Oct. 15, 2002
Listen to quotes from this week's Lafayette Football Luncheon
Read Quick Quotes from this week's Lafayette Football Luncheon
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
GEORGETOWN at LAFAYETTE
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2002 * 1:37 p.m. EDT
FISHER FIELD (13,750 / Natural Grass)
EASTON, PENNSYLVANIA
TV: Lafayette Sports Network (RCN-4 & WBPH 60) Live to more than 9.1 million viewers
The Game
- Lafayette returns to the friendly confines of Fisher Field for its only home contest in a seven-game stretch, as Georgetown visits Easton for the first time ever. Kickoff is set for 1:37 p.m., and the game will be broadcast live on television (Lafayette Sports Network - RCN-4 and WBPH-60), on radio (WEST-AM 1400, pre-game show starting at 12:30 p.m.), and on the internet (www.lafayette.edu).
- The Leopards are off to their best start since the 1996 season when they also started 3-3. The last time Lafayette started a season 4-3 was 1993, which was also the program's last winning campaign (5-4-2).
- Lafayette and Fordham are the only two teams that are undefeated in Patriot League action. The Rams, which have a bye this week, are 2-0 while the Leopards are 1-0 and own a 23-7 victory over Towson.
- Lafayette has had some nail biters in the past two seasons, having seven contests decided by 10 points or less since the start of the 2001 season. Unfortunately, the Leopards are 2-5 in those games, with the victories coming on a 30-29 win over Monmouth to open the season and a 28-21 win at Columbia last week.
The Series
(Sixth Meeting) Lafayette and Georgetown have met five times on the gridiron, with the first encounter taking place in the 1902 season. The two teams have never met in Easton, playing all five games in Washington, D.C., with Lafayette holding a 3-2 advantage. The largest margin of victory in the series was a 27-2 Georgetown win during the 1927 season.
The Head Coaches
The current era in the proud history of Lafayette football began on Dec. 11, 1999, when Frank Tavani (Lebanon Valley '75) was named the 27th head football coach in the history of the program. Now in his third season as head coach, Tavani had been a top member of Lafayette's coaching staff for the previous 13 seasons. Tavani has a career record of 7-20. He is 1-0 against Georgetown and this is his first meeting with the Hoyas at Fisher Field as head coach of the Leopards.
Bob Benson (Vermont '86) is in his 10th season at Georgetown and as a collegiate head coach. Benson has a record of 56-35 during his tenure at Georgetown. Benson is 0-1 vs. Lafayette, and this will be his first visit to Fisher Field.
McCourt Named PL Offensive Player of the Week
For his efforts in Lafayette's thrilling 28-21 come-from-behind victory at Columbia, Leopard sophomore TB Joe McCourt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) earned Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors. McCourt was a huge part of the Leopards' incredible comeback, rushing 28 times for 147 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns - the first to tie the game and the second to give Lafayette the victory. The 2001 Patriot League Rookie of the Year carried the ball six times in the Leopards' final scoring drive, an eight-play, 54-yard drive. He also caught eight passes for 68 yards, totaling 215 all-purpose yards.
This Week's Game Captain - Joe McCourt '05
The Lafayette coaching staff is naming a game captain each week of the 2002 season. This student-athlete serves as a team captain the entire week of practice and at the game along with team captains Chris Partridge (Paramus, N.J./Paramus Catholic) and Chris Royle (Stockton, N.J./Hunterdon Central). Sophomore TB Joe McCourt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), who is the second-leading rusher in the Patriot League and ranked 13th in Division I-AA, has been named the Lafayette-Georgetown game week captain.
Lafayette vs. the Patriot League
The Leopards have played 309 games all-time against the seven fellow members of the Patriot League, and are 151-142-16 (.515) in those contests. Since the Patriot League began play in 1986, the Leopards are 43-40-1 (.518) vs. member schools and have won league titles in 1988, 1992, and 1994. Lafayette vs. the Patriot League:
Bucknell 41-32-6 Fordham 15-4-1 Holy Cross 9-7-0 Towson 3-4-0 Colgate 9-32-4 Georgetown 3-2-0 Lehigh 71-61-5
Weyrauch Cracks The Top 10
Lafayette junior FL John Weyrauch (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood) passed the 1,000-yard mark for career receiving yards with his 142 yards on 11 receptions in the Leopards' season-opening win over Monmouth. He followed that with an eight-catch, 156-yard performance in the comeback win at Columbia, moving him into the top 10 all-time at Lafayette in career receptions and career receiving yards. Weyrauch is currently 10th all-time at Lafayette in career receptions with 87 catches and seventh in receiving yards with 1,386. He needs 12 more receptions to move into ninth place, ahead of Joe Luke (1995-99, 98 rec.), and 249 yards to move into sixth place, ahead of Jamal Jordan (1990-92, 1,634 yds.).
