The Match-Up: Lafayette football is coming down the homestretch of the season, next traveling to Hamilton, N.Y. on Saturday for a 1 p.m. matchup with Colgate. The teams have split the last two meetings with each team winning on the other's home field.  

Spreading The Love: Junior QB Dean DeNobile completed passes to 11 different players at Bucknell. Seven of those went to freshman Mason Kuehner while sophomore Carson Persing pulled down five receptions. Senior WR Chris Carasia had a 38-yard TD and soph. TE Ethan Hosak added an eight-yard TD in the second quarter. 

Etching His Name in the Top 10: Junior QB Dean DeNobile moved into ninth place for career passing yards with his 177-yard performance at Bucknell. He currently has 3,879 yards (passing Andrew Shoop '13 with 3,705 and Sean O'Malley '21 with 3,773). 

14 For 5: Jamar Curtis churned out his 14th career 100-yard rushing game with 109 yards at Bucknell. The Waldorf, Md. native now has 2,760 career rushing yards, ascending into sixth place on Lafayette's career list (passing Ryan Priest '85). He also has 25 career rushing touchdowns, sitting in seventh place.

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• notch program win No. 705 and even the Leopards' 2024 record at 5-5
• give Lafayette a 3-2 record against New York state opponents in 2024
• hand Lafayette a 3-2 advantage over the Raiders in the last five meetings

White Standing Out: Senior captain Saiku White recorded a career-high 15 tackles at Bucknell (including 12 stops in the first half). He added an acrobatic one-handed interception in the endzone that garnered him sixth spot on ESPN SportsCenter's Top Plays. White leads the team with 64 tackles and three interceptions.

Lining Up: Lafayette has used six different starting lineups on the offensive line in nine games this season due to injuries. By contrast, Lafayette employed one starting front five for all of 2023. The Leopards have sent out nine linemen as starters.

Dose of Penza: Beginning with the Sacred Heart game, Lafayette has utilized freshman QB Jason Penza as a running threat out of the backfield. He has 121 rushing yards over three games (49, 20, 52) and also managed to catch a pass and complete one at Bucknell. 

An Empire Slate: The Leopards face five opponents from New York state in 2024. Lafayette opened the season at Buffalo, played Marist in the home opener and traveled to Columbia and Fordham in weeks four and five. Colgate marks the Empire State finale. 

LV TE's: In the lead-up to National Tight Ends Day (10/27), Dallas Holmes and Ethan Hosak both pulled down touchdowns against Holy Cross. Hosak had a two-yard TD in the second quarter, his second of the season while Holmes pulled in a 12-yard TD in the fourth quarter, which was his third TD of the year. 
    Both are Lehigh Valley products. Holmes is from Bethlehem, Pa. and played at Liberty High School, while Hosak hails from Macungie, playing at Allentown Central Catholic. 

On the Run vs. Sacred Heart: Lafayette rushed for 297 yards and four touchdowns en route to a 31-17 victory over Sacred Heart (10/17). Jamar Curtis accounted for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns on the ground. Troy Bruce added 83 yards and a score. Rookie QB Jason Penza contributed 49 rushing yards, while fellow QB Dean DeNobile got in on the action with a one-yard TD run. The Sacred Heart game was the team's highest output of the season and also marked season highs for Curtis, Bruce and Penza.

Persing Performances: Soph. Carson Persing's production has increased significantly in 2024. In the home opener vs. Marist, the Danville, Pa. native had nine receptions for 82 yards (both career highs). At Columbia, Persing pulled down 10 receptions for 58 yards. He managed a seven-catch, 74-yard game against Holy Cross.
    In 2024, he has 42 receptions for 312 yards following a 2023 campaign in which the economics major managed 31 catches for 306 yards. 

Breakups Are Hard: Senior CB Gabe DuBois leads the Patriot League with 11 pass breakups and 12 passes defended on the season. He registered four PBUs vs. Georgetown. He was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Week (10/7) following the Fordham game in which he rang up nine tackles. He also had five pass breakups, including three on the final drive, to secure the victory. 

Moving Up the Charts: Junior WR Elijah Steward needs nine more catches to break into the Lafayette top 10 for career receptions. The economics major currently has 127 career catches, trailing Frank Corbo '85 with 128. With 1,603 career receiving yards, Steward is looking for 70 yards to move into the top 10 ahead of Quincy Miller '97. He has missed the last three games due to injury. 

Carasia's Career Campaign: Senior Chris Carasia sits tied for ninth place on Lafayette's career receiving touchdowns list with 13. He needs one more TD to ascend into eighth. The Ocean Township, N.J. native reeled in TDs in the first five games of the 2024 season. Carasia secured four catches for 114 yards and a TD at Columbia (9/21). He is coming off a Bucknell game when his only catch was a 38-yard TD.
    For the season, he has 28 receptions for 416 yards and six touchdowns. He is on pace to set single-season career highs in all three categories (previously with 32 receptions for 333 yards and five scores in 2023). 

Ahead of Schedule: John Troxell '94 is in his third season at the helm of his alma mater's football program, and by all accounts the revitalization of Lafayette football is ahead of schedule. In 2023, Lafayette won a Patriot League title and advanced to the NCAA playoffs after posting the most wins in a season in more than 40 years. The team went from 4-7 (3-3 PL) in year one (2022) to 9-3 (5-1 PL) in year two (2023). Both seasons were capped by wins over archrival Lehigh.
    Troxell was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in 2023 and was a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.

The Last Time They Met: Colgate handed Lafayette football its first Patriot League loss of the season, beating the No. 16/20 Leopards 37-34 in overtime on Nov. 4, 2023.
     It was a tale of two halves for Lafayette which lead 17-0 at halftime but was outscored 37-17 in the second half and overtime. The Leopards, who played without two of their top three tailbacks in Jamar Curtis and Jermaine Conyers, saw the continued emergence of Troy Bruce, as he finished with 26 carries for 138 yards (both career highs) and a touchdown.
     Dean DeNobile threw for 237 yards and three touchdowns while connecting on 29-of-44 attempts with one interception. Colgate's Jake Stearney came off the bench to complete 13-of-21 for 146 yards and three scores. The Leopards lost the turnover battle, handing it over three times in a game in which just 18 seconds separated the teams in terms of time of possession. 

The Opponent: Colgate (2-7, 1-2) has lost its last two, dropping a 20-14 decision at Fordham on Nov. 2 and enduring a 51-17 setback at Merrimack on Oct. 26. The Raiders have victories over Patriot League foe Georgetown (38-28) and also Cornell (41-24). 
    Sophomore QB Jake Stearny has built upon his rookie campaign in 2024, completing 63 percent of his passes for 1,972 yards while adding in six touchdowns. Junior WRs Treyvhon Saunders (64 rec, 567 yds, one TD) and Brady Hutchinson (31 rec, 420 yds, five TDs) have been go-to targets for Stearny, averaging 63 and 47 receiving yards, respectively. Junior Marco Maldonado leads the running game with 343 yards and is one of five players with 100 yards or more. 
    Colgate's defense is led by junior LB Cole Kozlowski, who has rung up 100 tackles on the season along with four sacks and an interception. Senior DL Andrew Taddeo has collected four and a half sacks, which leads Colgate, while sophomore DB Tymir Wynn has picked off three of the Raiders' five interceptions.
    Stan Dakosty (Colgate '05) is in his fourth season on the Colgate sidelines.