Sept. 3, 2002

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LAFAYETTE vs. MONMOUTH
SATURDAY, SEPT. 7, 2002 - 1:07 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 hosts Monmouth in the season opener for both teams and the first encounter ever on the gridiron between the two programs. Kickoff at Fisher Field is set for 1:07 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).

• September 7 is the second-earliest date for a Lafayette football season opener. The only date earlier than September 7 for a Leopards' opener was in 1997 when Lafayette opened with a 23-0 loss to Fordham on September 6.

• Lafayette has led the Patriot League in passing yardage each of the past two seasons, averaging 252.8 yards per game in 2000 and 265.1 yards per game in 2001.

• The Leopards held a team vote and elected seniors Chris Partridge and Chris Royle as team captains for the 2002 season.

• 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.

The Series
(First Meeting) This is the first ever meeting between Lafayette and Monmouth on the football field. In fact, this contest will be just the fifth time a Leopards' squad has faced one of the eight current members of the Northeast Conference. The last time Lafayette faced one of the current NEC member institutions was during the 1981 season, handing Central Connecticut State a 51-0 defeat. Lafayette has battled Monmouth in many sports, including women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, and baseball to name a few. The primary reason the two teams have never met on the gridiron is that Monmouth started its football program in 1992.

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 4-17. This is his first meeting vs. Monmouth.

Kevin Callahan (Rochester '77) is in his 10th season at Monmouth and as a collegiate head coach. His overall career record stands at 47-39. This is Callahan's first meeting with Lafayette.

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).

For Openers . . .
In 120 seasons of Lafayette College football, the Leopards are 76-41-3 (.646) in season openers, including a record of 32-12-0 (.727) in season openers played at home.

Lafayette vs. the Northeast Conference
The Leopards have played four games against the eight current members of the Northeast Conference, and are 3-1 in those contests. Lafayette vs. the members of the NEC:

Albany 0-0        Monmouth 0-0    Sacred Heart 0-0  Stony Brook 0-0Central Conn. 1-1     Robert Morris 0-0   St. Francis-PA 0-0    Wagner 2-0

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 gridsters, 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.

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.

Another Rookie Of The Year Award?
Lafayette freshman 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 has 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.

Leopard Injury Update
The current listing of Lafayette football injuries:
- Adam Bozick (Fr., DB) - out 4-6 weeks with a hip injury.
- Shane Davenport (Fr., FB) - out indefinitely with turf toe.
- Gus Ottoson (Fr., DL) - will have season-ending shoulder surgery after suffering injury in summer high school all-star game.
- Dion Witherspoon (Fr., LB) - out 3-5 days with a bruised elbow.
- Paul Ziska (So., DL) - out indefinitely with a separated shoulder.

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 is a two-time honoree, having also earned a spot on the 2000 Verizon District II Academic All-America squad.

On This Date
This will be Lafayette's first-ever football contest played on September 7. In fact, September 7 is the second-earliest date for a Lafayette game. The only time a Leopards' squad played a contest earlier than September 7 was in 1997 when Lafayette lost to Fordham, 23-0, at Fisher Field.

Leopard Cubs
There are 17 freshmen and sophomores among the 44 spots on Lafayette's season-opening offensive and defensive two-deep. Of those 17 freshmen and sophomores, seven are in the starting lineup.

Early Scores
The Leopards have scored on their opening possession in eight contests during the 2001 season, including all seven of Lafayette's Patriot League games and the Columbia victory. The Leopards also held a lead in every conference game last season.

Air Canada
Lafayette junior QB Marko Glavic (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary Catholic) enters his junior season with a reputation for big numbers through the air. With six 200-yard and three 300-yard passing performances in the Leopards' 2001 season (244 yards at Towson, 255 yards at Harvard, 302 yards vs. Columbia, 268 yards vs. Bucknell, career-high 329 yards at Holy Cross, 219 yards vs. Colgate, 208 yards vs. Fordham, 208 yards at Georgetown, 304 yards at Lehigh), Glavic now has 16 career 200-yard games in just 18 career starts. His 302-yard passing effort vs. Columbia was the first for a Lafayette QB since Shawn McHale '96 threw for 370 yards at Fordham in the 1994 season.

Glavic Climbing The Charts
Leopard QB Marko Glavic (Pickering, Ontario/St. Mary Catholic) enters his junior season as the fifth all-time leader in career passing yards at Lafayette. He currently has 4,424 career yards, including 2,460 in the 2001 season. In his 20 career games, Glavic has completed 55.2 percent of his passes (370-of-670) and thrown 21 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.

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.

Close Calls
Four of Lafayette's six Patriot League losses in 2001 were decided by 10 points or less. Those four contests included an overtime contest at Towson, a one-point game vs. Bucknell, a four-point contest vs. Colgate and a 10-point loss at Holy Cross.

Solid Protection
Lafayette's offensive line was a much-maligned group in 2000, but came through in 2001 - especially in the Leopards' passing game. Lafayette's offensive line, coached by associate head coach Bob Heffner, led the Patriot League in sacks allowed with just 11. The Leopards also led the conference in passing yardage with an average of 265.1 yards per game.

Lafayette vs. the Patriot League
The Leopards have played 308 games all-time against the seven fellow members of the Patriot League, and are 150-142-16 (.513) in those contests. Since the Patriot League began play in 1986, the Leopards are 42-40-1 (.512) 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 2-4-0Colgate 9-32-4      Georgetown 3-2-0    Lehigh 71-61-5 

The 'Big Play' Defense
Rarely do many teams return an interception for a touchdown longer than 50 yards in the course of a season. Lafayette's defense came up with two huge plays last season. On Oct. 20 at Holy Cross, the Crusaders were deep in Lafayette territory just before halftime when Leopard DB Matt Van Doren (Mount Carmel, Pa./Mount Carmel) picked off a pass at the two-yard line and returned it a Patriot League-record 98 yards for a touchdown with just five seconds remaining in the second quarter.

On Oct. 27 vs. Colgate, the Raiders were threatening to go up 14-3 when DB Jeff Werrell '02 (Allentown, Pa./Salisbury) made an interception two yards deep in the Lafayette end zone and ran the ball to the Lafayette 44 before pitching it to teammate Adriel Linyear '02 (Brooklyn, N.Y./Shaker) who took it in for the score. The interception return, the longest in school history, is officially recorded as 100 yards with Werrell receiving credit for the interception and Linyear for the touchdown.

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.

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 363 Lafayette football games. Lafayette has recorded 12 undefeated home seasons at Fisher Field. The Leopards are 216-134-13 (.613) overall at Fisher Field.

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.

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 1,138 games. Lafayette boasts an impressive all-time record of 592-507-39 (.537) 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 577.

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.