Complete Game Notes

Matchup: Lafayette continues its Patriot League slate on the road for the second straight week, traveling to Bronx, N.Y. for a 1 p.m. matchup with Fordham. The contest will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Andrew Bogusch and Andrew Posadas on the call. 

Players of the Week!: Seniors Jalen Edwards and Jack Simonetta were announced as the Patriot League's Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week for their contributions to the team's 20-7 victory at Bucknell (10/17). Edwards garnered his first weekly honor after his two interceptions in the fourth quarter that sealed the Leopards' first conference win in 2026. He also added three solo tackles and a pass breakup to his stat line. Simonetta collected the fourth weekly laurel of his career following a perfect day on the gridiron, going 2-for-2 on field-goal attempts and PATs. 

CP Catching Up: Senior WR Carson Persing continues to ascend the career receiving lists, making three catches for 21 yards vs. Bucknell to move to 167 catches for his career. He currently ranks fourth for career receptions, needing two more to move into third place (occupied by Matt Mrazek '18) and 31 grabs to become the school's all-time leader (Mark Ross '14). Persing also moved into the top 10 for career receiving yards (1,724), requiring 56 more yards to climb to ninth place (Mark Layton '11, 1,780).

100+ x2 for 5: Junior Jakyre Henley churned out a career-best 152 rushing yards against No. 17 Richmond. He managed the yardage on just eight carries, breaking away for scoring runs of 72 and 74 yards (the Leopards' longest plays from scrimmage in 2026). Henley followed up his peformeance against the Spiders with a career-high 22 carries at Bucknell (10/17), rushing for 121 yards and his second straight outing with two TDs.

Career Days for Kuehner and Lipovski vs. Holy Cross: Junior WR Mason Kuehner and senior QB Daniel Lipovski turned in career games vs. Holy Cross. Kuehner reeled in 10 catches (one short of his career high) for 152 yards and three touchdowns (both career bests). It was the first three-touchdown game for a Leopard receiver in a decade, as Matt Mrazek caught three vs. Holy Cross on Oct. 1, 2016. Kuehner followed with a five-catch, 108-yard performance against Richmond. 

On the other end of the connection was Lipovski who completed 21-of-39 for 306 yards and four touchdowns (all career highs).

Simonetta Getting His Kicks: Simonetta is 8-of-9 on field goal opportunities in 2026 and has converted all 15 PAT. The Gotha, Fla. native made a pair of field goals at Columbia, booting the Leopards' first (40-yarder in the first quarter) and last scores of the game (31-yarder with 1:03 left to send the contest to overtime). He holds Lafayette's career PAT record (152) and the single-season mark (53 in 2025). Last season he was 6-for-6 in field goal tries and booted a 49-yard field goal against Colgate (the longest of his career and the fourth-longest in school history). 

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette would: 

• notch program win No. 717

• win its fourth-straight series matchup over Fordham

• win back-to-back road games for the first time since the early portion of the 2025 campaign (Stonehill, 9/6 & Georgetown 9/13).

Big Boot: Christian Bush's career-long 70-yard punt against Richmond was the first 70-yard plus punt for the Leopards since 2008 (Tom Kondash, 2008).

Rookie QB: Freshman quarterback Eddie Jordan made the most of his debut, completing 3-of-5 passes for 75 yards against Richmond before the bye week. Jordan carried his momentum into the matchup with the Bison, earning the bulk of the workload with 18 completions (18-33) for 158 yards through the air and 17 on the ground.   

Early Returns From N.C.: The Leopards currently have two of the top kick returners in the Patriot League. Rookie Kameron Vance is currently 11th in the Patriot League, averaging 14.0 yards per return. Against Marist, the Charlotte, N.C. native had returns of 48 (career-long) and 22 yards and had two returns for 24 yards at Columbia. Soph. Nick Bierman, a native of Marvin, N.C. is averaging 28.0 yards per return. 

Last Time Out: Lafayette scored in all four quarters Saturday at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium en route to a 20-7 victory over Bucknell, its first in conference play this season. Junior running back Jakyre Henley logged his second consecutive game with two touchdowns on the ground and rushed for 122 yards in the win.

All-Time Series: Lafayette and Fordham have squared off on the gridiron 43 times with the Leopards holding a 28-14-1 mark in the all-time series that dates back to 1903. The Leopards have won the last three meetings and have enjoyed six wins across the last 10 matchups.

Last Time They Met | Oct. 4, 2025: Quarterback Dean DeNobile threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns as the Leopards improved to 2-0 in Patriot League play via a 24-10 final over Fordham on Saturday at Fisher Stadium. The senior completed passes to nine different receivers, with Elijah Steward reeling in five catches for 85 yards. Carson Persing (4-84) managed a 63-yard catch along with a TD, while Matthew Scerbo added three catches for 49 yards, including his first career TD. It was DeNobile's second career 300-yard passing game. Defensively, the Leopards rang up 13 TFL with four sacks with 25 players recording at least one tackle, led by 12 from Ryan Gadson.

