Lycoming Football Team Heads to Canada for Second International Trip | News, Sports, Jobs

For the second time in program history, the Lycoming College football team will get a taste of international football when they travel to Vanier College in Montreal, Quebec for an exhibition game at 2:00 p.m. Sunday on the synthetic turf field of the college.

A live stream of the game will be available at: https://www.youtube.com/@VanierCheetahs/streams.

The game will be an unusual affair for the Warriors as they will play in the predominantly French-speaking city and outside the United States for only the second time in program history. The game will be played under Canadian football rules – with a longer and wider field (110 by 65 yards by America’s 100 by 52), deeper end zones (20 yards by America’s 10 ), 12 players on each side of the ball, allowing any non-lineman to move before the ball is broken and a point will be awarded each time a kicked ball goes out of the end zone.

Lycoming made the trip with 65 players, who left on Thursday. The team will return to the United States after Sunday afternoon’s game.

The Warriors are coming off a 4-6 season, in which five of their games were decided by 14 points or less. The game will give junior Will Fish, senior Noah Vogeler and sophomore Vaughn Belford a chance to audition for the open quarterback position after five-year starter Elijah Shemory graduates. Junior Brandon Timothy will lead the receiving corps after catching 30 passes for 364 yards and two touchdowns and second Heath Jones, a Montoursville graduate, will lead the rushing offense after posting 462 yards and two touchdowns in 2022.

Seniors Hunter Campbell and Austin Rowley lead the defense as both are all-area safeties, while Central Mountain graduate junior Jake Welch will lead the team down the line after posting 63 tackles as a sophomore.

Competing in RSEQ Division 1 college football, Vanier went 5-4 in the 2022 campaign, reaching the provincial quarter-finals before losing to Notre Dame-de-Foy, 31-17.

The Cheetahs were led by receiver Mamadou Ba, who posted 28 receptions for 480 yards and six touchdowns. Nathan Essomba-Alex recorded 58.5 tackles and eight pass breakups and Michael Aoun had 48.5 tackles, four sacks and 10 tackles for loss to lead the defense.