Nov. 7, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. - Lafayette and Holy Cross escaped with close victories on Saturday, and now the two will match up for the Patriot League Football Championship and automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Worcester.

Each team improved to 4-0 in the League, two games in the loss column ahead of anybody else in the standings, by winning in dramatic fashion on Saturday. No. 25/24 Lafayette won a back-and-forth shootout with No. 18/20 Colgate as Rob Curley tied a Patriot League record with seven touchdown passes in a 56-49 triumph, overcoming a League record-tying five rushing touchdowns from Raider running back Nate Eachus. No. 13/14 Holy Cross had to rally to defeat Lehigh, with Dominic Randolph tossing a four-yard touchdown pass to Freddie Santana with 1:03 to play for the winning score in a 24-20 triumph in Bethlehem.

In addition to moving to 4-0 in the Patriot League, the Crusaders and Leopards stayed squarely in the race for a potential at-large playoff berth by moving to 8-1 on the season. While Colgate fell out of the Patriot League race, the 8-2 Raiders are still in the postseason hunt heading into next week's season finale against Bucknell. Lehigh dropped to 2-2 in the Patriot League.

In other Patriot League action, Fordham scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to complete a comeback from an early deficit in a 21-7 win over Bucknell. Both teams are 1-3 in the Patriot League. Georgetown fell in non-League action at Marist, as the Hoyas lost a 23-21 heartbreaker on a field goal with five seconds to play.

Check out each of the capsules below for a synopsis of each of the contests, including box scores and individual recaps from each of the schools. Also, review the Patriot League Gameday Blog which included live coverage from the Colgate/Lafayette contest and updates from the other football contests.

Easton, Pa. - In a game that finished as one of the highest-scoring in League history and featured two Patriot League individual records, No. 25/24 Lafayette (8-1, 4-0 Patriot League) outscored No. 18/20 Colgate (8-2, 3-2), 56-49, on Saturday at Fisher Stadium to set up a showdown for the League title next week at Holy Cross and eliminate the Raiders from contention for the crown.

Lafayette senior quarterback Rob Curley tied a Patriot League record with seven touchdown passes, going 18-of-31 for 373 yards in the game. He joins former Holy Cross quarterback Jeff Wiley, who set the mark back in 1987 against Lehigh, as the only Patriot League players to throw for seven touchdowns in a game. Colgate running back Nate Eachus carried 45 times for 216 yards and a League-record tying five rushing touchdowns. He was the sixth Patriot Leaguer to run for five touchdowns in a game, and the first since 2004.

Curley and Eachus answered each other's touchdowns throughout the game, but it was actually a pass from Greg Sullivan to Pat Simonds that put Colgate up, 7-0, with 9:48 left in the first quarter. Lafayette tied it just 19 seconds later on a 45-yard strike from Curley to Michael Bolton, and took a 14-7 lead before the period ended on Curley's 11-yard touchdown pass to Mark Layton. Lafayette extended its lead to 17-7, but Colgate came back with the next two touchdowns to take the lead. Eachus scored from 43 yards out and again from one-yard for the 21-17 Raider advantage with 2:40 left in the half. Lafayette came back exactly one minute later with Curley's 23-yard touchdown pass to Nathan Padia, and the Leopards added Davis Rodriguez' second field goal for a 27-21 lead at the half.

Lafayette went up 34-21 on Curley's 35-yard scoring strike to Jerome Rudolph with 9:04 left in the third quarter. The Raiders cut the deficit to six on Eachus' 12-yard run with 4:24 to play in the period, but Lafayette built its biggest lead of the day at 42-28 on Curley's 50-yard touchdown pass to Jeff Cumming and a two-point conversion with 3:09 to play in the third. Colgate fought back to tie the score, with Eachus notching his fourth touchdown just before the end of the third quarter and Sullivan throwing a 32-yard strike to Gigi Cadet to tie it at 42-42 with 10:34 left in the game. Lafayette drove down the field quickly on its next possession, but Colgate just missed a great chance to turn the momentum. Colgate's Uzi Idah intercepted Curley at the five yard line, but Layton stripped the ball from behiind and Bolton recovered the fumble for the Leopards at the 12. Curley threw a nine-yard touchdown to Bolton two plays later for a 49-42 lead, and the Leopards then forced a Colgate punt and extended the lead to 56-42 on Curley's five-yard touchdown to Layton with 2:24 to go. Colgate got it to 56-49 on a one-yard run by Eachus with 42 seconds left, but the ensuing onside kick did not go 10 yards and the Raiders fell.

Curley also set the Lafayette record for touchdown passes, breaking the previous mark of five held by three players. His seven touchdowns responsible for tied a League mark set by Wiley against Lehigh and Fordham's Kevin Eakin in 2003 versus Rhode Island. Five different Lafayette players caught a touchdown pass, led by two each for Layton and Bolton. Lafayette notched 373 yards through the air and 102 on the ground for 475 yards of total offense. Five Leopard defenders finished with double-digit tackles, led by Brandon Ellis with 14 and Andrew Poulson, Mark Leggiero and Michael Schmidlein with 12 apiece. Poulson also recorded a sack. Ian Dell had 10 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss and a forced and recovered fumble. Lafayette won a seventh straight game for the first time in a single season since 1940, and is off to its best start since going 9-0 that year. The Leopards have eight wins in a season for the sixth time since that year, and first since 2005. Lafayette is 4-0 in the Patriot League for the first time since 1994. Lafayette beat Colgate at home for the first time since 1995. The Leopards topped 50 points for the first time since 2004.

