COMPLETE GAME NOTES 

The Match-Up: After resting and recovery from a bye week, the Leopards take to the road to begin the Patriot League stretch run. Lafayette ventures to Worcester, Mass. for a Saturday matinee with Holy Cross, which captured a share of the Patriot League title in 2024. 

Bye, Bye: In the John Troxell era, the Leopards are 2-1 in contests the week after the bye. Lafayette lost at home vs. Holy Cross (24-21) in 2022, won at Holy Cross (38-35) in 2023 and won at Fordham, 28-23, last season. Saturday is the third time in four years Lafayette will face Holy Cross coming off its bye week.

Scerbo's Start: With his 15-yard score against Oregon State, freshman Matthew Scerbo made it three consecutive games with a touchdown reception. Scerbo finds himself in second on the team in receiving touchdowns, behind Elijah Steward (4).

Get a Hand On It: Senior LB Tighe Cummiskey collected his second blocked punt of the season which paces the Patriot League and places the senior in a tie for first nationwide.

Patriot Push: Lafayette's final four games are Patriot League match-ups. The Leopards are playing seven conference games in 2025 (the first time since 2003), with the addition of Richmond as an associate member. The Maroon and White will play nine league games in 2026 when Villanova and William & Mary join as associate football members. 

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• notch program win No. 712
• be guaranteed at least a .500 record for the third-straight season
• improve to 4-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 2009 and for just the sixth time in Patriot League history (2006, 1994, 1992, 1988)

Turnover Tales: Over the last three games, the Leopard defense has tallied at least one forced fumble and one interception. Lafayette has knocked the ball loose four times in the last three games, recovering two. The Maroon and White's streak of three consecutive contests with an interception marks the second time this season the Leopards have done so. Jalen Edwards and Kevin Dodard have two INTs apiece while Jaylon Joseph has forced two fumbles.

Historically Accurate: Leopard QB Dean DeNobile ranks second at Lafayette in career completion percentage (65.5%) trailing only Ryan O'Neil '12 (66.50%). He lands fourth in Patriot League history behind O'Neil and ahead of Drew Reed '17 (65.2), as Lafayette has three of the top five most accurate passers in Patriot League history. 
    All three seasons that DeNobile has been a starter rank in the top 10 for single-season completion percentage: 66.7 for sixth in '23, 65.1 for eighth in '24 and 64.7 for ninth in '25. 
 
Catching Up: Senior Eli Steward continues to ascend the career receiving ranks. With  four-catch, 68-yard day vs. Oregon State, he moved into fourth place with 2,246 career receiving yards after advancing into second for career completions (172) against Bucknell. He also sits in 10th place for career receiving touchdowns (12). Steward now needs 22 more catches to climb past Mark Ross '14 to become the career receptions leader and 139 receiving yards to surpass Phil Yarberough '01 in third. 

On the Sideline: John Troxell '94 is in his fourth season at the helm of his alma mater's football program, a tenure that includes a Patriot League title and NCAA playoff berth in his second season. That 2023 campaign saw the Leopards post the most wins in a campaign 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.

Record-Breaking Outing: Lafayette racked up a school-record 670 yards of total offense to dominate Bucknell 62-24 on Oct. 11. Dean DeNobile threw for a career-best five touchdowns on his way to 316 passing yards. The Leopards also featured two 100-yard rushers in Ethan Weber (136) and Jakyre Henley (107) to grind out 348 rushing yards. Six different players scored touchdowns with Weber, Henley and Elijah Steward adding two scores apiece. The Leopards had three one-play scoring drives, as Jason Penza (79), Weber (67) and Henley (70) all ran in scores to start and end drives. 
    The 62-point eruption was the highest single-game scoring output since 1944, when the Leopards shut out Lehigh 64-0 to close out the campaign. The Leopards' 34 points vs. Bucknell in the first half were the most in a half this season. 

Last Time Out: Lafayette held a three-point halftime lead at FBS foe Oregon State (10/18) before the Beavers wore down the Maroon and White with a 21-0 third quarter in a 45-13 final on Oct. 18. It was the second FBS match-up of the season for the Leopards.

Bicentennial Excursion: Lafayette's trip to Oregon State was part of the school's Bicentennial, taking several Lafayette's athletic teams to non-traditional locales in 2025-26. Corvallis, Ore. is the farthest west that a Lafayette team traveled in 144 seasons. The previous western boundary game was Colorado Springs, Colo. vs. Air Force (9/4/21).   

DeNobile Dialed In: Senior QB Dean DeNobile put together consecutive 300-yard passing games. Versus Fordham, he completed 25-of-35 for 314 yards with two touchdowns to a season-high nine targets. Against Bucknell, he hit on 26-of-34 for 316 yards (spread around to eight receivers) and a career-best five TD strikes. His Bucknell performance pushed him over 6,000 career passing yards and earned him Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week honors for the first time this season. 

Nationally Ranked: Junior RB Kente Edwards is eighth in the nation in rushing touchdowns (10), third in rushing yards per carry (7.5), 12th in rushing yards per game (104.3) and 24th in rushing yards (626).

