The Match-Up: Lafayette travels to Easton, Mass. for a Saturday matchup with the Stonehill Skyhawks. Last season, the Leopards faced off against Stonehill for the first time in program history. 
    The Leopards are coming off a 26-7 loss at Bowling Green while Stonehill dropped a 12-7 decision at Sacred Heart. 
    Head coach John Troxell is in his 20th career season on the sidelines and fourth for the Maroon and White. He will be coaching his 196th career game on Saturday afternoon. 

Easton vs. Easton: Saturday's contest pits two colleges from Easton -- the second-ever meeting between Lafayette in Easton, Pa. and Stonehill in Easton, Mass. The Leopards' program football began in 1882 and Lafayette is in its 144th season of football. Stonehill's program started more than 100 years later in 1988. The Skyhawks are in their fourth season of FCS football, now as a member of the Northeast Conference. 
    Easton, Mass. is a town of 25,058 which is part of the Greater Boston area. It was settled in 1694 and was officially incorporated in 1725. Easton, Pa. was incorporated as a city in 1887 (first settled in 1739). The city of 29,538 is located at the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware rivers in the Lehigh Valley (the third largest metropolitan area in the commonwealth). 

Stevens Steps Up: Junior Robert Stevens stepped into a starting role at linebacker in the opener at Bowling Green. The Anthropology and Sociology major led the team with a career-high 11 tackles, while adding in a sack.

Hosak @ TE: Junior Ethan Hosak make his second career start at tight end at Bowling Green. The Economics major reeled in two passes for 30 yards, including 24 yards after the catch. In 2024, he had nine catches for 65 yards and three touchdowns as a sophomore.

Team Notes From Ohio: Several positive statistical notes emerged from the Leopards' first game in Ohio in 144 years. The Leopard offense did not commit a turnover in 58 plays at Bowling Green. The Maroon and White defense limited the Falcons to 265 total yards (156 rushing and 109 passing) and allowed just 19 points. 

Mass. Man: The Leopards feature just one player, sophomore DL Dominic Selvitelli, from state of Massachusetts. Selvitelli hails from Worcester, Mass., an hour drive from Stonehill. The Psychology major saw significant playing time on the defensive line at Bowling Green.

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette Would: 
• notch program win No. 707
• claim its second straight win over Stonehill
• begin the season 1-1 for the fourth consecutive season

Moving Up The Charts: Senior WR Elijah Steward made three catches for 26 yards at Bowling Green and now has 144 career receptions, resting in seventh place, two behind Mark Layton '11 (146). The Economics major has accumulated 1,769 career receiving yards, needing 11 yards to move into eighth place all-time with Layton (1,780). Steward already holds the Lafayette single-game receptions record with 15 at Monmouth in 2024.

Stronger Leg: Soph. Christian Bush took over the punting duties to start 2025 and his best punt of the opener was 57 yards, surpassing the Leopards' longest punt of 2024 (51 yards). 

Get To Know 15: Jason Penza is a sophomore QB from Crystal Lake, Ill. This past summer, Penza had an externship and performed research focusing in finance. In addition to football, Penza plays the guitar and the piano, and almost turned professional in wakeboarding.
    Penza received plenty of action in his freshman campaign when offensive coordinator T.J. DiMuzio used him as a dual-threat option. In seven games, Penza tallied 28 rushing attempts for 171 yards, 52 of which came against Bucknell (11/2). He completed five of his six passing attempts for 31 yards. In the 2025 season opener, he ran five times for 23 yards and also completed 2-of-2 for six yards in the air.

Going The Extra Mile: Lafayette will travel 4,508 miles in the 2025 campaign to face off against its opponents. The Leopards' trip to Oregon State is the longest in the program's history, with 2,922 miles separating the two schools. The shortest distance the Maroon and White will travel for a road game is 213 miles, venturing to Washington, D.C. for a week three matchup at Georgetown.

Looking Back: Last year's contest was good for QB Dean DeNobile, as the then junior had a day to remember. The Upper Saddle River, N.J. native completed 18 of his 24 passes for 275 yards and a touchdown. He surpassed 2,000 yards for the season and 4,000 for his Leopard career. With his performance, DeNobile became just the ninth Lafayette QB all-time to pass the 4K yard mark.

