Sept. 13, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. - Lafayette opened up a 21-0 halftime lead and went on to a 28-3 win at Georgetown in a Patriot League Football matchup on Saturday. The victory highlighted a strong day for the League, with Colgate, Bucknell and Holy Cross all coming up with home wins in non-League games.

The Leopards won their season and League opener behind three touchdown passes from quarterback Rob Curley, including two to Mark Layton, and a defense that limited Georgetown to 19 rushing yards. Lafayette joined Holy Cross at the top of the Patriot League standings, while the Hoyas dropped to 0-2 in League action.

Holy Cross moved to 2-0 overall with a 52-21 win over Sacred Heart, with quarterback Dominic Randolph setting the Patriot League career record for touchdowns responsible for on a day where he threw for two scores and ran for two more. Colgate also improved to 2-0 overall, as the Raiders got 260 yards of total offense from quarterback Greg Sullivan and a pair of touchdown passes from Sullivan to Pat Simonds in a 23-13 win over Stony Brook. The Raiders sealed the win on a 15-yard interception return for a touchdown by Garrington Spence with less than four minutes to play. Interceptions were the name of the game for Bucknell, which picked off five passes and returned two for touchdowns in a 26-23 victory over Robert Morris. Brigham Farrand and Greg Jones had the interception returns for touchdowns in less than a 1:30 span early in the third quarter as Bucknell built a 24-10 advantage and held on the rest of the way.

Lehigh had the toughest assignment of the night, as the Mountain Hawks fell on the road, 38-17, at No. 3 Villanova. Fordham was off on Saturday.

A synopsis of each of Saturday's games is included below, along with links for the box score and institutional recap from each contest.

Lafayette 28 at Georgetown 3
Box Score

Washington, D.C. - Lafayette (1-0, 1-0 Patriot League) built an early lead and never looked back in a 28-3 victory at Georgetown (0-2, 0-2) in the first night game played at Multi-Sport Field on Saturday.

The Leopards opened the scoring with a 48-yard touchdown run of right tackle by Jerome Rudolph for a 7-0 lead with 6:44 left in the first quarter. The second quarter belonged to quarterback Rob Curley and wide receiver Mark Layton, as the duo connected for a pair of touchdown passes that made it 21-0 Leopards with 7:36 left in the quarter. Georgetown got on the board early in the third quarter, but Curley quickly followed with a 38-yard touchdown pass to De'Andre Morrow to complete the scoring.

Curley was 20-of-34 for a career-high 259 yards and three touchdowns in the game, while Layton had seven catches for 107 yards and the two scores. Lafayette held a 205-19 edge in rushing yardage, with Morrow, Rudolph and Maurice White all gaining over 50 yards. The Leopards won their eighth straight season opener, and sixth straight League lid-lifter. The Hoyas got a strong performance out of defensive end Andrew Schaetzke, who had 10 tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks.

at No. 25 Holy Cross 52, Sacred Heart 21
Box Score

Worcester, Mass. - Holy Cross (2-0, 1-0 Patriot League) opened up a 28-0 lead and held at least a two-touchdown advantage the rest of the way in a 52-21 win over Sacred Heart (0-2, 0-0 Northeast Conference) on Saturday afternoon at Fitton Field.

The Crusaders scored 21 points in the first quarter on three touchdown runs, the first two by quarterback Dominic Randolph and the third by Matt Bellomo. Freshman Eddie Houghton made it 28-0 in the second quarter on a touchdown run of his own, though Sacred Heart did close it to 31-14 by the half. The Crusaders put it away in the second half as Randolph threw a pair of touchdown passes, including a 16-yard strike to Luke Chmielinski that made it 45-21 with 9:47 left.

One week after setting or tying five Patriot League records, Randolph broke out of one his tied marks by accounting for the four touchdowns, giving him a League record 98 (87 passing/11 rushing) in his career. Randolph went 20-of-38 for 274 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, and also ran for 64 yards and two scores. He had his streak of nine consecutive 300-yard passing games come to an end. Chmielinski caught seven passes for 90 yards and a touchdown, while Houghton led the ground game with 80 yards and a score. Anthony DiMichele and Michael Wright each picked off a pass to lead the defense.

Holy Cross improved to 2-0 for the first time since 2005, when it also opened the season with home wins over Sacred Heart and Georgetown.

at Colgate 23, Stony Brook 13
Box Score

Hamilton, N.Y. - In the absence of starting running back Nate Eachus, quarterback Greg Sullivan put on a show with 148 yards and two touchdowns through the air and another 113 yards on the ground to lead Colgate (2-0, 0-0 Patriot League) past Stony Brook (0-2, 0-0 Big South), 23-13, on Saturday at Andy Kerr Stadium.

