Patriot League Season Over

The Patriot League's football season is officially over in the I-AA playoffs this weekend. Lafayette and Colgate fell to a pair of great I-AA football teams in New Hampshire and Appalachian State.

I had the honor of watching most of both of these games on TV this weekend. The Colgate game, unfortunately, was over reasonably early. When I saw New Hampshire KR David Boyle return a punt for a TD, I thought that Colgate may be in for a long day, but that obscured a pretty good defensive effort in the first quarter, stuffing the Wildcats on three out of four possessions. Unfortunately, despite freshman RB Jordan Scott's eye-popping 205 yard 3 TD performance, it wasn't enough. Colgate just didn't have the high-powered offense to stay with the hyper-charged offenses of Top 25 I-AA teams, and it showed. With Scott, Colgate has lots to look forward to next year, and Lehigh will have a tough time stopping them.

For the second year in a row, Lafayette almost pulled off the upset of the century. For the first half, coach Tavani and the Leopard assistant coaches showed what Lehigh fans know all too well - these guys are sharp. After dominating time of possession on their way to a 17-10 halftime lead, Lafayette battled throughout the 3rd quarter to keep the score knotted at 20-20. Lafayette played their game brilliantly - spreading the ball, doing a good job stuffing App St. on third down, and benefitting immensely by Mountaineer turnovers. Senior QB Pat Davis and junior RB Jonathan Hurt played brilliantly, picking up where they left off against Lehigh.

Tavani then called an incredibly gutsy onside kick recovered by senior LB Blake Costanzo, which was then overturned by an incredibly questionable offsides call. After the kickoff, the Mountaineers responded with a sense of urgency, driving the length of the field to go ahead by 27-20. After responding with a FG and having a chance to score, Davis was drilled from behind, fumbling the ball, with the Mountaineers recovering. Going in for the kill, senior QB (and Payton award nominee) Richie Williams lofted a perfect pass to WR Daniel Bettis to seal the deal. Lafayette's offense and defense battled until the very end, but at the end of the game you could tell they couldn't overcome an 11 point deficit with 2 minutes to play. Even so, Davis, battered and shaken, battled until the very last play.

Lafayette really held the banner of the Patriot League very high today. App St. may very well be going to the I-AA championship game, but Lafayette for the second year in a row went down to one of the toughest places to play in I-AA and gave them a better game than nationally-ranked Coastal Carolina and Georgia Southern. You can't help but think "what if the refs weren't so gutless taking the onsides kick away from Lafayette"? and what might have been.

I haven't forgotten recapping the Lehigh season, postseason awards, etc. I will be starting that process later this week. Congratulations to Lafayette, though. They deserve high honors for what they were able to accomplish in Boone, NC last Saturday.