left in the game on a 7-play, 72-yard scoring drive, which ended in a Bowman 2-yard rushing touchdown, which made the score 27-17.
Theis would add another touchdown on a long 42-yard touchdown pass to Beals, to make the game 27-24, but Lycoming ran out the clock on the ensuing drive.
“It’s a tough loss anytime you give back a trophy game to open the season. Film allowed us to see some of the mistakes we made. There’s a lot of good we can take away from Saturday. We just have our blinders on focusing on Hopkins this week. One game season right now,” Williams said.
With the loss, Susquehanna drops to 0-1 on the season, while Lycoming moves to 1-0. The River Hawks are back on the field on Sept. 10 when they face Johns Hopkins. It will also be homecoming for the River Hawks.
