Lehigh Football Nation

As a regular reader of this blog, you probably don't follow the world of lacrosse too closely. (Under normal circumstances, I don't follow it at all.) But something is happening there that indirectly affects the Patriot League in terms of expansion - and it's a good introduction to the "unseen" forces in terms of conference affiliations that may even affect, say, football. Lacrosse is still (to me) a niche sport, but it has grown in leaps and bounds in popularity in the last decade on both the men's and women's sides. Until recently, most of the elite teams in the lacrosse world competed as independents in order to allow them the flexibility to make their own world-class schedules (read: this allowed them to play perennial Ivy League power Princeton and academic powerhouse Duke, among others). Notable Lax independents included Syracuse, Georgetown, and D-III Johns Hopkins (who had an exception to be D-III in all other sports, but D-I in Lacrosse). The

Last week, senior C John Reese was the graduating male award winner at the Lehigh Athletics Convocation . The awards go to the most outstanding athletes in Lehigh athletics and Reese, a three-time all-Patriot League first team member and all-American, certainly deserved it. In addition to the "graduating male athlete" award, he also won a Distinguished Achievement award for displaying a high level of "scholarship, athletic achievement, and beyond and demonstrated service to the institution." A DVD of the athletics convocation is available for purchase from the Lehigh Website , too. Reese will be adding this award to the award he recently got from the South Side Boosters , too. He grabbed one of their annual senior awards, as did senior FS Ernest Moore (defense) and senior FB John Piascik (special teams). Congratulations to three deserving award winners! The South Side Boosters' web site has some pictures of the event for your viewing pleasure. Makes me w