Sept. 5, 2000
Audio:
- Coach Frank Tavani
- Towson Coach Gordy Combs
Complete Release in PDF Format
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The Series
(Tied, 2-2-0) Lafayette and Towson have met four times on the gridiron, dating back to the first encounter in the 1985 season. The two teams have met in Easton twice, with the Tigers winning the first and the Leopards taking the most recent. The largest margin of victory in the series was a 37-0 Lafayette win in Easton during the 1997 season.
The Last Meeting
(Towson 35, Lafayette 7 - Sept. 11, 1999, in Towson, Md.) Six turnovers plagued Lafayette as Towson used 402 yards of offense, including two scores by Jason Corle, to spoil the Leopards' opener. Lafayette's lone touchdown was a four-yard run by James Nesson.
The Head Coaches
The newest era in the proud history of Lafayette football began on Dec. 11, 1999, when Frank Tavani was named the 27th head football coach in the history of the program. Tavani has been a top member of the College's coaching staff for the past 13 seasons, serving most recently as associate head coach since 1994. This game marks the debut of Coach Tavani's head coaching career.
Gordy Combs (Towson '72) is in his ninth season at Towson and as a collegiate head coach. His overall career record stands at 49-34-0 (.590). Combs is 1-2 vs. Lafayette and 0-2 vs. the Leopards at Fisher Field.
Top 10 in Graduation Rates
The Lafayette football program is ranked 10th in all of NCAA Division I in graduation rates for student-athletes who entered from 1989 to 1992. The Leopards' 81 percent graduation rate ties them with Stanford and Vanderbilt.
Media Information
"The Weather Channel" forecast: Partly cloudy with a high of 78? and a low of 52?.
Radio: WEST (1400 AM Stereo), 65th Season Dick Hammer, play-by-play (34th season)
Television: Lafayette Sports Network (RCN-TV 4 and WBPH-TV 60 - over 5.1 million viewers) Gary Laubach, play-by-play (4th season), John Leone, color analyst (3rd season), Scott Barr, sideline reporter (4th season)
Media Luncheons: Head Coach Frank Tavani and at least two members of the team will address the media at noon each Tuesday during the season. Members of the media are invited to join Coach Tavani at Larry Holmes' Ringside Restaurant in downtown Easton.
Quotes: Written excerpts and audio files from the weekly Lafayette football media luncheon will be available by 5:00 p.m. each Tuesday. They can be obtained by calling Lafayette's Office of Athletic Communications or by logging on to the Lafayette Athletics Web site at www.lafayette.edu.
Interviews: All interview requests for Head Coach Frank Tavani and members of the team should be submitted to Lafayette's Office of Athletic Communications. No player interviews will be granted on game day until after the game.
Practices: Members of the media wishing to attend a practice must be accompanied by a member of the Lafayette Athletic Communications staff.
Two Academic All-Americans Return to the Fold
Earning a spot on the 1999 CoSIDA/GTE District II Academic All-America team were Lafayette defensive back Kenya Allen (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny), who carries a cumulative grade point average of 3.56 majoring in Business/Economics, and tight end Stewart Kupfer (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh), who carries a 3.41 GPA in Economics. Kupfer earned a spot on the first team while Allen was named to the second team.
2000 Team Captains
The 2000 Lafayette College football team captains, as chosen by their teammates, are senior defensive tackle Mike Levy (Bel Air, Md./Fallston), and senior split end Phil Yarberough (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon).
New Millenium . . . New Beginning - The Debut
The Lafayette - Towson game marks the debut of Lafayette first-year head coach Frank Tavani. Tavani, a Lafayette assistant coach for 13 seasons, was named the 27th head coach in Lafayette football history. He takes over for Bill Russo, who stepped down after 19 seasons at the helm of one of college football's most storied programs.
Calling the Action vs. Towson
WEST-AM Stereo 1400 is in its 65th year as the radio home of Lafayette Athletics. Dick Hammer is in his 34th season of handling play-by-play duties. This game is one of a five Lafayette football games scheduled to be televised during the 2000 season on the Lafayette Sports Network. Gary Laubach is in his fourth season of handling play-by-play duties, while John Leone will provide color analysis for the third straight season, and Scott Barr joins the crew for his fourth season of reporting on the Leopards from the sidelines.
Lafayette vs. the Patriot League
The Leopards have played 291 games all-time against the six fellow members of the Patriot League, and are 146-129-16 (.529) in those contests. Since the Patriot League began play in 1986, the Leopards are 40-29-1 (.579) vs. member schools - the third-best record in the league. Lafayette vs. the Patriot League: Bucknell 41-30-6 Fordham 15-2-1 Lehigh 71-59-5 Colgate 9-30-4 Holy Cross 8-6-0 Towson 2-2-0
For Openers . . .
In 118 seasons of Lafayette College football, the Leopards are 76-39-3 (.657) in season openers, including a record of 32-11-0 (.744) in season openers played at home.
Home Openers . . .
Home openers have been a success for Lafayette, as the Leopards have gone 85-31-2 (.729) in the program's 118 seasons, including a record of 44-28-1 (.609) in the 73 home openers at Fisher Field.
Patriot League Openers . . .
Since the Patriot League began play in 1986, Lafayette is 7-7-0 (.500) in conference openers. The Leopards have opened their Patriot League schedules at home eight times and are 4-4-0 (.500) in those contests. Lafayette has won six of its last nine Patriot League openers.
Leopards Blitz the TV Airwaves ... Again!
