10/10/25

SCRANTON, Pa. -- Finally back on the winning side of things, Lackawanna College football will attempt to make it two straight wins this weekend, but things won't be easy, as the Falcons make the short trip to New York to take on the US Military Academy Prep School on Friday night.

Kickoff is set for a 6:00pm ET start on Friday, October 10th, from the USMAPS football field on post in West Point. There is no video livestream available. Live updates can be found via the Lackawanna College Football Twitter/X page at the handle @LCFalconsFB.

Full Game Notes 

Saturday's clash is the 13th time that Lackawanna and USMAPS will meet on the football field since their first meeting in 1993. Lackawanna College leads the series, 7-5, and won the last confrontation back in 2015, a 49-36 victory for Lackawanna College. The Black Knights are the only team on this year's schedule that appeared on the Falcons' first-ever football schedule in 1993. Lackawanna is 3-4 all-time against USMAPS in West Point. The Falcons lost 36-34 in 2014 their last time at Prep. They coincidentally won their last game in West Point in general, defeating Army JV by a 39-35 margin on a 29-yard touchdown pass with 2.9 seconds remaining in 2021.

USMAPS (1-0) has only played one game, defeating Sussex County CC by a 3-0 score back on September 26th. The Black Knights held Sussex to 123 offensive yards, including -5 yards rushing. The Black Knights had 36 minutes of possession and 154 yards rushing on the night, but squandered good field position for most of the game. The game turned early in the third quarter, when Sussex muffed a punt, the second time that happened in the game, and USMAPS cashed in a 34-yard field goal three plays later. Sussex had a long drive into the red zone, getting all the way to the Knights' 8-yard line, but the Skylanders were pushed back, then missed the 29-yard field goal as it clanged off the left upright. Sussex had one last drive in the fourth, but two straight sacks put the Skylanders way behind the sticks, and they couldn't convert on fourth down, giving the ball back to USMAPS to run out the clock. 

Ernest Moore is the head football coach at USMAPS, doubling as the track and field head coach for the Black Knights.

Lackawanna College (3-2) snapped its two-game slide with a big win at home against Monroe University, rallying from a third quarter deficit to win 44-34 this past Saturday evening at home. With Monroe leading 27-23 in the third quarter, and having just scored on a blocked punt, the Mustangs were flying high and the Falcons needed a response. They got that response, after getting buried at their own five-yard line, when quarterback Jacob Tiberi (Smyrna, DE) found a wide open Christian Harrison (Temple Hills, MD) down the field. Harrison weaved through traffic, stayed on his feet through a tackle, and then got pushed into the end zone for a miraculous 58-yard touchdown pass. Later, with the Falcons clinging to a three-point lead and needing to convert a fourth down to seal the game, Tiberi rolled and found Harrison in the back corner of the end zone for a 25-yard touchdown to put the Falcons up 44-34. Lackawanna rolled up 567 yards of total offense, averaging 8.1 yards per play, and the Falcons threw for 339 yards in the win. You can read the full recap HERE.

Lackawanna is coached by the legendary Mark Duda, now in his 32nd season as the head football coach, and 33rd season overall with the Lackawanna College football program. Duda has 216 all-time wins in his tenure, the most among active coaches and third all-time in NJCAA history. Duda has had five undefeated, untied regular seasons at Lackawanna, including the 2018 squad that went 11-0 and defeated Arizona Western in the El Toro Bowl. Duda led the Falcons to a 2019 National Championship appearance against Mississippi Gulf Coast, where the Falcons fell 24-13. He has coached over 20 players that have signed professional contracts to play football, and there are currently seven active Lackawanna alumni either playing or coaching in the NFL, including two former players who went on to play in the secondary together at Penn State: Jaquan Brisker (Bears) and Ji'Ayir Brown (49ers). Duda made a name for himself with the 1979 Wyoming Valley West "Mad Dog" defense and went on to play college football at Maryland, where he set a then-school record for career sacks. He was drafted to the NFL by the then-St. Louis Cardinals and spent six years in the league. He was hired as the defensive coordinator for the Lackawanna Junior College football program ahead of the 1993 inaugural year, then took over as head coach in 1994, leading the Falcons to their first of 13 postseason bowls.

Friday's game is another opportunity for the Falcons to try to get themselves back into a potential postseason bowl berth. Sitting unranked and with only two ranked teams remaining on their schedule, Lackawanna College has to run the table on its 2025 season to have any chance to play beyond the end of the regular season.

Lackawanna College will travel east again next weekend, taking on Sussex County CC for the second time this season. The game is set for a 1:00pm ET kickoff in the Garden State on Saturday, October 18th.