Snapping a six-game win streak, the football team (7-2 overall, 3-1 Patriot League) lost in an overtime heartbreaker to Colgate (4-5 overall, 2-2 Patriot League) by a final score of 37-34. The game marked the Leopards’ first Patriot League loss and first home loss of the season.
The Leopards started strong, entering halftime with a 17-0 lead over the Raiders. Colgate failed to capitalize off a muffed punt by sophomore receiver Elijah Steward, missed a 39-yard field goal and failed to find any offense in the first half. Following the first-half shutout, offensive and defensive miscues caught up to the Leopards in the second half.
The Leopards’ first drive of the second half ended with a fumble by freshman running back Troy Bruce followed by a turnover on downs on their second drive. The Raiders took advantage of the Leopards’ mistakes, scoring three straight unanswered touchdowns to take a 21-17 lead.
“We can’t have critical mistakes,” head coach John Troxell said. “We have to play mistake-free football, and what I mean by that is turnovers and penalties.”
The Leopards responded with a nine-play, 75-yard drive finished off by a Bruce rushing touchdown as he capped off a dominant series in his first career start. Bruce got the start in the absence of sophomore running back Jamar Curtis and junior running back Jermaine Conyers.
“I was happy to step up and fill the void of the missing pieces, but I think what’s most important for me is what I can learn from that game,” Bruce said.
The Raiders responded with a kick return to the 45-yard line, which was emblematic of the Raiders’ control over the field position throughout the game.
“When you look at the average field position for the day, [Colgate] averaged at their forty-eight which means, basically, they started at midfield for most of the day,” Troxell said.
The Raiders responded with a touchdown scoring drive of their own, as the Leopards’ defense failed to get off the field on crucial third and fourth down situations.
“The biggest thing you can do as a defense is just keep them behind the line of scrimmage [and] make them one dimensional, so we gotta do a better job of getting negative plays for them,” senior linebacker Billy Shaeffer said. “We gotta do a better job of causing turnovers, do a better job on third down, do a better job stopping the run and keeping teams in uncomfortable positions so we have the edge over them.”
Following another Leopard three-and-out, the Raiders began their drive into Lafayette territory once again, scoring a field goal to push their lead to 31-24 in the fourth quarter.
Back-to-back punts gave the Leopards possession with time running out and facing a touchdown deficit. Sophomore quarterback Dean DeNobile and the passing game took control as DeNobile moved the ball downfield to keep the game alive and capped off the drive with a touchdown strike to Steward who had four receptions on the final drive to send the game into overtime.
The Leopards failed to get into the end zone in their opening overtime drive despite having the ball at the five-yard line and a full set of downs. They were forced to settle for a field goal and defensively, they could not stop the Raiders, giving up the game-ending touchdown.
Despite the loss, the team remains optimistic.
“We got to just prove to the league and everyone else that this season isn’t a fluke,” Bruce said. “There’s definitely enough fuel for us to step on the gas, work hard at practice and let everyone know in the league who we really are.”
The Leopards finish their season with a final home game against Fordham tomorrow and the Rivalry Game at Lehigh next Saturday.