The 2000 Lafayette College football season will see a minimum of five contests, including the Lafayette-Lehigh game, hit the television air waves via the Lafayette Sports Network. The Lafayette Sports Network, the most expansive television package in the Patriot League three years running, can be seen by more than 5.1 million viewers in the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia, central New Jersey, New York City, and Boston. Locally, the telecasts are aired on RCN TV-4 and WBPH-TV 60, and can be seen on RCN Cable channels 4 and 60, Service Electric Cable channel 51, Suburban Cable channel 17, Blue Ridge Cable channel 5, and broadcast channel 60. Renowned local sports broadcaster Gary Laubach handles all of the Leopards' play-by-play duties for the fourth season. In his third full season of football broadcasts is John Leone, Lafayette's Acting Director of Alumni Affairs, who provides color analysis. In his fourth season on the crew, RCN's Scott Barr handles analysis on the Leopards from the sidelines.
Top 10 in Graduation Rates for Football - 1st in Basketball
The Lafayette football program is ranked 10th in all of NCAA Division I in graduation rates for student-athletes who entered from 1989 to 1992. The Leopards' 81% graduation rate ties them with Stanford and Vanderbilt. In fact, Lafayette College is the only NCAA Division I institution in the nation with a perfect graduation rate for men's and women's basketball players who entered from 1989 to 1992. The College is ranked first in the nation as one of four Division I institutions to graduate all men's basketball players entering during that time within six years, which is how the NCAA measures graduation rates. Lafayette is also among 13 schools from which all women's basketball players earned degrees.
Home Sweet Home
Erected in 1926, Lafayette College's Fisher Field is in its 74th season as the home of the Leopards, having played host to 353 Lafayette football games. Lafayette has recorded 12 undefeated home seasons at Fisher Field. The Leopards are 213-128-13 (.622) overall at Fisher Field.
All-Time Record
The Leopards are in their 119th football season, having played 1,117 games. Lafayette boasts an impressive all-time record of 588-490-39 (.544) and ranks 30th on the nation's all-time victories list. Lafayette leads the Patriot League in all-time wins, with Lehigh the closest at 553.
Weekly Radio Show
Lafayette Sports Weekly, a comprehensive half-hour radio show will air live each Thursday at 7 p.m. from September through March on the Lafayette Sports Network's flagship radio station, WEST AM Stereo 1400, and online at www.lafayette.edu. WEST-AM's own Jack Logic will be joined each week by either Gary Laubach or John Leone, Lafayette Sports Network's television commentators, for an exciting half-hour exclusively devoted to Lafayette sports. Head football coach Frank Tavani will be a featured guest during the football season, while head men's basketball coach Fran O'Hanlon and head women's basketball coach Pat Fisher will be regulars during their teams' winter campaigns.
No Respect
The Lafayette football program, Patriot League Champions in 1988, 1992, and 1994, received no respect in the head coaches' 2000 preseason poll. The Leopards were picked to finish last of the seven teams in the conference. The League sports information directors picked the Leopards to finish sixth, ahead of Fordham.
Yarberough Moving Up the Charts
Lafayette senior split end Phil Yarberough (Lebanon, Pa./Lebanon) begins the 2000 season ranked 10th all-time in Lafayette history in both career receptions with 83 and career receiving yards with 1,246. He needs two receptions to move into ninth place ahead of Jack Gatehouse (1979-82, 84 rec.), and 32 receiving yards to move into ninth place ahead of Tramont Evans (1992-94, 1,277 yds.)
Hello, Nice to Meet You . . .
There are a total of seven changes made to the Lafayette football coaching staff, most notably the naming of Frank Tavani as the 27th head coach in the history of the program . Tavani's first order of business was naming Mike Faragalli as offensive coordinator and John Loose as defensive coordinator. Faragalli served as the offensive coordinator at Division I-A Bowling Green eight of the past nine seasons, while Loose was the linebackers coach at Division I-A Army the past eight seasons. Tavani has also named Matt Hachmann as the running backs coach, Bryan Cook as a defensive assistant, and both Kevin Keating and Keita Malloy as offensive assistants.
Local Flavor - 10 Lehigh Valley Leopards
The 2000 Lafayette College football team boasts 12 members from the Lehigh Valley. Consistently a heavy recruiter in the Lehigh Valley, Lafayette brought in three local freshmen this past recruiting year. The Lehigh Valley Leopards:
78 Pat Brown (Fr./DL/Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic)
7 Joel Cesare (Fr./WR/Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall)
2 Andy Ficzko (Sr./TB/Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East)
36 Brian Gregorek (Sr./LB/Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic)
20 Mike Palos (Sr./TE/Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic)
34 Bill Stocker (So./TB/Easton, Pa./Wilson)
4 Scott Warden (Jr./FB/Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks West)
86 Jeff Werrell (Jr./SE/Allentown, Pa./Salisbury)
95 Jermaine Williams (Sr./DL/Easton, Pa./Easton)
62 Curt Wilson (Fr./OL/Northampton, Pa./Northampton)
Lafayette vs. the Ivy League
The Leopards have played 198 games against the eight members of the Ivy League, and are 55-136-7 (.295) in those contests. Lafayette vs. the members of the Ivy League: Brown 3-8-0 Harvard 2-3-0 Columbia 20-10-2 Pennsylvania 18-57-0 Cornell 8-14-2 Princeton 2-32-3 Dartmouth 2-6-0 Yale 0-6-0
Leopard Injury Update
The current listing of Lafayette football injuries: - Michael Beatrice - out for the season (knee).
- Tim Case - day to day (back).
- Bryant Ibekwe - day-to-day (knee).
- Casey McKeen - out 6-10 weeks (thigh contusion).
- Mike McTavish - out indefinitely (minor knee surgery).
- Kevin Pickering - out for the season (back).
- Mark Ravalico - out for 1-2 weeks (knee).
- Trey Weaver - out for the season (knee).
- Rob Wildasin - out indefinitely (hamstring).