FBS Foes: For the first time since 1993 (Buffalo and Army), Lafayette faced two FBS foes in a season (Bowling Green, Oregon State). Lafayette opened 2024 at Buffalo and faced No. 21 Duke in week two of 2023. The Leopards have sprinkled in FBS opponents intermittently over the last eight seasons, playing Army in 2016 and 2018, Air Force in 2021 and Temple in 2022. The Leopards are slated to play Connecticut, Air Force and Akron in the coming seasons.

Special Score: The Leopards' punt return/block unit made its presence known vs. Fordham. Tighe Cummiskey blocked a third-quarter punt which Dylan Aguilera collected and returned 18 yards for a touchdown (the first for the Leopards in 2025). 

6th for 6K: With 316 passing yards vs. Bucknell, Dean DeNobile became the sixth Leopard quarterback to eclipse 6,000 yards. The senior previously surpassed 5,000 yards against Columbia. DeNobile reached 4,000 yards in week 11 in 2024.
 
Career Charts: DeNobile rests 
• 2nd in career completion percentage (65.47%)
• 4th in career completions (548), needing 83 to move to third 
• 6th in career passing yards (6,191), needing 187 to move to fifth place 
• 6th in all-time passing touchdowns (46), requiring one to move to fifth place
• 8th in single-season passing yards (2,417 in 2024)

200 During the Bicentennial: John Troxell coached his 200th game vs. Fordham (10/4), one week after Lafayette College's Bicentennial kickoff. Troxell owns a 116-85 career record. Since taking over the football program in 2022, Troxell has a .620 winning percentage in conference play and a .571 overall winning percentage, both of which rank second among active Patriot League head coaches.
Positive Trends: The Leopards are 4-1 when scoring first, when leading at halftime and when committing fewer exceptions (with Oregon State the lone outlier). Lafayette is 4-0 when rushing for 200+ yards and when hit for 400+ yards of total offense.

Score Some More: Within the Patriot League, the Maroon and White boast the second-leading scoring offense, averaging 32 points per contest. Lafayette's sits 27th in the NCAA.

Solid Starts: Lafayette has begun its last three seasons with a 3-1 mark, a solid number considering that the loss in each of those campaigns came at the hands of an FBS foe.
 
Third-Down Offense: The Leopards have made the most of their third-down opportunities, ranking third in the league and 20th in the country in third-down conversion rate (.459). 

26 On the Run to Player of the Week: Junior RB Kente Edwards piled up three straight 100-yard rushing games (the third-straight season a Leopard running back has achieved that feat) and was named Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week each of those times. Edwards had a 150-yard, three-touchdown effort vs. Columbia in week four. At Georgetown (9/13), he had 255 yards with four touchdowns (both career highs). It was the 13th 200-yard game since 1990 and first since 2023, and his four-rushing-TD performance was the first since 2006. Edwards ran for 127 yards at Stonehill in his first career start. 

One-Two Punch: The ground game continues to be focus for the Leopards. RBs Kente Edwards and Ethan Weber are responsible for 102 of the Leopards' 256 points. The two tailbacks have contributed 17 total touchdowns and 1,110 rushing yards.

Limiting the Run: Lafayette's youthful defense, which returned just one starter, has had  success limiting the run game. The Leopards have allowed 130.3 yards per game for the season (second in the PL), but just 86.7 ypg against FCS opponents.
 
Safe at Safety: Soph. Kevin Dodard has started every game at free safety. Dodard has broken up right passes (second in the Patriot League) and picked off two (third in the PL).

Dee Making Impact: LB Beckham Dee's impact has been immediate. He has a team-leading 47 tackles in eight starts. Dee, who transferred from Penn State after one season, comes from a football family, as his father was a quarterback at Carnegie Mellon. After graduation, Dee's early career plans include working as an investment banker. 

The Opponent: Holy Cross (1-7, 1-2) is coming off a  29-28 loss to Colgate in week eight. The Crusaders' 28-22 win at Richmond the week prior ended a six-game losing streak. Holy Cross has losses to No. 6 Rhode Island (9-7) and No. 25 Harvard (59-24) along with FBS foe Northern Illinois (19-17), New Hampshire (19-16) and Fordham (26-21). 
    Soph. QB Braden Graham is set for his third career start Saturday. He has completed 37-of-65 for 275 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.
    Senior Max Mosey has served as the focal point of the passing game, averaging 10.2 yards a catch with 31 receptions. He is also a punt-return threat, named the League Special Teams Player of the Week (10/27).
    Junior RB Jayden Clerveaux is the go-to tailback, rushing 99 times for 405 yards and four touchdowns. He was an All-League First-Team honoree in 2024.
    Junior LB Cam Santee has racked up 73 tackles, and 10 TFLs (both team-highs) while classmate Carlo Crocetti's three sacks pace the defense.
    Dan Curran (New Hampshire '99) is in the midst of his second campaign at the helm for Holy Cross.