Leopard Cubs
There are 18 freshmen and sophomores among the 44 spots on Lafayette's current offensive and defensive two-deep. Of those 18 freshmen and sophomores, seven are in the starting lineup.
Leopard Injury Update
The current listing of Lafayette football injuries:
- Adam Bozick (Fr., DB) - out 4-6 weeks with a hip injury.
- Drew Buettner (So., OL) - out indefinitely with a knee injury.
- Darrell Daman (Sr., FB) - possible with a sprained ankle.
- Shane Davenport (Fr., FB) - out for the season with a foot injury.
- Brendon Green (So., FB) - out 4-6 weeks with a deep thigh bruise.
- Anthony Jones (So., TE) - out indefinitely with a knee injury.
- Josh Keister (Jr., TE) - out for the season with a knee injury.
- Michael McAfee (Jr., OL) - out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.
- Gus Ottoson (Fr., DL) - out for the season following shoulder surgery.
- Tim Walsh (So., TE) - questionnable with a bruised shin.
- Paul Ziska (So., DL) - out for the season following shoulder surgery.
Lafayette Returns Four Academic All-Americans
Seven Leopards, the most ever for a Lafayette football team, earned a spot on the 2001 Verizon District II Academic All-America squad. Of those seven, four return to the 2002 squad. The quartet includes senior DB Jamie Anzalone (Shavertown, Pa./Wyoming Seminary), senior DL Matt Hinzpeter (Norwood, N.J./Northern Valley), senior DB Herb Kennedy (Troy, N.Y./Troy), and junior OL Curt Wilson (Northampton, Pa./Northampton).
Anzalone and Kennedy are two-time honorees, having also earned a spot on the 2000 Verizon District II Academic All-America squad.
Local Ties
Lafayette has two players on its current roster from the Washington, D.C. area. Larry Johnson (Waldorf, Md./Westlake/Wyoming Seminary) is a freshman defensive back / kick returner. Kwame Lovell (Takoma Park, Md./DeMatha) is a freshman defensive lineman.
Homecoming . . . True.
The Leopards' contest vs. Georgetown marks the lone home contest in a seven-week period. Lafayette played at Princeton on Sept. 28, at Duquesne on Oct. 5 and at Columbia last wek. The Leopards will travel to New York City again next week to face Fordham, and still have trips to Hamilton, N.Y. and Lewisburg, Pa. Combined, the Leopards will log a total of 1,674 round-trip miles. The Duquesne trip tops the list at 598 miles round trip, while Colgate comes in a distant second at 374 miles.
NCAA Division I-AA Leaders
Through games of Oct. 12, 2002, Lafayette senior PK Martin Brecht (Jeannette, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) ranks second among NCAA Division I-AA leaders in field goals per game with an average of 1.83. The Leopards among the top-50 NCAA Division I-AA leaders:
INDIVIDUAL Field goals per game - Martin Brecht (1.83 avg.) - 2nd Rushing - Joe McCourt (103.17 avg.) - 13th Total offense - Marko Glavic (245.50 avg.) - 23rd All-purpose runners - Joe McCourt (132.33 avg.) - 26th Receiving yards per game - John Weyrauch (82.83 avg.) - 31st Scoring - Martin Brecht (7.50 avg.) - 33rd Receptions per game - John Weyrauch (4.83 avg.) - 45th
TEAM Punt Returns - 27th (11.50 avg.) Passing offense - 33rd (236.33 avg.) Total offense - 34th (388.33 avg.) Rushing defense - 43rd (132.67 avg.)
Air Canada
Lafayette junior QB Marko Glavic (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary Catholic) entered his junior season with a reputation for big numbers through the air. Glavic posted six 200-yard and three 300-yard passing performances in the Leopards' 2001 season and has thrown for more than 200 yards four times this season. Glavic now has 20 career 200-yard games in just 24 career starts. He has recorded three 300-yard games and his career-high is 329 yards at Holy Cross in 2001.
Glavic Climbing The Charts
Leopard QB Marko Glavic (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary Catholic) is the fourth all-time leader in career passing yards at Lafayette with 5,833 career yards. In his 26 career games, Glavic has completed 54.0 percent of his passes (476-of-882) and thrown 28 touchdowns.
