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LEWISBURG -- Lafayette put up 17 unanswered points to defeat Bucknell football 20-7 and earn its first Patriot League win of the season. With the loss, the Bison fell to 1-6 overall and 0-4 in the league.
The first half saw a lot of good defense throughout with each team putting together one solid offensive drive that ended in a touchdown. The Leopards earned a 10-7 advantage, due to a muffed fair catch by the Bison that the Leopards picked up and turned into a field goal. The second half was all Lafayette as the Leopards out-paced the Bison 10-0.
Bucknell’s defense came out with a solid performance totaling five sacks for 23 yards. Kato Meissner led the crew with 1.5 sacks on the afternoon followed by Brandon Biagiarelli, Jack Inserra, Carter Enyard and Charlie Meehleib.
Biagiarelli led the defense in tackles with 13 total including 10 solo tackles and three assisted tackles. Inserra followed closely with 10 tackles including six solo and four assisted.
On the offensive side of the ball, freshman Tommy Arth had the lone Bison touchdown of the day on a 3-yard reception from Emmett Dowling. This was Arth’s first collegiate touchdown and gave the Bison their lone lead of the day.
At quarterback, Dowling played the first half and went 5-for-15 for 35 yards and a touchdown. Chris Dietrich then came in for Bucknell out of the half and went 8-for-15 for 105 yards and two interceptions.
Owen Garwood, who got the starting nod in place of an injured TJ Cadden, led the team in receiving with four catches for 58 yards. Michael Cadden led the team in rushing with 15 carries for a net 62 yards.
Lafayette’s running back Jakyre Henry had both of the Leopards touchdowns on top of his 22 carries for 122 yards. Leading the Leopards defense was Jalen Edwards, who came up with both of Lafayette’s interceptions in the game along with three tackles.
Lafayette opened the game with the ball after the Bison deferred. The Leopards put together a six-play, 24-yard drive that ended with a Jack Inserra tackle for loss on third down. Lafayette then punted, but an offsides penalty for the Bison earned the Leopards a new set of offensive downs. Bucknell’s defense was able to stand strong and Kato Meissner alongside Charlie Meehleib came up with a sack on third down to force the Leopards off the field.
Most of the quarter then went scoreless as each team punted twice more before the quarter ended. On Lafayette’s second of those punts, Bucknell fumbled the fair catch and it was recovered by the Leopards to earn Lafayette possession at the Bucknell 16-yardline. This eventually led to a 33-yard field goal for the Leopards, as the Bison defense was able to prevent a touchdown with solid coverage in the endzone. Lafayette’s 3-0 lead held to the end of the first quarter.
Bucknell opened the second quarter with the ball and put together a 12 play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Jack Sullivan ran for 38 yards on the drive including a 19-yard rush that was made possible by a huge block from Dowling. Owen Garwood saw a large 19-yard reception and Milligan saw a three yard rush to set up the three-yard touchdown scoring reception for Tommy Arth. The freshmen’s first career touchdown catch earned Bucknell a 7-3 lead with 9:11 left in the second quarter.
Lafayette answered with a touchdown of its own with 6:53 left to play in the first half as Jakyre Henry rushed 14-yards into the endzone for the score on a nine-play, 75-yard drive. Each team then punted twice more in the final 6:53 of the first half with four possession changes. The Leopards took their 10-7 lead into the locker room for halftime.
The Bison received the ball to start the second half, but were forced to punt after a six-play, 17-yard drive. Lafayette then put together a 13 play, 74-yard drive that culminated in a Henley seven-yard rushing touchdown and ran the clock down to 5:37 left in the third quarter.
Despite an electric first play of the Bison’s next drive as Chris Dietrich found Jerry Harrison for a 25-yard gain, Bucknell was once again forced to punt. The remainder of the third quarter went scoreless thanks to a big sack by Jack Inserra to get Lafayette off the field before the clock hit zero for the quarter, but the Leopards entered the final 10 minutes with a 10-point lead.
Lafayette 20, Bucknell 7
Lafayette 3 7 7 3 -- 20
Bucknell 0 7 0 0 -- 7
First quarter
L--J. Simonetta 33 field goal, 0:16.
Second quarter
B--T. Arth 3 pass from E. Dowling (J. Garanton kick), 9:11.
L_J. Henley 14 run (J> Simonetta kick), 6:53.
Third quarter
L--J. Henley 7 run (J. Simonetta kick), 5:37.
Fourth quarter
L--J. Simonetta 28 field goal, 1:44.
TEAM STATISTICS
L B
First downs 23 13
Rushes-yards 46-162 25-117
Passing yards 166 139
C-A-I 19-34-0 13-30-2
Total yards 328 256
Fumbles-lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 1-9 5-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Lafayette, Jakyre Henley 22-121 2 TDs, Malachi Gamble 13-26, Eddie Jordan 10-17. Bucknell, Michael Cadden 15-62, Jack Sullivan 7-42, Chris Dietrich 2-10, Sam Milligan 1-3.
PASSING--Lafayette, Eddie Jordan 18-33-0 158, Daniel Lipovski 1-1-0 8. Bucknell, Emmett Dowling 5-15-0 35, Chris Dietrich 8-15-2 104.
RECEIVING--Lafayette, Mason Kuehner 6-55, Kameron Vance 4-49, Carson Persing 3-21, Ethan Hosak 2-22, Matthew Scerbo 2-8, Hunter Ditrano 1-6, Nick Bierman 1-5. Bucknell, Owen Garwood 3-58, Michael Cadden 3-18, Sam Milligan 2-16, Jerry Harrison 1-25, Chad Martin 1-10, Jack Sullivan 1-7, Thomas Arth 1-3 TD, JJ Gomez 1-2.