9/3/21

LACKAWANNA COLLEGE FOOTBALL LOOKS TO PROVE IT BELONGS
After a pandemic-shortened spring season, the Falcons look to recapture the glory of 2019
 
SCRANTON, Pa. – The Lackawanna College football team was a year removed from a national championship appearance when the pandemic, as it did for most every other school, played havoc with the fall 2020 season.
 
The Falcons looked to compete in the spring of 2021, but only got two games in before the program was forced to shutter operations and focus on coming back in the fall. Now, fall is here, and the Falcons have visions of proving themselves worthy once again in 2021.
 
Hall-of-Fame head football coach Mark Duda, the active leader in the NJCAA for wins (178), returns for his 28^th season as head coach, and he believes the Falcons are ready to get back to "normal" after the spring.
 
"The kids are more secure now, about that," said Duda. "I think that they're not worried about it being taken away from them, I think it's making us better. Our preparation's been better, probably twice as long, so I think it's made for those guys to be more ready."
 
The Falcons, a preseason #9 ranking in the NJCAA national polls, went 1-1 in the spring 2021 season before stopping due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They return many players from that team, including some players that were also a part of the team that went 10-1 and made the national championship in 2019.
 
The players who have gotten the most press have been the pair of Penn State recruits, offensive lineman James "JB" Nelson and safety Tyrece Mills.
 
Nelson follows in a long-line of Lackawanna College lineman that have gone on to great things, and leads a veteran group, along with Donovan Reiser, in the trenches for the Falcons. The starting line is all second year players or higher.
 
Mills, a highly-rated safety and a preseason Starting Lineup selection by College Football America Yearbook, is the latest in a run of excellent safeties and players in the secondary that have come from Lackawanna College, including Jaquan Brisker and Jy'Air Brown, who have both gone on to play at Penn State.
 
Coach Duda and company are also excited about the return of Delvin Palmer, a dynamic wide receiver who turns into a game breaker on special teams.
 
"Great football player, super quickness. He ran a punt back the other day and made, I think, seven people miss," said Duda. "Really outstanding. So, those kinda guys are back, which makes us feel pretty good…so they kinda add stability to the program. And maybe let the younger players know what to do."
 
Defensively, the Falcons will be anchored along the D-Line by talented defensive end Brian Dallas and defensive tackle Cottrell Hatchett, among others. DeWayne Grantham will help lead the linebacking core, that includes Jahman McNeil, Harold O'Neal, and Jalen Wring. And joining Mills in the secondary will be Aakeem Snell, William Hackett, and Samuel Graham, among many others.
 
The offense will be quarterbacked by Barry Brown, a freshman from Philadelphia. Antwan Squire will be the feature back in a stable of talented running backs, and the aforementioned Palmer will team up with Alphonso Foray and Josh Dodd as the usual suspects at receiver. Tyler Overholtz, a Dunmore High School product, will be the starting tight end, and he'll partner with the offensive line anchored by Nelson, Reiser, Saut Kandic, Najae Hallenbeck, and Jevon Blackburn.
 
Cam Ceccotti, a Valley View graduate, will handle the kicking duties, while Luke Payne will handle the punting.
 
After two successful scrimmages against Montclair State and Albright College, the Falcons kick off their season on Sunday September 5^th at 12pm ET when they take on the also nationally ranked (#11) Iowa Central CC Tritons. Iowa Central went 6-3 in the spring season, and won the Graphic Edge Bowl for the third year in a row.
 
The game is set to be played at a neutral site, St. Francis University in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
 
It's the first of three high-profile, ranked matchups for the Falcons this year, who will also travel to Utah to play the 2^nd ranked team in the country, the Snow Badgers, before ending the season on the road against the 13^th ranked team, Georgia Military College.
 
In between, the Falcons will be traveling to neutral site games against ASA Miami and Hocking College, along with games at Army JV and Nassau CC. The Falcons have only three home games this year, with the home opener coming on October 2^nd against McDougle Technical Institute.
 
The Lackawanna College Athletics Department WILL be streaming the game against Iowa Central LIVE on the Falcons Athletic Network via the college YouTube page. Tom Ferguson and Mike Rickert will have the play-by-play action. You can watch the game HERE.
 
Check back to lackawannafalcons.com for updates on games, rosters, statistics, videos from Media Day, and more.
 
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