WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - By 1985, Lycoming College football was already a force to be reckoned with. The once lackluster football program that Frank Girardi took over in 1972 had been transformed over the course of a dozen years into one that had won MAC Northern Division titles in 1978, 1979 and 1982. There was one achievement that had still alluded the program, a berth in the NCAA Division III Championship. In fact, at that time, the only programs at Lycoming College that had earned berths in the NCAA Championship were the wrestling and women's swimming teams as individuals and the men's basketball team, which earned an at-large bid in March.
Expectations heading into the 1985 season were never higher – four All-Americans and six first-team All-MAC selections entered preseason camp from a team that went 8-2 in 1984, losing to only Susquehanna and Upsala. The team was perhaps the toughest it had ever been on the line, featuring returning All-American defensive tackle Michael Boures and nose guard Jack Geisel on the defensive side and guard Walt Zataveski on the offensive side. Rusty Fricke also returned as an All-American kicker.
On paper, there was no doubt, this team looked like it could be one of the best in school history.
But what happened when they took the field?
The season started with the team dispatching Division II Lock Haven, 29-8, and followed that with a 20-14 win over rival Susquehanna. A fourth-quarter sack by Steve Fasulka and Mike Gilmore sealed the win after Larry Barretta ran for 106 yards and threw for 168 to pace the offense.
A 27-3 dismissal of Wilkes was followed by an 18-10 win over perennial MAC power Widener. Barretta clinched the win with 6:30 left in the fourth quarter when he hit James O'Malley for an 84-yard scoring strike.
Shutouts of Albright and Upsala followed before Lycoming led 17-0 over Moravian before the Greyhounds scored 15 in a row and got the ball to the Warriors' 30-yard line before an errant pass on fourth down helped Lycoming escape Bethlehem with the win. The Warriors held a 39-13 lead with four minutes to play the next week at Juniata before two late touchdowns made the final margin 12 points.
The win over the Indians set up a week nine showdown with Delaware Valley, which entered the game in second in the conference with a 5-2 league mark. They were dismissed 38-0, held to 158 yards of offense and Lycoming headed into the final week of the regular season ranked fourth in the nation. In the finale, the Warriors downed winless Lebanon Valley, 59-0, the largest blowout for the team in five years.
10 and 0.
It was unquestionably, the best football season in school history to that point, surpassing the 9-1 1980 team, the 7-1 1958 team and the 8-1-1 1931 state prep champions from the old Dickinson Seminary. The only other undefeated team in program history was the Spanish Flu pandemic-doomed 1918 team, which won three games and didn't allow a point.
The Warriors set no fewer than 26 school records during the 1985 season. And they became the first to enter the waters of the NCAA Championship, receiving a bid to the 16-team field team and trip to Gettysburg, where they faced Centennial Conference champion Gettysburg. The Warriors held a 10-0 lead in the second quarter, but the Bullets responded with the game's last two touchdowns to win 14-10.
The loss ended the season, but began a legendary era in Warrior football history. MAC MVP Larry Barretta, Boures and Zatevski earned All-American honors, Mike Kern was an Academic All-American and 10 players earned All-MAC accolades. Girardi was named the MAC Coach of the Year for a third time and 14 of the team's players went on to earn induction into Lycoming's Athletics Hall of Fame.
The season put Lycoming on the national scene, setting the stage for a run to the Division III quarterfinals in 1989 and then an appearance in the championship game in 1990. But that team in 1985, from the first whistle against Lock Haven to the last against Lebanon Valley was the first to be…
Perfect.
