Mason Kuehner and Sean Kinney are freshmen on the football team. They are also roommates, high school teammates and good friends. Kuehner, a wide receiver, and Kinney, an offensive lineman, both decided to attend Lafayette College after playing local high school football at Nazareth High School.
The pair have stayed close together since starting at Lafayette, which both emphasized has helped with adjusting to college football and life.
“The football team is all so close, but just having somebody that you’ve been with for years that you can come in together, where you’re already comfortable with somebody, living with somebody you’ve known for a while and then being able to play together – it’s just so cool being able to do it again after being together in high school,” Kuehner said.
Both Kuehner and Kinney have seen significant time on the field already at Lafayette this year. Kuehner earned his first touchdown in a 58-yard punt return on Sept. 14 against Marist College and had four receptions for 72 yards and a touchdown in the Leopards’ loss to Columbia University on Sept. 21. Kinney has also seen time on the offensive line in every game so far for the Maroon and White.
While Kinney noted the pair “took what they needed personally” when being recruited to play college football, they stayed in communication and went on several recruiting visits together.
While their Nazareth head coach Tom Falzone ’00 played football at Lafayette, Kuehner and Kinney said he did not push the idea of becoming a Leopard onto them.
“He let us do our own thing and make our own decisions together,” Kuehner said.
During their careers at Nazareth, the Blue Eagles won three EPC Conference titles and the District XI 6A title in their senior year under Falzone. Both Kuehner and Kinney earned spots on the Pennsylvania Football Writers Class 6A All-State team last year, after leading Nazareth to a 12-2 record and the District XI 6A title.
“For us to win that together our senior year, especially with all of our other friends – we were such a tight group – it was just the best feeling ever to be able to win a district championship together,” Kuehner said.
Although Kinney won the district championship with the team in his freshman year in 2019, he said last year’s win meant more with their “group.”
“I won in my freshman year, but that wasn’t really with my group,” Kinney said. “I was a young guy on a really good team, so getting back there with our group of guys – it was great.”
While no longer attending Nazareth, Kinney and Kuehner still support their team, just as their Nazareth community supports them at Lafayette games.
“We’ve been to about three games already,” Kuehner said. “It’s really cool being able to just go home and see our family and then go over and see our old coaches and our old teammates that we played with last year, and be able to still support them.”
“The biggest thing for me is that there’s a lot more people — Nazareth people — coming to our games, which is cool to see the impact we made, that they’re still willing to come out and support us,” Kinney said.