Open Early: The Aug. 28 contest against Bowling Green was the earliest the Leopards have begun a season. The previous earliest start was last year's Aug. 29 kickoff at Buffalo.

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.

Captains of the Ship: Seniors Dean DeNobile, Elijah Steward, Brian Baucia and Phillip Peiffer all were selected as recipients of the Chris LaPietra '89 Captain Award ahead of the 2025 slate.
    For DeNobile, its the second straight season that the QB has been named team captain. Steward earns captaincy after leading the Lafayette offense in receiving for the third straight season. Baucia returns to anchor the interior of the offensive line, a position that he's held for 33 games over three seasons. Peiffer returned to Easton for a fifth season after a season-ending injury in 2024.
 
4K For Dean DeNobile: With 275 yards against Stonehill in week 11 of 2024 (11/16/24), QB Dean DeNobile surpassed 4,000 career passing yards for his career. He finished his junior campaign with 4,414 career passing yards, ranking ninth all-time at Lafayette. He currently has 4,526 career passing yards, needing 444 passing yards to move into eighth spot. He also rests ninth in career completions (409), with 20 completions standing between him and eighth place. 
FBS Foes: For the first time since 1993 (Buffalo and Army), Lafayette will face two FBS opponents in a season, playing Bowling Green and Oregon State in 2025. 
    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.

Preseason All-Patriot League: Senior WR Elijah Steward and junior LS Dylan Aguilera garnered Preseason All-Patriot League honors. For Steward, the nomination marks consecutive preseason all-conference selections. The Galloway, N.J. native followed up the honor in 2024 with a season that earned him a spot on the All-Patriot League Second-Team. Aguilera was chosen for the honor for the first time in his career after starting in all 12 games last year, joining Steward on the All-Patriot League Second-Team.

700 Level: The Lafayette football program reached the 700-win plateau with the dominating victory over Lehigh in the 2023 regular-season finale. The Leopards, whose inaugural season was 1882, rank 51st among all levels of college football with 706 wins. 

Local Flavor: Since John Troxell took over in 2022, he has placed an emphasis on retaining local talent from the greater Lehigh Valley region. Troxell, a Phillipsburg graduate, added his alma mater's Matthew Scerbo as part of the Class of '29. 
    Nazareth has accounted for the most recent surge in local recruiting as OL Sean Kinney was a member of the Class of 2028 and started 11 games in his rookie season, joining WR Mason Kuehner who played in every game with four starts and took over return duties. This season, Troxell welcomes WR Caleb Newsome from Nazareth, all of whom played for Leopard alum Tom Falzone '00. Junior Sean Wilson is an Easton native who started six games at right tackle in 2024, one of three players from Easton along with junior QB Peyton Cosover and senior LB Jack Bayly.
    Junior Ethan Hosak, who started the opener at Bowling Green at tight end, played at Allentown Central Catholic, while rookie LB Justin Peluso hails from Freedom High School in Bethlehem, having played for Jason Roeder, brother of current Lafayette passing game coordinator coach and wide receivers coach Ryan Roeder. 

The Opponent: Stonehill (1-10, 0-6 in 2024) enters week two following a 12-7 loss at Sacred Heart. Lafayette is the second of four straight non-league opponents, also including Maine and Penn before the Northeast Conference slate begins.
    Commanding the Stonehill offense is dual threat QB Jack O'Connell. The senior was 30-of-39 against Sacred Heart, picking up 212 yards and a touchdown through the air. He also ran five times for 20 yards. Classmate Brigham Dunphy was the team's leading receiver in 2024 and hauled in nine passes for 63 yards at Sacred Heart.
    The Skyhawks' defensive line brought pressure in week one, led by senior DT Zack Athy, who had six tackles and was one of seven Stonehill players to collect a tackle for loss. Junior LB Charles Battaglia, the team's second-leading returning tackler (70), paced the team with nine stops in week one while classmate  Richard Mosley picked off a pass.
    Eli Gardner, who previously spent seven years as an assistant coach at Stonehill, is in his 10th season as head coach of the Skyhawks.