TIM WEIGHT/For the Express Lock Haven football head coach Joe Battaglia signals to his team during a football game against Gannon on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, at Hubert Jack Stadium. The Bald Eagles won 49-28.

Heading into Lock Haven’s football season, there were doubts when it came to whether first-year head coach Joe Battaglia would be able to follow up the success of his predecessor Dan Mulrooney.

Battaglia had played a role in that success as Mulrooney’s offensive coordinator, but that doesn’t always translate to the helm. And given the program’s previous track record, fans could certainly picture a continuance of 2023 and 2024 being too good to be true.

However, it’s safe to say Battaglia dealt with the pressure well, with the result not just being a third strong season in a row, but the most successful season the program has had in over four decades. The ride was turbulent at times but by the end of it, the Bald Eagles took another step forward, a good sign for the years to come.

“I think selfishly, there’s almost that chip on your shoulder where you’re proving to everyone that I was the right hire at the time,” said Battaglia when discussing the ride.

“It’s not all me though. I’m so incredibly proud of the staff. Again, they never wavered either. They stuck with us throughout the coaching change – all spring, all summer, all fall. And I just couldn’t be prouder to be the coach of Lock Haven right now.”

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Lock Haven (6-5) was always expected to be an underdog against four of its first six opponents – IUP, Cal (Pa.), East Stroudsburg and Kutztown – but it averaged under 14 points through its first four games and blew a two-score, halftime lead against ESU.

However, in a season-defining, Week 7 matchup against West Chester, things effectively clicked and never really stopped (outside of a sluggish start against Shepherd). The Bald Eagles looked off two two-score deficits, including one that carried deep into the third quarter, to defeat the Rams for the first time since 1991, foreshadowing the milestone that would follow.

“At the end of the day, I couldn’t tell you who we play next week, but we’re going to go 1-0,” said Battaglia after that win. “That is the mentality going forward. Four weeks, 1-0, and we’ll see what happens at the end of the year.”

“We’re trying to go on a five-game win streak to make history for this program,” emphasized Lock Haven running back Damir Green. “This was step one of it right here.”

It wasn’t quite a five-game win streak, but that claim of history manifested. To close out the season, Lock Haven won four of its last five games, three by multiple scores, as the offense that had displayed ups and downs through the early goings meshed and both units carried that momentum forward.

With a 5-5 record heading into its final game, it could’ve buckled under the pressure of the milestone, even against a team that finished with a 1-10 record. But it instead put together one of its most well-rounded wins of the season, taking it to the Golden Knights from start to finish.

Following the win, Battaglia joked about the relief that came breaching that coveted barrier, but the relief was likely genuine and certainly justified. After posting a five-win season for the first time since 1982, the potential step forward in 2024 fell short, as the team repeated its 5-6 record behind multiple excruciating losses.

With that barrier out of the way, the next awaits. At the start of the 2026 season and likely well before that, the next year Battaglia and the Bald Eagles will have to hear about is 1979, the last time the program took home a PSAC championship.

“I told the guys I was so excited to never talk about six wins ever again. Now that we did it, the standard is going to be raised here. Now it’s championships, now it’s conference titles, now it’s playoffs,” said Battaglia.

“That is the next step, and or those guys to believe in that, it’s going to be this next recruiting class, the graduate transfers coming in. I’m excited to take 24 hours off, get through Sunday, and then Monday, recruiting starts, and we start to build for next year.

“Just super excited about everything going on in this program, and the future’s really bright here at Lock Haven.”