SPRAGUE FIELD, MONTCLAIR, N.J. — At noon on Saturday, Sept. 13, the Montclair State University Red Hawks played their first home game of the 2025 football season against the Lycoming College Warriors. Despite a Red Hawk fumble leading to a Lycoming touchdown only four plays into the game, Montclair State head coach Mike Palazzo would go on to seal a 27-24 victory for the team, assisted by a successful challenge flag with nine seconds left in the fourth quarter.
After a lengthy review process, the challenge was ruled a Lycoming fumble, punched out by sophomore linebacker Brandon Lucia.
“They had a little drive going," said sophomore linebacker Brandon Lucia. "We knew that we needed a big play to be made – I’m happy I was the one to make it.” Syd Boni | The Montclarion
“They had a little drive going,” Lucia said. “We knew that we needed a big play to be made – I’m happy I was the one to make it.”
Lucia was not alone in his defensive performance; team captain Alex Buchwald led the group with 10 tackles, a quarterback hit, and a forced fumble. In fact, the whole defense seemed to click late in the third quarter, allowing only one touchdown in the second half.
Jalen Carter's 49-yard touchdown reception sparked a 17-point rally to defeat Lycoming. Syd Boni | The Montclarion
The surge in performance was perhaps encouraged by a stunning 49-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Luke Henrich to wide receiver Jalen Carter, which opened up the scoring for the Red Hawks in the second half. Both Henrich and Carter are transfer students in their first season with the Red Hawks.
Palazzo made sure to recognize the impact of all the new faces in Saturday’s game.
“A lot of guys that didn’t play a lot of football for us last year, really made an impact for us,” Palazzo said.
Henrich also notably led the team in rushing with 109 yards gained, followed by running backs Diante Wilson (105 rushing yards) and Christopher Arnold (71 rushing yards). Henrich and Wilson are the first duo to both surpass 100 yards in a game since 2013. Combined, the three players rushed for an impressive team total of 285 yards – the most in a game in two years.
Montclair State rushed for 285 yards vs Lycoming, their most in a game since 2023. Syd Boni | The Montclarion
All in all, the stellar second-half rushing performance resulted in 17 unanswered points for Montclair State and a clutch last-minute victory. It was a different game after halftime.
“Adversity happens in a football game just like it does in life,” said Palazzo. “These guys didn’t point their fingers at anybody. We had a fair share of accountability and mistakes to go around, but we just had to rally around each other and play mistake-free football in the second half.”
After Saturday’s win, the Red Hawks enter a bye week, where Palazzo says they will be cracking down on fundamentals and looking forward to getting a fresh start heading into the homecoming game against Wilkes University on Sept. 27. In Saturday’s game, Montclair State seemed to play better as fans gradually filled the bleachers. If the homecoming game is anything like the home opener, Montclair State students will not want to miss out.
Scenes from Montclair State's dramatic victory over Lycoming College. Syd Boni | The Montclarion
“I wanna make sure we get the whole student body here,” Palazzo said. “There’s nothing like the Montclair State Homecomings. We wanna put on a good show, we wanna protect our turf and we want everybody here and being loud.”