Sullivan connected with wide receiver Pat Simonds for each of the touchdown passes. A 37-yard strike in the first quarter gave Colgate an early 7-0 lead, and a 35-yard connection with 4:26 left in the second quarter boosted Colgate's lead to 17-7. Stony Brook cut it to 17-13 by halftime, and the defenses took over in the second half to keep it there. Colgate finally broke through to seal the game, and it came from the defense as Garrington Spence returned an interception 15 yards for a touchdown to make it 23-13 with just 3:56 left.

Sullivan went 12-of-23 through the air for 148 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, and led Colgate's rushing attack with 113 yards on 18 carries. It was the third time in his career that Sullivan has rushed for over 100 yards in a game, and put him over the 1,000-yard mark in his career. Simonds finished with seven receptions for 93 yards and two touchdowns, marking his second straight game with a pair of touchdown catches. Colgate's defense came up with four sacks and two interceptions. Uzi Idah had nine tackles and two sacks, while Spence and Coree Moses each picked off passes.

The Raiders are 2-0 for the first time since 2003, when they won their first 15 games on the way to an appearance in the national championship contest.

at Bucknell 26, Robert Morris 23
Box Score

Lewisburg, Pa. - Bucknell's (1-1, 0-0 Patriot League) defense led the way in a 26-23 win over Robert Morris (0-2, 0-0 Northeast Conference) at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Saturday, as the unit picked off five passes and accounted for all of the second half scoring to lead the Bison to their first victory of the year.

The Bison appeared to be going into the half with a 10-3 deficit, but the offense kicked off a quick scoring surge as Marcello Trigg hit A.J. Kizekai with a 27-yard touchdown pass with just two seconds to play in the second quarter to knot the game at the break. The defense gave Bucknell all the points it would need on Robert Morris' first two possessions of the second half, with Brigham Farrand making it a 17-10 game on an 19-yard interception return for a score with 14:10 left in the third quarter and Greg Jones extending the lead to 24-10 on a 25-yard interception return for a touchdown less than 1:30 later. Robert Morris responded by taking the ensuing kickoff back for a touchdown and eventually cutting its deficit to 24-23, but Will Braaf and Tyler Anderson recorded a safety on a sack in the endzone with 1:39 left and Rob Gerlach notched the fifth and final interception of the day with 33 seconds to go to seal the victory.

Gerlach had a pair of interceptions, with Sam Nana-Sinkam completed the quintet of picks. Jones had 13 tackles and a tackle for loss to go with his INT return for a score, while Nana-Sinkam had nine tackles and Farrand had eight. The defense also recorded three sacks split between five players. Trigg completed 15-of-25 passes for 168 yards and a touchdown without an interception. Kizekai had 185 all-purpose yards, including 125 yards on four kickoff returns, and moved into ninth in Patriot League annals with 4,733 career all-purpose yards.

It was just the third time in Patriot League history that a team had two interception returns for touchdowns in a game. The Bison tied the previous marks set by Towson (2003 vs. Georgetown) and Georgetown (2008 vs. Holy Cross).

at No. 3 Villanova 38, Lehigh 17
Box Score

Villanova, Pa. - Lehigh (0-2, 0-0 Patriot League) was within 10-7 late in the second quarter against No. 3 Villanova (2-0, 0-0 CAA), but gave up two quick touchdowns and could not recover in a 38-17 loss to the Wildcats on Saturday at Villanova Stadium.

Jaren Walker's one-yard touchdown run pulled Lehigh to a 10-7 deficit with 9:33 to go in the second quarter. Villanova built the lead back to ten points on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Chris Whitney to Angelo Babbaro with 4:54 left in the period, and went up 24-7 just 16 seconds later on a fumble recovery for a touchdown by Marlon Johnson. Lehigh cut it to 24-10 early in the third quarter, but Villanova scored the next two touchdowns before Lehigh had a late score to produce the final margin.

The Mountain Hawks had a 197-107 edge in passing yardage, with J.B. Clark completing 20-of-31 passes for 130 yards and backup Chris Lum throwing a late touchdown pass. Craig Zurn led the receivers with six catches for 72 yards. Matt Cohen paced the defense with eight tackles and a sack.

Lehigh fell to 0-2 for the first time as a Patriot League member, and first overall since 1982.