Glavic is just the fourth Lafayette QB to throw for more than 2,000 yards in a single season, joining former Leopard greats Frank Baur '90, Tom Kirchoff '93 and Frank Novak '84. In just 10 games last season, he recorded the third-best single season passing yardage total with 2,460 yards.
On This Date
The Leopards have played 16 games in the history of the program on October 19, and are 9-7 in those contests. The ledger:
Year Result Opponent Year Result Opponent 1887 W, 12-4 Haverford 1957 L, 13-12 at Temple 1895 W, 6-0 at Cornell 1963 L, 31-0 at Temple 1901 W, 17-0 at Orange Ath. Club 1968 W, 27-0 Drexel 1912 W, 11-0 Ursinus 1974 L, 37-7 Pennsylvania 1929 L, 6-3 Bucknell 1979 W, 9-7 at Pennsylvania 1935 L, 52-0 Colgate 1985 L, 56-14 at Navy 1940 W, 45-6 Gettysburg 1991 W, 30-15 Columbia 1946 W, 7-6 Washington & Jefferson 1996 L, 3-0 at Columbia
100/200 Vision
In the combined careers of QB Marko Glavic (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary Catholic) and Joe McCourt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic), there have been four contests in which Glavic has thrown for more than 200 yards and McCourt has rushed for more than 100 yards. The Leopards are 3-1 in those contests (10/27/2001 vs. Colgate - 20-16 L; 11/10/2001 at Georgetown - 37-17 W; 9/7/2002 vs. Monmouth - 30-29 W; 10/12/02 at Columbia - 28-21 W).
Hitting The Century Mark By Ground & Air
Lafayette junior FL John Weyrauch (Mountain Top, Pa./Crestwood) and sophomore tailback Joe McCourt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) have both made a habit of breaking the 100-yard mark in receiving yards and rushing yards, respectively. Weyrauch has had at least 100 receiving yards eight times in his career, while McCourt has hit the century mark in rushing yardage five times.
Solid Protection
Lafayette's offensive line, coached by associate head coach Bob Heffner, led the Patriot League in sacks allowed with just 11 in the 2001 season. The Leopards also led the conference in passing yardage with an average of 265.1 yards per game.
The Leopards' offensive line has picked up right where it left off and has Lafayette ranked among the conference leaders in passing offense (3rd) and sacks allowed (1st).
Preseason All-America Honors For Royle
Senior center Chris Royle (Stockton, N.J./Hunterdon Central), an EXCEL Scholar at Lafayette, earned preseason All-America honors from two different sources. First, The Sports Network selected Royle to its All-America third team. A few days later, Lindy's chose Royle as a first-team All-American.
Leopards Dominate the TV Airwaves ... Again!
The 2002 Lafayette College football season will see a record nine contests hit the television air waves via the Lafayette Sports Network to the entire Lehigh Valley and beyond. The Lafayette Sports Network, the most expansive television package in the Patriot League five years running, can be seen by more than 9.1 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 sixth season. In his fifth full season of football broadcasts is John Leone, Lafayette's Director of Alumni Affairs, who provides color analysis. In his second season of handling sideline reports on the Leopards is Dan Mowdy.
Defense Gets Stingy In Second Half
The Leopards' defense, under the direction of defensive coordinator John Loose, has allowed just 47 second-half points through six games of the 2002 season (average of 7.8 points per second half). That includes two games - Towson and Columbia - in which the Lafayette defense posted a shutout in the second half.
In addition, Lafayette's defense has already posted nine shut-out quarters of the 24 played in 2002. To put that in perspective, the Leopards recorded 10 total shut-out quarters in 2001 and 11 in 2000.
Geography For $100 Alex . . .
The Leopards' 2002 roster is one of the most geographically diverse in the history of Lafayette football. There are 14 different states represented and two student-athletes hail from Ontario, Canada. A total of 37 players are home-grown Pennsylvania products, while New Jersey is second on the list with 24. Maryland comes in third with eight, and the surprise is at number four as seven Leopards hail from sunny Florida.
Feeling Patriotic
Thanks to Circle Systems of Easton, the Leopards are wearing an American flag on the back of their helmets for the second straight season to honor those who died as a result of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Iron Leopards
As a team, Lafayette had its strongest off-season ever, literally. After having more than 30 Leopards remain around campus during the 2001 off-season, a record total of 45 stayed in the Easton area throughout the summer to strength train in preparation for the 2002 season.
