By Joseph Beidler ’25, staff writer
LVC football is currently 3-0 in conference play, and this is the second time in a row since 1979 that LVC has had a start like this.
Leading LVC’s team is new head coach J.R. Drake, who took over after Joe Buehler retired. Drake attributes LVC football’s success to a couple of things.
“I think it’s a combination of our schedule and team. We have 31 seniors; 25 of them have an extra year yet too, so it’s that experience in playing in those games,” Drake said.
Defensively, the Dutchmen currently lead the nation in interception returns for a touchdown, which can be attributed to the players’ familiarity with each other on the field and a drill called “pursuit drill,” where they practice for this result. Getting those defensive touchdowns not only helps win the games, but takes pressure off the offense.
“When you have a pick-6 or a defensive touchdown, it creates a momentum swing, and that’s what college football is,” Drake said. “If you’re losing the momentum you need to find a way to gain it back, or if you’ve got the momentum you need to keep it and it puts the other team on its heels, so to speak…it tends to make the other team have to throw more, which creates a one-dimensional thing…because we know they’re gonna throw, whereas sometimes you’re living that 50/50 balance and you don’t really know what you’re going to get.”
On the other hand, the offense is led by a particularly talented quarterback group. Braden Bohannon, junior, the starter, commands attention in the huddle. The Dutchmen have the talent to give Bohannon a break or give defenses a different look with Tanner Lewis, junior, who is a bit more accurate in the passing game and Logan Klitsch, a D1 transfer with a lot of speed who is still new to LVC’s offensive scheme.
On special teams, LVC is a bit less conservative this season than in the past. In week 2 against Stevenson Univeristy, Drake noticed there was no outside presence, so he dialed up a fake field goal, which went for a touchdown, helping LVC secure a 45-38 victory on the road. That’s not to say Drake does not have faith in the kicking game, because he knows the team is lucky to have Tim Kissinger, junior, a talented dual-position player who is now in the record books for the second-longest field goal in team history, a 50-yarder that was just one yard shy of the record set in 1982 by Bob Muir.
“Timmy is an outside linebacker. He went to Millersville and he was a kicker and he really wanted to be a position player,” Drake said, noting that Kissinger stepped in to help the team when Garrett Mcclay got injured.
“I made a deal with him that he would still be an outside linebacker, and he’s not just a kicker. He wants to be known as more than just a kicker. He’s athletic. He can play star and everything else…he’s amazing. I wish he kind of would buy into the kicking thing because I think he could go pretty far and, he might even get a shot at the upper levels kicking. The ball just sounds different when it hits his foot,” Drake said.
LVC will rely on all of their talents this Saturday, Oct. 7, in a key matchup against Widener who are 3-1.