Box Score
Football at Lycoming Gallery
Football
Lycoming 21, Lebanon Valley 13
WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Lycoming shut down Lebanon Valley, holding the Dutchmen to a single touchdown to hand LVC its first loss of the season 21-13.
The Dutchmen (2-1, 1-1 MAC) managed just 284 yards of offense, including 90 on the ground, as the Warriors (2-1, 2-0 MAC) used big plays and smart clock management to take control in the second half.
Mistakes hurt both teams, with Lycoming scoring a first-half touchdown off Miller's fumble and LVC capitalizing on
Jared Cicero's second quarter interception. Penalty flags flew all game long, with a combined 18 penalties for 166 yards.
Leo Kyte, knocked out early in the first half, went 14-for-26 for 169 yards and a touchdown after returning.
Joey Miller racked up 107 yards on nine catches with a touchdown, and also drew a pair of deep pass interference penalties.
"They were the better team. As I said to our team, they made the plays," said head coach
Jim Monos, who saw his team grasp momentum time after time only to give it up with a bad penalty or turnover. "From my standpoint, that's disappointing. Good football teams can't make mistakes like that."
Miller accounted for LVC's long touchdown, catching a spectacular ball falling out of bounds.
Sean Fakete tacked on field goals of 35 and 28 yards.
Craig Needhammer led Lycoming with 101 yards, including a back-breaking 61-yard touchdown run in the third quarter. Tyler Jenny was 15-for-23 for 168 yards and a score.
Kyte was knocked out on the first series, returning later in the first half.
Brian Murphy was 5-for-7 for 25 yards and ran for 23 more in his absence.
"I thought Leo had a gutty performance as our quarterback being hurt and being out to do the things he did. We had some big plays along the way but not enough to win the ball game," Monos said.
LVC got on the board first, with Fakete finishing off a stalled drive with a 35-yard field goal late in the first quarter. The Warriors answered back quickly as Jenny hit Jarrin Campman wide open for a 47-yard score to start the second quarter. A Miller fumble on the next drive led to Parker Shower's 1-yard over the top touchdown.
The Dutchmen took a shot later in the quarter and hit paydirt when Kyte, coming in for his first full series of the game, found Miller on the right sideline, and that made it a 14-10 Lycoming lead at halftime.
The turning point was Needhammer's 61-yard burst late in the third quarter, putting Lycoming up 21-10, and despite a late field goal by Fakete, LVC was never able to grasp momentum in the fourth quarter to mount the comeback. The Dutchmen got the ball back with 1:15 left for one last shot, but Ryan Mihoci intercepted Kyte on second down to seal the home side's win.
LVC will visit Stevenson on Sept. 22.
Game Notes
Ryan Melley led the defense with 11 tackles, and David Kennedy also had a good day with nine stops ... Jerome Duncan blocked a Lycoming field goal attempt late in the second quarter ... LVC did not record a sack ... LVC's 90 yards rushing was its lowest total since the 2010 ECAC South-Atlantic Bowl at Johns Hopkins ... Pete Panichi was held to 45 yards rushing on 12 totes ... Lycoming's Showers ran for 71 yards ... Lycoming had 375 yards of offense ... The Warriors led possession 34:18 to 25:24, including a grinding 9:49, 14-play drive in the fourth quarter.
