Sept. 30, 2006

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EASTON, Pa. (www.lafayette.edu) - Yale took advantage of four turnovers to build a 16-7 lead at halftime, went ahead by 16 points on its first possession of the third quarter, then withstood four Lafayette scoring drives to capture a 37-34 non-league road win on Saturday afternoon at Fisher Stadium.

Lafayette senior quarterback Brad Maurer was 28-of-43, both career-highs, for 282 yards and two touchdowns. He also scored on a 27-yard run that cut the Yale lead to 30-27 with 9:58 remaining in the contest.

Bulldog tailback Mike McLeod carried 30 times for 172 yards and three touchdowns to support quarterback Matt Polhemus, who was 10-of-16 for 196 yards and ran for a 28-yard touchdown in the first quarter.

Polhemus hit wide receiver Ashley Wright for a pair of big plays on either side of the half. Wright put Yale ahead 16-7 on a 63-yard touchdown catch with 5:21 left in the second quarter before the duo hooked up for a 58-yard play that gave the Bulldogs a first-and-goal at the one on their first drive of the second half. McLeod scored two plays later to give Yale a 23-7 advantage.

Lafayette, which didn't lose a fumble in its first four games, gave the ball away on three straight possessions after an initial three-and-out which Yale turned into a 36-yard field goal by Alan Kimball. Polhemus extended the edge to 9-0 with his scoring run. The Yale drive began at the Lafayette 44 after Jared Hamilton recovered a fumble by Joe Russo following a pass play. Russo was hit as the pass arrived from Maurer and the ball was dislodged, and the officials ruled that he had possession before contact was made.

Jonathan Hurt lost a fumble late in the first quarter, but the defense held and Hurt went 61 yards for an apparent touchdown on a screen pass on the next possession. The play was brought back on a holding penalty, but Lafayette converted on a 42-yard pass from Maurer to tailback Maurice White. White lost the ball on the next play, however, and Brendan Sponheimer recovered. After the defense forced Yale to punt from deep in its own territory, Maurer led a 63-yard drive that led to a 28-yard touchdown pass to Travis Hutson, and Rick Ziska's extra point made the score 9-7 midway through the second period.

Wright's long touchdown catch and Kimball's PAT pushed the lead to 16-7, which held up after Steve Santoro intercepted Maurer on the 10th play of the Leopards' ensuing possession.

Kick returner Tim Watson answered McLeod's first touchdown run with a 59-yard runback, and the Leopards converted a fourth-and-four with a 12-yard pass to Hurt before Joe Russo scored on a three-yard run that brought Lafayette within 23-14.

A pass interference penalty on third-and-eight extended Yale's next possession, McLeod earned a key third down conversion with a 17-yard run, and scored his second touchdown of the day from one yard out with 1:19 left in the third quarter.

Freshman tight end Adam Gill stepped up on Lafayette's drive to respond to the score, with a consecutive catches for 12 and 22 yards on either side of the end of the third quarter. After a 17-yard pass to Joe Ort, the Leopards faced fourth-and-10 from the 18. Maurer tucked the ball and ran for 12 yards and the first down, and Russo once again struck paydirt from three yards away. The two-point conversion failed and kept the score at 30-20 with 12:10 left.

Maurer sliced the deficit to 30-27 after Andy Romans intercepted a tipped third-down pass at the Yale 27. A quarterback draw put the ball in the end zone with 9:58 left, and suddenly the 16-point lead was down to three points.

Yale managed one first down before punting, but the Leopards were forced to send the ball back with 5:57 remaining. McLeod completed his afternoon with a 45-yard touchdown run on third-and-five to push the advantage to 37-27 with 4:04 on the clock.

Lafayette ran 15 plays and faced only three third downs on its no-huddle march to a late touchdown, a three-yard toss from Maurer to Gill with 30 seconds remaining. Duaeno Dorsey, Hurt, Ort and Hutson each picked up first downs on the drive, with Maurer carrying for another. Ziska's PAT made the score 37-34.

The Leopards jarred the ball loose on the onside kick, but Yale captain Chandler Henley came away with the football to preserve the victory.

Lafayette will take its scheduled bye week, and then travel to Harvard for a 12:30 p.m. start on Oct. 14. The Crimson won 35-33 at Lehigh on Saturday.

Game notes
* Maurer also set his career-high with 344 yards of total offense, surpassing his total of 325 yards at Bucknell on Sept. 9. He topped his previous bests in completions (23) and attempts (36), which were both set two weeks ago in the Fisher Stadium debut against Penn. He is 51-for-79 for 568 yards (284.0 average) in his first two games on the new FieldTurf.
* Maurer had 62 yards on eight carries and wasn't sacked on the afternoon. He has scored a rushing touchdown in four of the five games this season. He scored nine times on the ground as a sophomore, but was held without a rushing TD last season.
* Maurer's 28 completions are the sixth-highest total in school history, tying him with Marko Glavic, who holds eight of the top 10 totals. He spread the ball around to nine different receivers, five of which caught at least three passes each.
* Hurt was limited to 47 yards on the ground but caught a career-high six passes for 49 yards.
* Hutson had four catches for 58 yards and scored his second career touchdown.
* Gill's three catches for 37 yards and a touchdown came in the first extensive action of his career.
* The Leopards had turned the ball over only three times in the first four contests before giving it away four times in the first half. They were one of only nine teams in I-AA that hadn't lost a fumble entering the weekend.
* Lafayette has produced more than 400 yards of total offense on three occasions this season (425 yards vs. Yale), but is only 1-2 in those games.
* Romans, a sophomore, had a career-high 13 tackles, giving him 10 or more stops in each of the three full games he has played as a starter. His interception was the first of his career.
* Yale safety Larry Abare and his twin brother, linebacker Bobby Abare, both sophomores, led the Bulldogs with 10 and nine tackles, respectively.