Oct 12, 2002

Final Stats?|? Quotes

NEW YORK (AP) - Joe McCourt ran for 147 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns as Lafayette rallied from a 21-point deficit to beat Columbia 28-21 Saturday.

McCourt scored on a 4-yard run with 8:10 to play, and the Leopards (3-3) tied the score on a 2-point conversion. McCourt's 1-yard dive over left guard with 3:56 left put the Leopards ahead for the first time.

Steve Hunsberger, who was 21-for-35 for 237 yards, ran for a touchdown and passed for another for the Lions (1-3).

Columbia built a 21-0 lead in the game's first 16:07, in part by turning Lafayette's fumbled kickoff into a first-quarter touchdown on Rashad Biggers' 9-yard run.

On the ensuing kickoff, a Lafayette fumble was recovered by Parker Meeks at the Leopards' 21, and Hunsberger ran in from the 3 just five plays later to make it 14-0.

Hunsberger's 20-yard pass to Steve Cargile 1:07 into the second quarter capped an 80-yard, eight-play drive.

With the Lions threatening to turn the game into a rout, the Leopards stopped Columbia with a four-down goal-line stand.

Lafayette then drove 99 yards in nine plays and scored on Marko Glavic's 29-yard pass to John Weyrauch with just 7.7 seconds left in the second quarter.

Martin Brecht cut the Leopards' deficit to 21-10 with a 28-yard field goal in the third quarter.

Aided by three major penalties, one each for pass interference, a personal foul and unsportsmanlike conduct against the Lions, the Leopards got a 25-yard field by Brecht in the fourth quarter that cut it to 21-13.

Following McCourt's first touchdown, Glavic eluded a heavy Columbia rush and threw to John Ricketts for the 2-point conversion that tied the score.

Glavic completed 23-of-47 passes for 291 yards, while Weyrauch made eight receptions for a career-high 156 yards.