WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – The Lycoming College football team was selected to finish fourth in the first Landmark Conference Preseason Football Coaches' poll, the conference announced on Monday, Aug. 21.
 
Twenty-second-ranked Susquehanna was the unanimous pick to win the conference title, finishing with 36 points and six first-place votes. Wilkes was second with 31 points, ahead of Catholic (25) and Lycoming (22). Moravian (15), Keystone (11) and Juniata (7) round out the poll.
 
The Warriors face some of the toughest teams in Division III football in the non-conference schedule, meeting up with Widener (Sept. 2), #17 Cortland (Sept. 9), Utica (receiving votes) (Sept. 16), and Brockport (Sept. 23) before the Landmark Conference schedule commences in October.
 
Lycoming will host Wilkes (Oct. 7), Juniata (Oct. 28) and Moravian (Nov. 4) and head to Catholic (Oct. 14), Keystone (Oct. 21) and Susquehanna (Nov. 11) in the Landmark Conference schedule.
 
The Warriors enter the year with a new quarterback for the first time since 2018 when Elijah Shemory stepped on campus, with eight student-athletes coming into camp to vie for the job. The new signal caller will have some talented receivers and running backs to work with, as six players return that caught at least five passes in 2022, and junior Heath Jones (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville Area) rushed for more than 400 yards.
 
The Warrior defense, as has been the reputation of it since associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator Steve Wiser '74 joined the staff in 1974, returns loaded with talent, stocked up with two all-region defensive backs in seniors Hunter Campbell (Enola, Pa./East Pennsboro) and Austin Rowley (Schwenksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) and a talented frontline that will feature junior Jake Welch (Lock Haven, Pa./Central Mountain), who posted 63 tackles, five for a loss, as a sophomore.
 
Senior Ian Plankenhorn (Montoursville, Pa./Montoursville Area) heads the special teams' group, as the two-time all-region kicker knocked in six field goals and all 26 of his extra-point tries in 2022.
 
Lycoming finished 4-6 in 2022 and 3-5 in the Middle Atlantic Conference under 16^th-year head coach Mike Clark '93.