Eachus' 45 carries were one off the Patriot League single-game record. In addition to Eachus' effort, Greg Sullivan had a strong day for Colgate by going 16-for-21 for 279 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, and also rushing for 48 yards. Colgate went for 279 yards on the ground and through the air for 558 total yards, while controlling the ball for 38:00. The Raiders converted 11-of-16 third-down attempts. Simonds caught four passes for 89 yards and the touchdown. Idah had eight tackles and the interception, while Paul Mancuso notched 1.5 sacks. Colgate is eliminated from the Patriot League chase, but is very much alive in the competition for an at-large FCS playoff berth at 8-2 heading into next week's season finale at home against Bucknell.

The teams combined for 105 points, 11 off the League record for total points in a game. Colgate's 49 points were four away from the highest mark for a losing team. Both records were set in Holy Cross' 63-53 win over Lafayette in 2001.

No. 13/14 Holy Cross 24 at Lehigh 20
Box Score

Bethlehem, Pa. - No. 13/14 Holy Cross (8-1, 4-0) trailed Lehigh (2-7, 2-2) late in the fourth quarter, but the Crusaders avoided the upset when Dominic Randolph threw a four-yard touchdown to Freddie Santana with 1:02 to play in the game for a 24-20 victory on Saturday at Goodman Stadium. The win sends Holy Cross into a matchup for the Patriot League title and automatic postseason berth at home against Lafayette on Saturday, and eliminates the Mountain Hawks from the title chase.

Lehigh showed it would be in the game right from the start, as JB Clark threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Alex Wojdowski just over five minutes into the game for a 7-0 lead. Holy Cross notched a field goal to get closer and took its first lead of the day on a 12-yard touchdown run by Eddie Houghton for a 12-7 advantage with 9:17 to play in the half. Lehigh tied it at 10-10 at halftime, but Holy Cross built a 17-10 lead on Randolph's 10-yard touchdown pass to Santana with 7:21 left in the third quarter. Lehigh bounced right back from there, tying it at 17-17 on a halfback-option pass from Jay Campbell to Wojdowski, and then taking a 20-17 lead on Jake Peery's 39-yard field goal with 13:36 left in the game. Holy Cross drove 81 yards in eight plays for the winning touchdown, with Randolph completing 32-yard passes to Santana and Rob Koster for a bulk of the yardage. The touchdown pass to Santana was on a third and goal play. Lehigh turned it over on downs on its final possession.

Randolph completed 23-of-37 passes for 247 yards and two touchdowns for the Crusaders, extending his FCS records to 38 consecutive games with at least 200 yards passing and 39 straight games with a touchdown pass. Bill Edger had five passes for 61 yards, and Santana had four for 50 yards and the two touchdowns. Matt Bellomo led the Crusader rushing game with 59 yards. Andrew Cialino led the Crusader defense with 15 tackles, while Marcus Rodriguez had 12. Holy Cross earned its eighth win in a season for the first time since a perfect 11-0 campaign in 1991.

Campbell led Lehigh with a career-high 131 rushing yards on 21 carries in addition to the touchdown pass. Clark went 16-of-31 for 186 yards and a touchdown, and also ran for 43 yards. Lehigh had 375 yards, with 171 on the ground and 204 through the air. Troy Taylor led the Lehigh defense with nine tackles and a sack, while John Veniero had seven stops and an interception.

at Fordham 21, Bucknell 7
Box Score

Bronx, N.Y. - Fordham (4-5, 1-3) scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to finish a comeback from an early deficit for a 21-7 victory over Bucknell (3-6, 1-3) on Saturday at Jack Coffey Field.

Bucknell took the early lead on a six-yard touchdown run by Justin Pulgrano in the second quarter, but Fordham tied the score at 7-7 on Xavier Martin's 12-yard touchdown scamper with 1:39 to play until the half. It stayed that way until the fourth quarter, when the Rams finally went ahead with 9:08 left on Darryl Whiting's one-yard score. Fordham put the game away on John Skelton's nine-yard touchdown pass to his brother, Stephen, with 5:20 to play in the contest.

John Skelton finished 28-of-33 passing for 305 yards and a touchdown, and has not thrown an interception while attempting 100 passes in the last two games. Jason Caldwell had 12 receptions for 135 yards, while Stephen Skelton had six for 65 yards and the touchdown. Whiting had 72 yards and the score on the ground, while Martin notched 42 and the touchdown. Nick Magiera led the Ram defense with 10 tackles, while Mike Martin had seven tackles and 1.5 sacks.

Bucknell notched 186 rushing yards, with six players gaining 16 yards or more led by Ryan Smith with 70. Casey Williams had a career-high 15 tackles, while Greg Jones had 12 and Travis Nissley notched 11.

at Marist 23, Georgetown 21
Box Score

Poughkeepsie, N.Y. - Georgetown (0-9) scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to overcome a 20-7 deficit and appeared to be on the way to its first victory of the season, but Marist kicked a 37-yard field goal with one second remaining to send the Hoyas to a heartbreaking 23-21 loss on Saturday.

After scoring the first touchdown of the game, the Hoyas fell behind, 20-7, entering the fourth quarter. Georgetown cut the gap to 20-14 on Scott Darby's 11-yard touchdown pass to Robert Lane with 6:25 to play, and took a 21-20 lead on a 68-yard strike from Darby to Brandon Floyd with just 54 seconds remaining in the game. But Marist drove 56 yards on six plays, setting up Jason Myers' game-winning 37-yard field goal with one second left for the win.

Darby was 31-of-57 for 289 yards and three touchdowns in the game, and also ran for 79 yards. Georgetown had three big receivers, with Keerome Lawrence catching nine passes for 67 yards, Lane hauling in eight for 56 and the touchdown, and Floyd catching four for 110 and the score. Chris Rau led the Georgetown defense with 11 tackles.