Matchup: Leopard football makes its was way back to College Hill for the home opener on Saturday, hosting Marist at 12:30 p.m. at Fisher Stadium. 
    Head coach John Troxell is in the midst of his 21st career season on the sidelines and fifth for the Maroon and White. 

Home Openers: Lafayette is 93-50-3 all-time in home openers. The Maroon and White have won their last four home lid-lifters, beating Sacred Heart 6-0 in 2022, Columbia 24-3 in 2023, Marist 56-14 in 2024 and Columbia 38-14 in 2025.

With a Win on Saturday, Lafayette would: 
• notch program win No. 715
• improve to 7-0 all-time vs. Marist
• capture its fifth-straight home opener

All-Time Series: Lafayette and Marist have met six times in the all-time series, dating back to 1999 with the Leopards capturing a victory in each outing. The games in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 all served as the home openers for the respective host (three games at in Easton and one in Poughkeepsie in 2005). 

Last Time They Met: Sept. 14, 2024 was the date and Easton, Pa. was the dateline when the Leopards and Red Foxes last met, a 56-14 Maroon and White victory. Lafayette had 528 yards of total offense (244 rushing, 284 passing). Dean DeNobile completed 20-of-23 for 241 yards and a TD while Jamar Curtis had three rushing touchdowns and 88 yards. The Leopards also sprinkled in a pair of special teams scores.  

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 Good Things in 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 its last three seasons with a 3-1 mark, with the loss in each of those campaigns 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.

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. 

Preseason Polling: Lafayette has been 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, who were 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. 

Preseason All-Patriot League: Seniors WR Carson Persing and OL Sean Wilson garnered 2026 Preseason All-Patriot League honors. Persing started every game in 2025 and hauled in 60 receptions for 724 yards and four touchdowns. Wilson was a 2025 All-Patriot League Second-Team honoree in 2025. He started all 12 games at left tackle and aided in an offensive line that pushed forward a 1,000-yard rusher for a third-straight season. 

The Opponent: Marist has opened the 2026 season with a 1-1 record, losing to New Haven in week one (22-21) before rebounding for a 27-18 win over D-II foe Franklin Pierce (27-18). The Red Foxes finished last season 5-7, with wins against San Diego, Wagner,  New Haven, Stetson and Davidson while playing in the Pioneer Football League.  
    Starting all 10 games in 2025, QB Sonny Mannino completed the season by throwing for 1,818 yards and 11 TDs with only three interceptions. So far this season, the grad student has totaled 273 passing yards and four TDs. Connor Hulstein, who set a single-season TE record for receiving yards (599) and TDs (7), graduated and signed with the New York Jets.
    DB Chase Hatton started all 12 games last season, leading the team in tackles (89) and interceptions (4). He has 11 stops through the first two games.
    Head coach Mike Willis (Princeton '14) is in his third season at Marist after replacing Jim Parady, who retired in 2023 after 32 seasons. Willis spent nine campaigns as an assistant coach at Princeton, helping guide the Tigers to four Ivy League titles.

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 and Whitehall's Justin Hussett in the Class of '30. 
    Junior WR Mason Kuehner, who started in every game during the 2025 season and caught 52 passes for 572 yards, is a Nazareth native. Senior Sean Wilson is an Easton graduate who started all 12 games at left tackle in 2025, one of two players from Easton along with senior QB Peyton Cosover.
    Senior Ethan Hosak, who started 10 games in 2025 on his way to All-Patriot League Second-Team honors, played at Allentown Central Catholic, while sophomore LB Justin Peluso hails from Freedom High School in Bethlehem, where he played for Jason Roeder, brother of current Lafayette passing game coordinator/wide receivers coach Ryan Roeder.

500 Club: Lafayette's has managed a winning record for three-straight seasons. The only sub-.500 season in the John Troxell era was his first campaign when the team went 4-7 overall and 3-3 in PL play after he inherited a 3-8 team.

Getting His Kicks: Senior K Jack Simonetta started all 12 games in 2025 and converted a single-season record 53 PATs while going 6-for-6 in field goal attempts. He booted a 49-yard field goal against Colgate that was the longest of his career and the fourth-longest in school history. Simonetta also currently holds a career record with 138 PATs.

Who is Running The Ball?: With the departure of 1,000-yard rusher Kente Edwards, opportunities have emerged in the run game. Junior Jakyre Henley had 49 carries for 194 yards and two touchdowns in 2025. He made two starts and played in all 12 games. Henley handled the bulk of the running in the Georgetown opener, carrying 7 times for 36 yards. Soph. Koven Smith will also vie for carries after playing in four games (primarily on special teams) in 2025 without a carry.
    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 has yet to play in 2026. Rookie Malachi Gamble is making his push for early playing time, leading the team in rushing at Connecticut.

At QB: The quarterback competition was a two-man race coming out of camp between senior Dan Lipovski and junior Jason Penza, bringing a contrast of styles. Lipovski appeared in three games in 2025, throwing one 26-yard touchdown pass vs. Colgate in the waning minutes. In the 2026 opener at Georgetown, Lipovski completed 10-of-16 for 13 yards and a touchdown in one half. The strong-armed Lipovski played in three games over two seasons before transferring to Lafayette from Delaware.  
    Penza served as Dean DeNobile's back up in 2025. Primarily used as a running option, Penza carried 33 times for 195 yards and two touchdowns last season. The Crystal Lake Ill. native attempted eight passes, completing seven of them for 40 yards.
    Rookie Eddie Jordan may also push for playing time as the season wears on. He was a three-year starter at Beachside High School in St. Augustine, Fla. where he threw for a school-record 8,147 career passing yards and 107 total touchdowns.