9/27/24

SCRANTON, Pa. -- Lackawanna College football has lost two straight regular season games for the first time since 2014, and the #14 Falcons will now look to get off the schneid with a Region XIX clash againts Sussex County CC on Saturday, September 28th in New Jersey.

You can read the full games notes for this week's contest HERE.

Kickoff is scheduled for a 1:00pm ET start at Sussex Technical School in Sparta, NJ. It's the second straight road game for Lackawanna. Live coverage of the contest will be provided by Big State Sports via their YouTube channel. A direct link can be found HERE. Dan Cleary will handle the broadcasting duties. This is the fifth overall meeting between the two sides in a rivalry that started in the spring-shortened season of 2021. The Falcons are unbeaten in the previous four match-ups, having won two in the Garden State and two at home. Last year, Lackawanna piled up nearly 700 yards of offense in a 59-24 victory at home. The 24 points scored by the Skylanders was more in one game than they had in the previous three games combined (10). The last time Lackawanna played in New Jersey was 2022, where the Falcons beat Sussex by a 40-3 margin. Lackawanna built a 33-3 lead in the first half, highlighted by a blocked punt returned for a score, and cruised to victory at Newton HS. This year's edition of the rivalry marks the first time that the teams are scheduled to meet twice in one year. After this weekend's game, the next contest will be three short weeks later, when Sussex comes to Scranton on Saturday, October 19th.  

The Lackawanna Falcons (2-2) come into the contest as the #14 team in the latest NJCAA Division I rankings, dropping only one spot despite back-to-back tight losses to #3 Snow (43-40) and #7 Georgia Military College (40-35). The win over the Falcons pushed the Bulldogs to #6 in the country, and it was one of the more wild affairs between the two sides. GMC held two separate 13-point leads, and Lackawanna came back from both, fighting for a one-point lead on three separate occasions. The last came in the fourth quarter, where Lackawanna scored with a little over 13 minutes to play to take a 35-34 lead. GMC re-captured the lead for good at the 7:45 mark, hitting a 59-yard touchdown pass down the right sideline. The Falcons had two possessions to try to answer, but failed to score on each of them. Georgia Military got the ball back with around 3:30 to play, and the Bulldogs ran the ball ten straight times to eventually run the clock out and end the game. Wyatt Hagan (Chantilly, VA) was 23-for-35 for 235 yards and three touchdowns, while Maurice Edwards (Mundelein, IL) ran for 93 yards and two touchdowns, while catching another. Receiver Daryl Harper (Montgomery Village, MD) had a team-high ten catches, one shy of a Lackawanna record, for 100 yards and one score. Lackawanna outgained GMC 350 to 277, and had 24 first downs to just eight for the Bulldogs. Defensively, linebacker Andrew Marshall (Carroll, OH) led the way with eleven total tackles, while Gene Townsel (Richmond, VA) had seven total tackles, and Nyair Graham (Camden, NJ) had six and a tackle-for-loss. 

Sussex (0-2) fell 27-16 on the road at Louisburg College last weekend, despite outgaining and, at times, outplaying the Hurricanes in North Carolina. The Skylanders had more first downs (16-to-14) and offense yards (337-to-237), but were in a 27-3 hole thanks to a Louisburg defense that had ten sacks and 13 tackles-for-loss, forcing a pair of interceptions and a fumble. Louisburg hit the front in the first quarter when a defensive lineman tipped a pass, snagged it out of the air, and ran for a 29-yard touchdown. The Hurricanes added a field goal, then another touchdown, in the second quarter, before a field goal from the Skylanders made it 17-3 at the break. Louisburg added another touchdown in the third, followed by a field goal in the fourth, making it 27-3. That score would remain until about the 2:16 mark, when Sussex finally started moving the ball. The Skylanders faced a fourth-and-goal from the Louisburg 26, when quarterback Jay Carney threw a desperation pass between two defenders in the end zone, which was caught for a touchdown. Sussex executed an onside kick, then scored two plays later on a short pass from Carney to his receiver Mahky Acey in the flat. Acey took that pass and raced 50 yards to paydirt with 1:36 to go. After the failed two-point conversion, the score was 27-16, Louisburg. The Skylanders executed another onside kick, and got a 15-yard penalty on Louisburg to get the ball to the Hurricanes' 37-yard line, but a bad snap sailed past Carney, and the bounding ball was eventually recovered by Louisburg all the way back at the Sussex 20. Carney finished 7-for-12 with 151 yards and two scores, while Malik Baker had six catches for 107 yards and Maddix Bogunia-Bright had four catches for 64 yards and and a touchdown. 

Through two games, Sussex has struggled on offense, averaging 290.5 yards per game, 30th in the country. They are seventh in the country at 247 yards per game through the air, but are dead last in rushing, averaging just 43.5 yards per game on the ground. Defensively, Sussex has been relatively stout, giving up around 261 yards per game, 12th in the nation.  

The head coach for Sussex County is James Robertson, now in his second season as the head coach and third season overall with the program. Robertson took over for former coach Todd Poltersdorf, who started the program and then became the Athletic Director at Sussex. Robertson oversaw the best season in the short history for the Skylanders in 2023, as Sussex went 8-2 overall, with its only losses coming to national powers Georgia Military and Lackawanna College. The 2023 Skylanders had impressive wins over Hudson Valley CC, Erie CC, and Nassau CC, before taking down Division I Monroe in the season finale by a 47-27 margin. Before becoming head coach, Roberston was the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator in 2022. The Skylanders had 30 sacks and 14 turnovers, helping Sussex to a 4-6 overall team record. Before that, Robertson spent time as the safties and special teams assistant at FDU-Florham, helping the Devils go to 7-4 and making an appearance in the ECAC James Lynah Bowl, the first bowl in program history. Robertson played college ball at Frostburg State, where he graduated in 2008. He earned a nursing degree from Sussex, and he works as a Registered Nurse, in addition to his duties at Sussex. 

The head football coach for Lackawanna College is Mark Duda, now in his 31st season at the helm for the Falcons. Duda has 208 career victories, the most among active coaches in the NJCAA. Coach Duda, an NJCAA Hall-of-Famer, has produced over 400 scholarship athletes and had 20 different players end up with NFL contracts after spending time at Lackawanna. Lackawanna has had a .500 or better record in 26 of his 30 previous seasons, and has five official undefeated regular seasons. Duda is a northeast PA native, graduating from Wyoming Valley West in 1979, a prominent member of the Spartans' vaunted "Mad Dog" defense. Duda went on to play at the University of Maryland, setting a record of 13 sacks in a year, which stood for 30 years, before being drafted by the then-St. Louis Cardinals in 1983. Duda made 34 starts and 55 appearances, recording 9.5 sacks in the NFL. He earned a bachelor's degree from East Stroudsburg in 1991, and has a master's degree from Thomas Edison College. 

Lackawanna College will be home next weekend for a Sophomore Day celebration against Monroe University on Saturday, October 5th. Kickoff is set for 4:00pm ET at PenFed Field at Scranton Memorial Stadium, and will be the first of two match-ups between the Falcons and the Mustangs in 2024.