Competition and the Lakers: 2025 in Review
Credit: Cameron Horning
We’re calling radio play by play for Mercyhurst this coming week and wanted to give a primer to those listening in about who the Mercyhurst Lakers are this season, and why it’s so remarkable that they’re playing for a championship share in 2025.
We had the Lakers projected to go 1-6 in conference.
I didn’t see it. In my conversations preseason with Coach Riemedio, he stressed competition at positions along the offensive line and throughout the team. The Lakers were losing first team WR Cameron Barmore to Arizona in the Big 12 and while I had a lot of confidence in the skill positions on offense, it takes a lot more than that to win football games. I knew the Lakers were solid at QB, RB, and WR- granted, I didn’t know how solid at WR they were- but defensively I wasn’t sure what they really had and the offensive line was still being bolstered by transfers.
I think part of the problem was that word, too- “competition.”
It used to be a key part of college football. Recruits come in and almost always go the distance at their selected school. They have to compete for playing time, compete for starting positions, even for jersey numbers- and that competition was always good for a team. But in today’s transfer-heavy world, we see competition and I think the first thought isn’t that this is a good thing for building a football team so much as a sign that they haven’t found the guy to walk in and be handed a job yet.
It’s almost as though there’s a stigma with competition now.
But the Lakers built their team, competed, and by fall camp were ready to go. We knew they had the skill players, but they hadn’t been able to upgrade anywhere else and so even if they played well, they certainly wouldn’t be heading into conference play with momentum. But that’s not what happened.
The Lakers rolled into Youngstown with the Penguins expected to win easily. But Mercyhurst competed for 4 quarters and could have even won the game. Then they took Sacramento State and Montana State into the 4th quarter. Even in these losses, the Lakers were competitive.
Hey, there’s that word again.
The funny thing is, there were times when the Lakers made other teams look uncompetitive. A 48-14 (unofficially conference) win over New Haven comes to mind. The Lakers were far from beaten down by the test Youngstown State gave them. On the contrary, they looked like everything I had hoped for from a skill position- and much more. Dylan Evans emerged from a crowded wide receiver room as a standout, and the defense was anything but a question mark. In college football today, you look for the standout transfers, the guys who are never going to have to battle for a job. But the Lakers were full of guys sharpened by their own iron, and the defense didn’t need big names to play hard in practice and in the games.
After a rugged nonconference schedule, Mercyhurst entered conference play with some expectations just based on the games they had given YSU, Sac State, and Montana State. This was the first time this particular group of Lakers had contended with expectations. Sometimes, it’s easier toiling in your own corner than having a spotlight. Now, fans and media alike were wondering if this team who had given the big boys everything they could handle would be able to compete in conference play. But the Lakers didn’t look up. They just kept competing.
As they began their first ever Division I conference schedule, the Lakers continued raising eyebrows. They knocked off a Long Island team that had beaten FBS Eastern Michigan, and followed it up by taking Staten Island with a 19-7 victory. The no-name defense was blanketing teams like a Lake Erie snowstorm, and suddenly the Lakers were at 2-0 in conference (3-0 with the unofficial win over New Haven) and the hype was no longer possible to ignore. The game against Duquesne loomed large, and everyone with an eye on the NEC knew how big of a game this was between two 2-0 teams in Western Pennsylvania.
Just like competition teaches us in football, so does adversity. And the Lakers were about to get plenty of it.
A 37-0 loss under the lights in Erie was as disappointing as it was shocking. Just as we had begun to believe in Mercyhurst, it seemed like the Dukes gave them- and the media covering this league- a reality check. There was an aggression on the Duquesne sideline and maybe an energy that couldn’t quite be matched, even when visitors on site spoke highly about how the Lakers staff never stopped teaching. When the dust settled, it was two weeks later in a bye week. A talented Stonehill team beat the Lakers the next week 22-15, but as good as the Skyhawks played, there looked like an element of a hangover in the contest for Mercyhurst. It was as though the Dukes had managed to beat them twice.
Chances for revenge will come next season and we hope to see many more Duquesne/Mercyhurst contests. But as they stumbled into a bye week, all of the belief and optimism was beginning to evaporate for the Lakers.
But from my perspective, it sure looked like the Lakers cleared their head, finally closed the book on Duquesne, and moved forward. And that no-name Lake Show spirit was back in full force, and once again, competing.
Saint Francis gave Mercyhurst everything they could handle, having a lead over the Lakers with under a minute to go. A timely touchdown pass to Dylan Evans from quarterback Adam Urena pushed them in front and the slide was over. Mercyhurst was up to 3-2 in conference officially and had battled to the final whistle yet again. The next week against Robert Morris, the Lakers had appeared to be up to full speed again, battling hard in a close game they were able to break open as regulation wound down. Yet again, the defense held the Colonials under 20 points- something they’ve done in four conference games already this season.
Almost out of nowhere, the Lakers were 4-2, and with a win on Saturday would earn a share of the NEC championship- in just their second year in Division I, and their first year as an NEC member. For a team that didn’t have much expected of them, the feat would be remarkable. But even if they can’t pull it off, yet again the Lakers are battling to the final whistle.
Or, should we say, competing.
When I think about what makes college football great in the places where it still has the spirit that made me fall in love with it in the first place so many years ago, I think about the unexpected happening. That a group of young men on scholarship bettering themselves in the classroom can also come together on the football field, learn how to be adults, and shock the nation. This same spirit has been trampled in many of the great stages of the game, places where television revenue and the allure of chasing dollars to become a minor league have replaced why we started playing in the first place. But it isn’t dead here in the NEC.
It’s hard to keep up this pace and to cover college football at breakneck speed. If you don’t stop and find reasons to keep loving it, you’ll burn out. You just won’t do this anymore.
I’m glad there’s a 2025 Mercyhurst Lakers to remind me why I still believe.
