SELINSGROVE, PA – The inaugural Landmark Conference championship belongs to Susquehanna Football after today's triumphant 49-10 victory over Lycoming Saturday afternoon. While the River Hawks won this chapter of the historic rivalry with the Warriors and the Stagg Hat Trophy, the team received much more with an automatic qualifier for next week's NCAA National Playoffs, with the selection show set for Sunday at 5 p.m.
While many would have expected unbeaten and 10/11th-ranked Susquehanna to have had the Landmark Conference title already clinched entering Saturday, Lycoming's four consecutive conference victories made this matchup a winner-take-all for the championship. Following the Senior Day pregame festivities to recognize SU's 22 football soon-to-be graduates, the River Hawks wasted no time jumping out to a 21-0 lead, scoring on the first drive of the game when senior Chris Bookter made his day even more memorable reeling in the first touchdown of the day on a nine-yard pass from Josh Ehrlich for a 7-0 lead. Lycoming's retort ended almost as soon as it began. Their opening play resulted in a false start, then on the next play a rush by running back Terrence Oliver was stripped of the ball by Brian Layton and recovered by Josh Parson to put the offense back on the field at Lyco's 15. Two plays later at the two-yard line, Josh Ehrlich delivered a shovel pass to Kyle Howes who took it around the right end for a touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
After an exchange of possessions, the Warriors ran into trouble again when quarterback Will Fish's sideline pass to the right side was intercepted by Steven Williams III at the Susquehanna 49. Once again, the River Hawks pounced on the turnover for points as running back Tommy Grabowski found his first touchdown of the day on a downhill eight-yard run to lead 21-0 early in the second quarter.
Susquehanna's momentum hit a bit of a bump when they attempted a failed surprise onside on the ensuing kickoff that set Lycoming up in SU territory. Lycoming answered with a 31-yard field goal from Ian Plankenhorn to cut the deficit to 21-3. This did little to keep the River Hawks from moving the ball down the field, almost extending their lead before halftime when a dive by Tommy Grabowski was hit by Austin Rowley at the goal line, forcing the ball out through the endzone in the closing seconds of the half.
Lycoming opened the second half with the ball and made a bid for a comeback rally when Fish completed an eight-yard pass to Dawson Debebe to make the score 21-10 with just over ten minutes left in the third quarter. This would be the last of Lyco's scoring as Susquehanna took over the rest of the way. On the ensuing drive, the River Hawks marched 74 yards down the field, culminating in a sweep handoff to Howes, who ran it nine yards for his second touchdown of the day and regained an 18-point lead.
With the game moving into the fourth quarter, Susquehanna remained unsatisfied and tacked on three more touchdowns. The first came from Howes' third touchdown of the day, when he took another shovel pass, this time from QB2 Bobby Croyle, for a four-yard touchdown reception and a 35-10 lead just seconds into the fourth quarter. Croyle went to the air again for the second touchdown, this time finding an open receiver in senior Jacob Erb in the back of the endzone on a 20-yard strike and a 42-10 lead. After forcing Lyco into a three and out, Susquehanna again marched down the field with a 67-yard drive, capped by running back D.K. Wyche running for 24 yards down to the five, then on the next play punching it in from five yards in to put the exclamation point on capturing the inaugural Landmark Conference football banner.
Susquehanna, who specialized all season in time of possession, held the ball Saturday for a season-best 39:42. In that time the River Hawks made 32 first downs and 7-of-12 third down conversions. They reached the endzone on seven of nine redzone opportunities and never gave the ball away, save the fumble at the goal line by Grabowski at the end of the first half. Lycoming's time with the ball was upended by making 12 first downs and converting 4-of-13 third down tries and 0-2 on fourth down conversions. The game was also marred by countless penalties, with the Warriors turning up guilty on nine calls for 64 yards and the River Hawks eight for 85 yards.
Howes reeled in two receiving touchdowns and one rushing touchdown and nearly had a 94-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the second quarter that was called back due to an illegal blindside block. Overall he caught four passes for 70 yards, but that came second in yardage to tight end Michael Robbins, who caught three passes for 77 yards, including a long of 52 yards. Through the air quarterback Josh Ehrlich completed 9-of-18 for 104 yards with two touchdowns, while backup Croyle connected on 8-of-12 for 152 yards and a pair of touchdown strikes. Ehrlich also ran for a game-high 119 yards on 15 rushes, with his longest going for 31 yards.
On the ground, Grabowski handled most of the load for the backs with 21 carries and amassing 113 yards for yet another 100-yard game and one touchdown in the process. First-year back Matt Surtz got six carries for 40 yards, while D.K. Wyche carried the ball five times for 42 yards and one TD.
The defensive side featured a gritty performance as well, with Drew Robinson leading the way with nine tackles with two solo, while Josh Parson had six total tackles with three solo while registering 1.5 tackles for loss and one fumble recovery for five yards and one pass breakup. Defensive backs Le'Trey Bond and Josh Lesesne each broke up two passes and had five tackles, with Bond contributing to a tackle for loss with three solo and Lesesne one solo tackle.
10-0 Susquehanna awaits their fate in Sunday's NCAA Division III Football Playoff Selection Show set for 5 p.m. The River Hawks, who entered this week ranked 10th in the D3football.com Poll, 11th in the AFCA Top 25, and third in the NCAA Region 2 selections, received a boost when SUNY Cortland, ranked fourth in the regional poll, defeated Ithaca 38-28 on Saturday with the Bomber ranking second in the region. Susquehanna defeated Cortland in Week 3 this season by a 38-35 score. These circumstances set the stage for a potential home playoff game for Susquehanna next weekend for the second consecutive year. Follow ncaa.org for more details on Sunday's selection show.