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WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - After a heartbreaking loss to No. 9 Delaware Valley, the Lycoming College football team will close out the regular season looking to become the first Warrior squad to post eight wins since 2003 when they face FDU-Florham on Saturday at 1 p.m. at David Person Field.

The Warriors (7-2 overall, 5-2 Middle Atlantic Conference) will also look to finish the season leading the MAC in total defense, as they head into the game allowing 215.7 yards per game, a 10.4-yard advantage over Delaware Valley, who is set to play the league’s top offense, Widener, this week.

FDU-Florham (1-8 overall, 1-6 MAC) is looking for its second straight win after beating King’s, 17-3, on Nov. 5. The Devils are led by senior Ryan Cushman, who averages 152.0 yards of total offense.

Warrior Notes

• The Warriors are looking to lead the MAC in total defense for the first time since 2005.

• Sophomore Zack Czap is tied for second in school history with 10 field goals made. He is three shy of the school record of 13 set by John Phillips in 1990.

• With two interceptions against Delaware Valley, senior Ray Bierbach tied junior Ryan Fenningham and the Aggies’ Terrance Osborne for the league lead with five picks this season. Bierbach also led the league with six interceptions as a junior.

• Junior Zach Klinger is 34 yards away from becoming the 10th quarterback in school history to post 3,000 in a career.

• Freshman Craig Needhammer is the first rookie MAC running back to rush for 500 yards since Lebanon Valley’s Charlier Parker and Albright’s Josan Holmes reached the mark in 2008.

Scouting Lycoming
Offense: Multiple/Pro-Style
The Warriors will say goodbye to five critical parts of their success this season with the end of today’s game, as senior fullbacks Phil Peterson and Nick Milardo, guard Tim Okken, right tackle Jared Strayer and center Glen Hughes will graduate the program.

Peterson earned the starting job as a senior and made the most of it, performing as a blocking back and an occasional target on a screen route. Milardo, though he struggled with an injury at the start of the season, is one of the strongest players, pound-for-pound, on the team and was an invaluable blocking back. He also started for much of the previous two seasons.

Strayer came to the Warriors as a defensive lineman before switching to the offensive side of the ball as a junior and starting 18 games since at right tackle. Okken has been a three-year starter with the Warriors, earning all-conference honors as a sophomore. Hughes, who transferred in from Iona as a sophomore, has started for the past three years for the Warriors, starting 26 games.

Defense: 4-3
The defense, like the offense, will also lose three starters to graduation, including two All-American candidates in defensive end Anthony Marascio and safety Ray Bierbach.

Marascio has posted a league-leading 20 tackles for loss and is second with eight sacks. The strong and fast end earned two Preseason All-American honors. Bierbach, who also serves as the team’s holder and punt returner, earned six preseason All-American honors, and with two interceptions against No. 9 Delaware Valley, he moved into a tie for the league lead in picks. He led the league with six as a junior.

Chris Kish, an outside linebacker, will also leave the program after starting for three seasons and making 121 career tackles.

Scouting FDU-Florham
Offense: Spread
The Devils enter the week with the lowest-scoring offense in the MAC at 11.8 points per game, while the team racks up 264.4 yards per game through a balanced offense, as the team has posted just eight more passing yards this season than rushing yards.

Senior quarterback Ryan Cushman leads the team and is eighth in the MAC at 120.1 passing yards per game. He is also seventh in the league in total offense, and is not afraid to leave the pocket, as he has amassed 287 rushing yards.

Senior Sean Norton led the Devils against King’s, as the running back carried 26 times for 99 yards and two touchdowns in the 17-3 win. Junior Jon Bennett made four catches for 41 yards and sophomore Anthony Fruncillo caught two passes for 30 yards.

Defense: 3-4
The Devils are eighth in the league in scoring defense, averaging 42.1 points allowed per game and seventh in total defense, allowing 424.1 yards per contest. Teams have averaged 225.9 yards per game on the ground.

The team features the top pass rusher in the MAC, as senior linebacker Steve Hoverson tops the conference with 9.0 sacks per game, one more than Lycoming senior Anthony Marascio. Hoverson is also second in the league with 14.0 tackles for loss.

Two other FDU-Florham linebackers are in the top 10 in the league in tackles, as sophomore Michael Mancino is tied for eighth at 7.1 tackles per contest and junior Charlie Thomas is tied with teammate, junior defensive back Shane Roland, for 10th in the league at 7.0 stops per game.

Weekly honors follow Warriors
The Warriors have picked up a school-record six D3Football.com Team of the Week nods this season, besting the previous mark of five set in 2002. Senior Anthony Marascio picked up the first award against Rowan and added a second for his game against Lebanon Valley. Sophomore wide receiver Warren Oliver and junior defensive tackle Roger Jayne earned the award for their performance against Westminster. Junior safety Ryan Fenningham earned the award after the Albright game and senior safety Ray Bierbach picked the award up after the Wilkes game.

A lasting impression
With today’s game, Mike Clark will say goodbye to his first recruiting class as head coach at Lycoming College. The group enters today with a 24-16 (.600) record and is on track to lift the Warriors to their first eight-win season since 2003. As freshmen, the group helped win a MAC title.
 
Loss leader
With 45 career tackles for loss, senior Anthony Marascio has moved into the top five in school history in the category. The defensive end needs just one more to move past two-time All-American Keith Jenkins ’99 for third. Marascio’s 20 tackles for loss this season leads the MAC and is tied for fifth in school history, just one away from passing Jenkins’ 1998 total of 20.

Picked
With two interceptions against ninth-ranked Delaware Valley, senior Ray Bierbach showed once again why he is one of the top defensive backs in program history. A D3Football.com Honorable Mention All-American as a junior, Bierbach has led the MAC in picks in each of the last two years and he has finished in the top 10 in the league in the category in each of the last three years. The safety is sixth in school history with 16 career picks.

Wildcat Matt
Sophomore Matt Atkinson has turned into a triple-threat for the Warriors, and he exhibited all three options he offers against ninth-ranked Delaware Valley, as the wildcat quarterback ran 11 times for 90 yards and added one completion for 13 yards. As a wide receiver during the team’s regular pro-set offense, he made five catches for 35 yards and a touchdown. This season, Atkinson is third on the team with 205 rushing yards, an average of 8.2 per carry, and third on the team 20 catches for 189 yards and three touchdowns.