Oct. 31, 2009

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EASTON, Pa. - Senior QB Rob Curley completed 30-of-35 passes for 333 yards and three touchdowns as Lafayette pulled away from Bucknell with 28 second-half points in a 35-14 win on Saturday at Fisher Stadium. Curley made connections with eight different players on the afternoon and surpassed 2,000 passing yards for the season.

Curley's second-straight career passing game (305 vs. Fordham) helped the Leopards improve to 7-1 for the first time since 1981 with three key conference battles looming over the final three weekends of Patriot League play. It was the first time since Nov. 1, 2006 (Marko Glavic 33 vs. Colgate) that a Lafayette QB completed 30 or more passes.

A slow start left Lafayette (7-1, 3-0) with just four rushing yards in the first half while Curley had 150 yards though the air. Lafayette turned that around in the second stanza, pounding out 138 on the ground and 321 total yards in the second half with four touchdowns (three of them in the air).

The Leopards scored on the first possession of the game and the Bison scored on the last possession of the first half. Lafayette took over on Bucknell's 42-yard line. Five plays and 2:17 later, fullback Jeff Cumming pushed his way into the endzone for one-yard touchdown and a speedy, 7-0 Lafayette advantage just 3:32 into the contest.

The Bison (3-5, 1-2), meanwhile, suffered from poor field position for much of the half thanks to solid special teams play from the Leopards, including DeAndre' Morrow who made two stops of the Bison returners as they caught the ball.

Nick Oliver recorded the game's first sack, blindsiding Bison QB Marcello Trigg shortly before the end of the first quarter.

With 7:12 to play in the first half, the Leopards had the ball 4th-and-1 at the Bucknell 38. Maurice White picked up the first down with a three-yard gain. A costly fumble on second down made it 3rd-and-29, but Nathan Padia picked up six yards and Davis Rodriguez came out to attempt a 44-yard field goal. His kick had the distance but went wide left, keeping it 7-0 with 3:20 on the clock.

Bucknell held the ball for all but 14 seconds of the final 3:05 of the first half. The Bison finally found the endzone when Trigg connected with A.J. Kizekai on a 19-yard pass that capped off a 15-play, 73-yard drive and tied the game at 7-7 at the half.

Lafayette received the ball to start the second half, and just like its opening drive of the game, wasted no time scoring. Morrow got the ball three times on the drive, including a long rush of 26 yards. On 2nd- and-10, Curley found Michael Bolton in the middle of the endzone for a 13-yard TD reception 2:18 into the quarter.

On Bucknell's ensuing possession, Brandon Ellis came up with a big play on 3rd-and-10, intercepting a Trigg pass. The Leopards took over on their own 18-yard line with 9:48 left in the third. Lafayette put together another scoring drive of nearly seven minutes that ended in a two-yard run from Cumming, his second score of the afternoon.

The offense took over from that point on, as Curley found Mitchell Bennett for a four-yard score, marking the Leopards' second touchdown in a 10-minute span and gave them a 28-7 lead with 12:42 to play.

Trigg and the Bison responded with seven points of their own on a four-yard rushing score by Trigg, making it a two-touchdown contest with 12 minutes with which to work.

Lafayette moved the game out of reach on the next possession with a six-yard TD pass from Curley to Mark Layton with 5:38 left in the game. Layton finished with a career-high nine catches for 70 yards.

The Lafayette defense ended its day with another solid effort on Bucknell's final drive, including a sack from Eric Jones and Mike Grimaldi as well as a Donald Ellis interception, with 1:26 remaining. Leroy Butler was the team's leading tackler with 10 stops (4 solo, 6 assisted) and four pass breakups.

Winners of six in a row, Lafayette hosts defending Patriot League champion Colgate on Saturday, Nov. 1. Kick-off is slated for 1:08 p.m. Lafayette's seniors will be honored prior to the game.

NOTES: - Lafayette has won eight in a row over Bucknell.

- Lafayette dominated time of possession - 38:40 to Bucknell's 21:20. The Leopards held the ball for 12:26 in the fourth quarter.

- Lafayette played without key players Michael Schmidlein, Eric McGovern, Tyrell Coon and Greg Stripe due to injury and illness.