Nov. 3, 2007

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EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette's offense racked up 269 rushing yards and 450 total yards on its way to a 34-7 victory over Bucknell on senior day at Fisher Stadium.

The Leopards (5-4, 2-2) controlled the ball for 40 minutes of the game, allowing sophomore Matt Ferber to run for 102 yards on 26 carries and junior Shaun Adair to reel in four receptions for 77 yards and one touchdown. Senior Brandon Mitchell scored twice on a pair of one-yard runs, the first time he's scored two rushing touchdowns in a game.

On the first drive of the contest, freshman Mark Layton blocked a punt at the Bucknell 21-yard line and recovered it. Ferber, who had his first career start, rushed for 10 yards on three carries to set the Leopards at the one-yard line. Mitchell punched in the score to put Lafayette up 7-0 four minutes into the game.

Bucknell (2-7, 0-4) evened the score a bad snap on a punt. Early in the second quarter, Corin Erby forced the fumble and Josh Lee recovered it at the 14-yard line and returned it for a touchdown.

The Leopards pulled ahead 20 seconds later when sophomore quarterback Rob Curley (13-20, 161 yards, 1TD) threw a 49-yard pass to Adair, who ran it into the endzone to give Lafayette a 14-7 lead. Adair had returned the kickoff 32 yards to put the start of the drive at the Lafayette 40-yard line. Curley then completed a pass to senior Kyle Roeder for 11 yards to set up Adair for the score.

Freshman Davis Rodriguez kicked two field goals to advance the Leopards in the second and third quarters. He connected on a 24-yard field goal attempt to cap off a seven-play, 53-yard drive that chewed up five minutes off the clock. Ferber and Mitchell each carried twice on the drive and sophomore DeAndre' Morrow caught a 37-yard pass. The Leopards went into the locker room with a 17-7 lead.

Rodriguez booted a 27-yard field goal to finish off a 12-play, 68-yard drive that took another five minutes off the clock, making it 20-7 with seven minutes left in the third. Mitchell carried the ball three times for 28 yards on the drive, while Curley ran for 14 yards and connected with Adair on an 18-yard pass to set up the Leopards.

With three minutes remaining in the third quarter, senior Keith Bloom recovered a fumble at Bucknell's 41-yard line. The ensuing drive by the Lafayette offense ended with a one-yard scoring leap by Mitchell to hand the Leopards a 27-7 lead.

Both teams changed quarterbacks late in the game and senior Michael DiPaola took the reigns for the final nine minutes of the contest. He led Lafayette for an 11-play, 62-yard drive to set up sophomore Tyrell Coon to score Lafayette's final touchdown, a one-yard run with two minutes left in the game for his first collegiate touchdown.

On the defense, sophomore Samuel Leland, who had his first career start, led the team with eight tackles (one for a loss of 12 yards), a sack and a fumble recovery. Four Leopards sacked Bucknell's quarterbacks and three different players recovered fumbles. Senior cornerback Adrian Lawson picked off two passes in the first half. The defense stopped the Bison on 11-of-12 third-down attempts and twice on fourth down. Bucknell game into the game as the leading rushing team in the Patriot League and the defense held them to 66 rushing yards.

Lafayette will travel to Worcester, Mass. on Saturday to face Holy Cross at noon. The game can be seen live on the Lafayette Sports Network and on CSTV. It can be heard on WGPA-AM 1100.

Game Notes:
* Sophomore Matt Ferber rushed for 102 yards to become the third tailback to rush for more than 100 yards this season. (Maurice White rushed for 107 at Penn and Anthony D'Urso ran for 114 yards against Princeton).
* Head coach Frank Tavani worked in each of the 20 seniors on the roster, with the exception of cornerback Marcel Quarterman who was injured during last week's game.
*Lafayette was charged with only two penalties for a total of 15 yards, the fewest penalties all season.
* Shaun Adair passed Bob Donofrio (1968-1970) to break into the top 10 all-time career receiving yards. He now has 1,379 career yards. With 93 catches, he is six away from making the top ten all-time career receptions list.
* The Leopards continued their tradition of being undefeated in black. They wore black jerseys and pants and improved their record to 5-0 with black jerseys. The only other time they've worn all black was in 2005 against Columbia, where they pulled out a 14-7 victory.
* Samuel Leland, Mark Leggiero, Mark Plumby and Spencer Brown all recorded unassisted sacks against Bucknell. It is the first career sack for Leland and Brown. * Samuel Leland, Mark Plumby and Keith Bloom recovered fumbles. Luke Schade forced a fumble.