2002 Team Captains
The 2002 Lafayette football team captains, as chosen by their teammates and coaching staff, are senior linebacker Chris Partridge (Paramus, N.J./Paramus Catholic) and senior center Chris Royle (Stockton, N.J./Hunterdon Central).
Home Sweet Home
Erected in 1926, Lafayette College's Fisher Field is in its 76th season as the home of the Leopards, having played host to 366 Lafayette football games. Lafayette has recorded 12 undefeated home seasons at Fisher Field. The Leopards are 218-135-13 (.613) overall at Fisher Field.
Another Rookie Of The Year Award?
Lafayette TB Joe McCourt (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) became the eighth Lafayette football player to earn Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors in 2001, joining Tom Costello (1988), Art Dennis (1990), Erik Marsh (1991), Shawn McHale (1994), Leonard Moore (1995), Kenya Allen (1998), and teammate Marko Glavic (2000).
McCourt finished fifth in the league in rushing with an average of 73.1 yards per game in 2001, earning three rookie of the week accolades from the conference for his 160-yard rushing performance vs. Colgate, his three-touchdown effort at Holy Cross and his career-high 184 rushing yards at Georgetown. McCourt started the last nine games for Lafayette and led the Leopards in rushing with an average of 5.0 yards per carry, totaling 731 yards and six touchdowns on 146 carries. Also a solid threat as a receiver and on special teams, he caught 22 passes for 167 yards and returned 19 kickoffs for 325 yards.
Weekly Radio Shows
Lafayette Sports Weekly, a comprehensive half-hour radio show, airs 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 sports director Dick Hammer 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 Tammy Smith will be regulars during their teams' winter campaigns.
RCN-Lafayette Sports Night, a weekly one-hour radio show, airs each Tuesday from late August through May on The Sports Monster 1230 AM, the Lehigh Valley's ESPN Radio affiliate, and online at www.lafayette.edu. Sports Director Tom Fallon hosts a broad-based show from 5-6 p.m. and head football coach Frank Tavani is a regular guest during the season.
Local Flavor - 10 Lehigh Valley Leopards
The 2002 Lafayette College football team boasts 10 members from the Lehigh Valley. Consistently a prominent recruiter of top talent in the Lehigh Valley, Lafayette brought in two local freshmen this past recruiting year. The Lehigh Valley Leopards:
90 Tauren Barker (Fr./DL/Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall)
5 Vince Boyer (Sr./SE/Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua Area)
98 Pat Brown (Jr./DL/Bethlehem, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic)
7 Joel Cesare (Jr./WR/Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall)
46 Greg Gibbs (So./DL/Allentown, Pa./Salisbury)
34 Bill Stocker (Sr./DB/Easton, Pa./Wilson)
78 Robert Stroble (Fr./OL/Easton, Pa./Easton)
18 John-Frank Stubits (So./LB/Nazareth, Pa./Nazareth)
29 Dave Walters (So./TB/Easton, Pa./Freedom/Wyoming Seminary)
62 Curt Wilson (Jr./OL/Northampton, Pa./Northampton)
All-Time Record
The Leopards are in their 121st football season, having played 1,143 games. Lafayette boasts an impressive all-time record of 595-510-39 (.538) and ranks 32nd on the nation's all-time victories list. Lafayette leads the Patriot League in all-time wins, with Lehigh the closest at 580.
In Overtime Games ...
Lafayette has now played five overtime games and is 1-4 in those contests. After winning the first overtime affair in 1995 over Fordham (24-21 on 11/11/95), the Leopards have lost their last four OT games.
A History of Championships
The Lafayette football program has claimed three national championships -- 1896, 1921 and 1926 -- and recorded five undefeated seasons -- 1896 (11-0-1), 1921 (9-0-0), 1926 (9-0-0), 1937(8-0-0) and 1940 (9-0-0). Of recent note, the Leopards have won Patriot League championships in 1988, 1992 and 1994.
Lafayette's Football Inventors
Two primary elements of the game of football -- the helmet and the huddle -- were invented by former members of the Lafayette football program. George "The Rose" Barclay from the class of 1898, one of Lafayette's all-time great running backs, invented the helmet when the "threat of cultivating cauliflower ears" led him to piece three thick leather straps around his head for the 1896 game against Penn. Former Lafayette coach Herb McCracken (1924-35; 59-40-6) devised the first huddle system during the 1924 season after learning the Pennsylvania football team had stolen Lafayette's signals. Lafayette became the first team to huddle before each play and this system was immediately adopted by other teams.
