Zurn Is Player of the Week... And Clark

OK, I hear you say, how come there are co-Reader's Choice Players of the week this week? Sophomore WR Craig Zurn, who had 55 all-purpose yards and - most importantly - gave Lehigh six points at the end of the first half with his amazing downfield block of a Cornell special-teams player to seal the touchdown. His great play on offense and special teams might ordinarily be enough to give him those honors...

...had I not been tracking the poll from the get-go. Until about, oh, say one hour before the polls were closing, an amazing number of votes came in for the local kid from Jim Thorpe, PA. Before that time, sophomore QB J.B. Clark had a comfortable lead in votes (and he also had his best day as Lehigh's quarterback, going 24-35 passing with 264 yards passing, 1 passing touchdown, and 1 rushing touchdown that gave Lehigh the lead.)

This one time, I'm going to be offering Player of the Week honors to both.

Game balls will be going to:

Readers' Choice: Sophomore WR Craig Zurn and sophomore QB J.B. Clark

Offense: Senior WR Sekou Yansane (6 receptions, 63 yards)

Defense: Senior FS Brendan VanAckeren (8 tackles, 5 solo, 1 interception)

Special Teams: Sophomore CB Jarard Cribbs (3 punt returns for 84 yards, including one at the end of the first half for a touchdown)

Congratulations to all the winners!

News & Notes
In addition to the prestigious honor of getting a Lehigh Football Nation Game Ball, Cribbs got something else: recognition as Patriot League's Special Teams Player of the Week.

And just in case you missed it: there was a mention of me in my friend Keith Groller's blog in the post-game analysis of the Cornell game. Groller is the the local sports editor at the Morning Call and has been a great person to talk to about covering Lehigh, and about the entire local sports scene and how Lehigh fits into that fabric. I always look forward to talking with him: he can even make a Lehigh loss almost fun, and from me that's saying something. Here's what he says in his blog:

These Mountain Hawks just can't seem to get out of their own way. My friend Chuck Burton, Mr. Lehigh Football Nation and the No. 1 Mountain Hawks fan I know, had a running dialogue with me going during the second half. The more optimistic Burton said this team takes two steps forward and one step back. To me, it's more like one step forward and two back.

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