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A 7-4 record.

A four-win improvement from last year.

A conference championship.

A spot in the NCAA playoffs.

Not bad for your first year.

But Lycoming football coach Mike Clark wants more as he looks ahead to the 2009 season.

"I hope it will be a motivation that, hey look, getting there is nice, but let's win," said Clark. "I hope we're not satisfied with just being there. We have to take the next step. We don't want to be one of the best 32 teams, we want to be better than that."

The Warriors' 2008 season had several highlights.

Clark, a 1993 graduate of Lycoming, was hired in January after legendary head coach Frank Girardi retired in December.

After losing by a point at nationally-ranked Ithaca in the season opener, Lycoming rattled off four straight, including wins over Albright and Widener, the league's defending champion.

The Warriors quest for a MAC title, a goal the team set in the preseason, finally became a reality in the week's final season. Just prior to the conclusion of Lycoming's 23-15 win over Lebanon Valley, word came to David Person Field that Delaware Valley had defeated Albright. That scenario ensured the Warriors a share of the MAC title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

"I hope we can do that on a yearly basis," Clark said. "I know that sounds like a tall order but we believe we can be good here every year and despite the fact that the league is more balanced, our goal is to repeat next year but hopefully to win more games and really take the next step to our becoming not just the best team in the league or one of the best teams in the league but thee best team in the league and a top 20, maybe top 15, top 10 program. We want to be great, we want to see if we can win a national championship."

Lycoming's season ended the next week when Hobart scored 19 second-half points to secure a 33-15 win in the first round of the NCAA playoffs.

One area of optimism for Lycoming is that several of its key players are young and will be back next year. Sophomore running back Josh Kleinfelter became the first Warrior back since 2002 to rush for 1,000 yards. Kleinfelter rushed for 1,123 yards and 11 touchdowns.

One of the team's leading receivers, Ryan Wagaman, is also only a sophomore. Wagaman, a MAC first-teamer, had 47 grabs for 570 yards and four touchdowns. Junior Brad Shellenberger had a team-best 670 yards receiving and six touchdowns. Lycoming's top six receivers are all underclassmen.

Quarterback Colin Dwyer, a junior, threw for over 2,000 yards and 13 touchdowns. A pair of sophomores, Chuck Bellito and Ben Rosa, were the team's leading tacklers. Junior Ted Guerds had a team-high seven sacks and 12 1/2 tackles for loss.

The Warriors are young, but the Lycoming seniors played pivotal roles in the 2008 success. All five of the Warriors captains, Chris Tribanas, Pat Taylor, Andy Marino, Nick Reese, and Chris Smith, were seniors. Lycoming's seniors entered their final collegiate season with a career record of 13-16. They made sure their last season was one to remember.

"Every coach can come in and say we're going to win but you have to somehow convince your kids to do it," Clark said. "And I don't know that I did anything special other than the fact that they knew that I was fortunate enough to be on some good teams and coach some good teams here before, but the senior leadership was really important because if those guys didn't buy into what we were asking, then nobody else would have. We would not have won the league this year without that group of seniors."

Four seniors, Taylor, Marino, Nate Schrack, and Dave Nocera all started on the offensive line, an area that Clark and Co. will have to replace to continue success. Senior defensive back Nick Reese led the team with four interceptions, including two against Hobart. Tribanas had 6 1/2 sacks, second behind Guerds, and also had 34 tackles.

In the annual preseason coaches' poll, Lycoming was predicted to finish sixth in the eight-team league. The Warriors won't be able to sneak up on people in 2009. Clark says his team has to be ready.

"I would hope we would handle it the right way and learn to deal with it. We're going to have to learn to deal with that," Clark said. "Our goals are to be very good every year. I don't want to sound arrogant but those are our expectations. We want to be that good every year. We want to be one of the best Division III teams in the country, which we've been. For us to do that we better learn to deal with that. We better learn to be regarded as being a good team and then learn to play with greater expectations."