Complete Game Notes

Matchup: Lafayette wraps up its brief non-conference slate with a Saturday matinee vs. Columbia. The Lions are the Leopards' only Ivy League opponent this season, as the Patriot League has moved to a nine-game conference slate. 

Early Returns: Rookie Kameron Vance is currently tied for the Patriot League lead in kick returns, averaging 22.0 yards per return. Against Marist, Vance had returns of 48 (career-long) and 22 yards. The Charlotte, N.C. native ranks 30th in the nation. 

CP Catching Up: Senior WR Carson Persing continues to ascend the career catches list, making four catches vs. Marist to move to 153 for his career. He currently ranks sixth, needing seven more receptions to move into fifth place (occupied by Phil Yarberough '01) and 45 grabs to become the school's all-time leader (Mark Ross '14).

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

All-Time Series: Lafayette and Columbia have met 45 times in the all-time series, dating to 1889. The Leopards lead the series 30-13-2, splitting the last four matchups with the Lions. 

Last Time They Met: The last meeting in the series was a night game at Fisher Stadium, the first home night matchup in six seasons. The Leopards opened a four-game homestand with a 38-14 victory that was fueled by 150 rushing yards and three touchdowns from Kente Edwards and 56 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Ethan Weber. The defensive unit shut out the Lions in the second half.

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette would: 
• notch program win No. 716
• improve to 2-1 for a fourth-straight season
• finish the non-conference portion of its schedule at 2-1
• capture its second-straight win over an Ivy League foe

Draw It Up: The go-ahead 38-yard touchdown in Lafayette's win over Marist came via QB Jason Penza. An accurate passer who has completed 75 percent of his career attempts, Penza does the bulk of his damage on the ground, where he averages 6.0 yards per carry and 20.6 rushing yards per game during his career.

Long Drive: Lafayette's final scoring drive vs. Marist matched the longest scoring march of 2025 (97 yards) and the 15-play drive surpassed the six, 14-play drives from last season.

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.
 
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. 

Solid Starts: 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.

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 accumulated. 
    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). 

Patriot, Past, Present, Future: Lafayette finished 6-1 in Patriot League play in 2025, winning six games for the first time in program history. The Leopards finished league action 5-0 in 1994, 1992 and 1988, only playing five league games for the season. Lafayette is scheduled to play nine league contests in 2026 with Villanova and William & Mary joining 2025 addition Richmond to stretch the league ranks to 10 institutions. 

Notes From Georgetown: Lafayette trailed 13-7 at halftime when the game was called. Lafayette had outgained the Hoyas 202-132, throwing for 135 yards and rushing for 67 while allowing 82 in the air and 92 on the ground. Lafayette's touchdown was a 28-yard strike from Daniel Lipovski to Zane Wooldridge with 6:31 left in the half that gave Lafayette a 7-6 lead. The Hoyas answered with a 95-yard kickoff return for TD and the 13-7 margin.
    Defensively, the Leopards were led by S Dhonte Jackson and LB Beckham Dee with seven and six tackles, respectively.  

FBS Foes: Lafayette has played an FBS foe each season since 2021, including the 2026 week two matchup with Connecticut. In 2025, for the first time since 1993 (Buffalo and Army), Lafayette faced two FBS foes (Bowling Green, Oregon State). The Leopards opened 2024 at Buffalo and faced No. 21 Duke in week two of 2023. Lafayette has sprinkled in FBS opponents intermittently over the last nine seasons, playing Army in 2016 and 2018, Air Force in 2021 and Temple in 2022. The Leopards will travel to Air Force (2027) and Akron (2028) in the coming seasons.

Captains of the Ship: Seniors Ahmir Crawley, Carson Persing, and Sean Wilson, as well as sophomore Beckham Dee all were selected as recipients of the Chris LaPietra '89 Captain Award ahead of the 2026 slate.
    Crawley started every game in 2025 with a career highs in tackles (29), tackles for loss (6) and sacks (1.5). Persing led the team in receiving touchdowns (4), receptions (60) and receiving yards (724) last season. Wilson, an All-Patriot League Second-Team selection, will hold down the starting spot at left tackle for the second-straight season. He and Persing both garnered Preseason All-Patriot League honors. Dee, the team's top returning tackler, collected FCS Freshman All-America honors with 62 tackles, seven tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks and an interception during the 2025 season.

700 Level: Lafayette football 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 714 wins entering the season.
Preseason Polling: Lafayette was picked fifth in the 2026 preseason poll behind Villanova, Lehigh, Richmond and William & Mary and ahead of Holy Cross, Fordham, Georgetown and Bucknell. The Leopards, also slotted fifth in 2025, finished second with a 6-1 record.

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. 

The Portal: The portal has had its impact on the starting lineup for the Leopards in 2026. On offense, Lafayette saw QB Dean DeNobile (Florida State), TB Kente Edwards (Coastal Carolina) C Sean Kinney (Colorado) depart following the Leopards' 8-4 campaign. On defense DE Jaylon Joseph (Temple), CB Ryan Gadson (Florida International), LB Rob Stevens (Arkansas State) and FS Kevin Dodard (South Dakota) exited the program. 
    By contrast, Lafayette welcomed three student-athletes from the transfer portal in 2026. Junior Drew Wilson (Minnesota) strengthens the linebacking corps while soph. Jeremiah Polk joins the secondary. Soph. OL Jake Hohenshelt, a State College, Pa. native, comes to Lafayette after two seasons at James Madison. All three have seen significant reps through two games with Hohenshelt starting both at center.

Grand Runs: Lafayette has featured a potent running game in recent times with the Leopards producing a 1000-yard rusher in each of the last three seasons via Jamar Curtis (1,460 in 2023; 1139 in 2024) and Kente Edwards (1,454 in 2025). 

Points on the Board: Lafayette boasted the highest scoring offense in the conference in 2025 while also placing 20th in the nation. The Leopards averaged 33.6 points per game, scoring 403 points over 12 games. 

The Opponent: Coming off a 2-8 season, FCS foe Columbia opens its season on Saturday. The Lions finished last season with a 1-4 mark at home and on the road. They collected  victories over Georgetown (19-10) in week two and Cornell (29-12) in the season finale.
    Appearing in seven games in 2025, senior QB Chase Goodwin completed 109-of-205 for 1,262 yards with nine TDs with nine INTs. He threw for at least 150 yards in six games and recorded a season-high three touchdown passes against Brown.
    Senior WR Titus Evans played in all 10 games last season, ranking third in the Ivy League for receiving TDs (6) and fifth for receptions per game (4.6). He accumulated 46 receptions for 584 yards.
    Defensively, junior DB Caleb Solomon is the team's top returning tackler, making 73 stops in 2025. 
    Jon Poppe (Williams '07) is entering his third season at Columbia. In 2024, he led the Lions to their best overall record since 2017 (7-3), earning a share of the Ivy League title for the first time since 1961.