Scoop and Score: In the fourth quarter at Columbia, the defense snatched the momentum when Joey Shimko sacked the QB and Sean Curtis was on hand to scoop and score on a 23-yard fumble return that tied the game at 31-31. It was the Leopards' first fumble return for a touchdown since Nov. 23, 2013, when James Coscia ran back a 40-yard score. That score helped pushed the Leopards to a 50-28 victory over No. 15/17 Lehigh in Rivalry 149 and handed the Leopards a Patriot League title.  

Running The Ball?: With the departure of a 1,000-yard rusher, opportunities have emerged in the run game. Junior Jakyre Henley had 49 carries for 194 yards and two touchdowns in 2025, making two starts and playing in all 12 games. Henley has handled the bulk of the carries as the starter through five games, running for 379 yards on 57 carries with three touchdowns. 

Senior Ethan Weber is the most experienced of the running backs, having played in 29 games with two starts over three seasons. He finished 2025 with 107 carries for 570 yards and eight TDs before a knee injury ended his season in week 10. He made his 2026 season debut with two carries vs. Marist and added five each vs. Columbia and Holy Cross. Rookie Malachi Gamble is pushing for more carries after leading the team in rushing at Connecticut. He had four carries for 25 yards at Columbia and seven for 61 vs. Richmond. Soph. Koven Smith is also vying for carries after playing in four games (primarily on special teams) in 2025 without a carry. He had three carries for 17 yards against Marist and five for 15 at Columbia.

D Was the Key: Lafayette's defense came through when it was needed most in the win over Marist (9/12), shutting out the visitors in the second half. Despite allowing 359 total yards, Lafayette limited the Red Foxes to just nine points on five red-zone possessions and stopped them on 4-of-5 fourth downs..

On the Sideline: John Troxell '94 is in his fifth season at the helm, a tenure that includes a Patriot League title and an NCAA playoff berth in his second season and the best three-year run for the program since 1901-03. Lafayette finished 8-4 overall in 2025, and won a program-record six conference games. In 2023, Lafayette posted the most wins in a campaign in more than 40 years (9), winning the conference championship and advancing to the NCAA Playoffs. The team went from 4-7 (3-3) in 2022 to 9-3 (5-1) in year two (2023). Both seasons were capped by wins over archrival Lehigh. During his time on College Hill, Troxell's teams have finished .500 or better in four of five seasons. Troxell was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year in 2023 and was a finalist for Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year honors. 

Mother Nature 1, Lafayette and Georgetown 0: Lafayette and Georgetown tried to kick off the 2026 season on Thursday, Aug. 27. The teams played 30 minutes before Mother Nature delivered continuous lightning strikes in and around the Washington, D.C. campus. After several hours waiting out the weather, the game was declared a no-contest by Patriot League officials who had consulted with game officials and institutional representatives. The game does not count toward the Patriot League standings nor do the statistics. 

The scheduled season opener was slated to be the earliest in program history. It was also the first season opener since 2010 (excluding the 2021 pandemic spring season) that was also the conference lid-lifter (when Lafayette and Georgetown met). 

Good Things in Threes: Over the last three seasons, Lafayette has won 23 games, going 9-3 in 2023, 6-6 in 2024 and 8-4 in 2025. It's the most wins in a three-year span since 1901-03 when Lafayette was 9-3, 8-3 and 7-3 for 24 victories. Lafayette began two of its last three seasons with a 3-1 mark, with the loss in each of those campaigns (2023, 2025) coming at the hands of an FBS foe.

More of Threes: Lafayette has been ranked in the Top 25 in the last three seasons. The Leopards were ranked as high as 16th in 2023, 14th in 2024 and 24th in 2025.

The Opponent: Fordham comes into its sixth Patriot League matchup of the season, sporting a 2-6 overall record and a 2-3 mark in conference clashes. The Rams wins came over William and Mary in week four (52-27) and #15/19 Richmond in week seven (20-14).

Senior Gunnar Smith has taken a bulk of the snaps for Fordham at QB, completing 107-of-208 for 967 yards with six touchdowns and 11 interceptions in all eight games. Rookie Crew Colon has played in two games, completing 75 percent of his passes.

The Rams are averaging 153.4 rushing yards per game with senior Jamell James contributing 500 yards (6.4 ypc) on 78 carries and sophomore Yohan-Li Louis picking up 487 yards (6.6 ypc) on 74 carries. 

Defensively, senior LB Andrew Osmun leads the team in tackles (81) while he and sophomore Lorenzo Riddick share the team lead in sacks with 3.5 each.

Joe Conlin (Pittsburgh '02) is in his ninth season as the head coach at Fordham. Prior to his time with the Rams, he helped guide Harvard (2011) and Yale (2017) to Ivy League titles and also coached at New Hampshire and West Virginia Tech.