EWING, N.J. – Despite three interceptions from its new-look defense, the TCNJ football team found itself stymied by visiting Lycoming in a 17-7 setback in Saturday's season opener.
Sean Gallagher picked off a pair of passes in his first career start, with
Brayden Kelly adding the first of his career for good measure, but the Lions went scoreless after halftime and managed just over 100 yards of total offense as the Warriors exacted a measure of revenge for last year's thriller, when the blue and gold stole a victory with a last-minute long touchdown pass.
There was no such magic on a glorious afternoon in Ewing, but despite its struggles TCNJ found itself with a chance to win after stopping Lycoming on a 4
th-and-goal pass with 1:31 to go. Trailing 10-7 with no timeouts remaining, the Lions threw short of the sticks on fourth down, the Warriors popping the ball loose and quelling the hosts' hopes by returning the fumble for a touchdown with 44 seconds remaining.
TCNJ struggled to generate any rhythm on offense, fumbling on its third play from scrimmage and gifting the Warriors a short field, which they capitalized on with a 12-yard touchdown pass from Joe Lyons III to Spencer Ferguson to kick off the scoring.
The defense bent but refused to break as Lycoming marched 64 yards in 15 plays on its next possession, with back-to-back pass breakups by
Noah Croutch and
Sean Gallagher forcing the visitors to settle for a short field goal and a 10-0 lead late in the first quarter.
Kelly swung the game early in the second, streaking to his left to pick off a third-down pass and sprinting 33 yards down the left sideline to set up the offense with a short field on the Lycoming 25-yard line. Rookie running back
Sam Dech took it from there, rumbling 21 yards on three consecutive carries and getting the home side on the board with a 4-yard rumble into the end zone, his first career touchdown trimming the Lycoming lead to 10-7 with 8:11 until half.
The defense came up big again on the next possession, when Gallagher posted his first career interception to short-circuit a promising drive that had the Warriors just shy of the TCNJ red zone. The senior repeated the feat late in the third quarter, when
Remy Feniello hurried Lyons into a mistake that Gallagher snatched out of the air and returned nine yards to the TCNJ 37.
The blue and gold was lined up to go for it on 4
th-and-1 from its own 46-yard line before a false start forced a punt.
The Warriors took seven minutes off the clock with a long fourth-quarter drive, but a fourth-down touchdown pass was wiped off the board for a hold, and
Brandon Rector's pass rush forced an incompletion from Lyons on the ensuing fourth-and-goal. Lycoming, however, put the game to rest with its scoop-and-score four plays later.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Lycoming outgained the Lions, 316-127, and racked up 20 first downs to the hosts' 10
- The Warriors held possession for over 34 minutes and finished 8-of-16 on third down, while TCNJ was 4-for-13 on third down
FOR THE FOES
- Lyons was 19-of-28 for 155 yards and one touchdown along with the three interceptions
- Terrence Oliver, Division III's active career rushing leader, added to his tally with 115 yards on 28 carries
- Tight end Brendan Clark grabbed six receptions for 71 yards
- Khalil Johnson had a team-high nine tackles to go with a sack, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery
STANDOUT LIONS
- Gallagher added a pass break-up and four tackles to his two interceptions
- Dech rushed for 65 yards on 14 carries, not losing yards on any of his totes
- Aaron Viray led the Lions with three receptions, the first of his career, while Bryce Cammarata, Lucas Lattimer, Grant Lorentzen each notched their first career catch
- Albert D'Alessandro piled up a career-high 12 tackles
- CJ Dingle produced nine tackles in his collegiate debut, while Shane Walsh tallied eight in his first start
- Ethan Kalinauskas and John Russo each had a tackle for loss among their four stops
UP NEXT
- The Lions hit the road to take on Wilkes next Saturday
