“Friday Night Lights” was a popular book written by Buzz Bissinger in the early 1990s and then turned into a 2004 movie and a TV series that ran five for five seasons in the late 2000s.
While it was largely about high school football in Texas, scholastic players throughout the country could relate to the excitement and drama it depicted of playing in front of big crowds and for school pride under those Friday night lights.
Until recently, when college football decided to encroach on high school football’s stranglehold on the Friday night sports calendar and schedule a handful of games at the start of the weekend, most collegiate standouts put the Friday night lights behind them when they graduated from their hometown teams.
But for Lafayette, the Friday night lights are back.
In a rare piece of scheduling, the Leopards are playing a Friday night game against Ivy League member Columbia in their home opener.
If you’re a football fan and living in Easton, you have a few good options Friday night.
You can go to Cottingham Stadium to see Emmaus play the hometown Easton Red Rovers in an Eastern Pennsylvania Conference game, or go to Fisher Stadium to see a Division I college football game.
Obviously, all connected to Lafayette are hoping for the latter.
“This is reminiscent of high school,” Leopards captain and all-Patriot League receiver Elijah Steward said. “A lot of our guys are super excited to get back under those lights and play on a Friday. The biggest thing is to get the community out. I know from my experience of interacting with people downtown, they work on a Saturday and can’t always come to the game. So this gives them an opportunity to come out and show some support that they’ve always wanted to show. I’m excited to see them.”
While the Leopards will get the Patriot League schedule started on the final weekend of summer, Lehigh’s Mountain Hawks will finish it with a rare Saturday night game at Bucknell.
Coaches are creatures of habit who like having a set routine, but Lehigh coach Kevin Cahill said it’s important to be able to adapt and adjust to whatever the schedule-maker sends his team’s way.
“We’re excited to play a night game in Lewisburg,” he said. “It doesn’t matter when we play. We’re going to have to face Bucknell and play our best football in order to win. It should be a good atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it. We’re going to leave in the morning and go out and eat a meal together and then go over to the stadium.”
Besides adjusting to playing under the lights, both Lafayette and Lehigh face challenges.
The Leopards have the challenge of playing a team that’s playing its first game, meaning they have no game film to decipher.
“It’s definitely rough going into a game without a whole lot of film, but it lets us focus on what we can control,” Steward said. “And that’s getting back to the nitty gritty, and that’s one play at a time. And it starts during the week, making sure we’re working hard at practice and there’s an intensity, and we’re coaching up the other guys. We’re getting our plays down pat, and we’re eliminating mistakes. Those are the things we can control. We can’t worry too much about Columbia. We just have to come to play. So it’s chop wood, chop wood and carry the water. That’s the mentality.”
Lehigh and Bucknell have had one of the Patriot League’s oldest and fiercest rivalries, and the Bison have been improved under former Mountain Hawks All-American receiver and assistant coach Dave Cecchini, who is in his seventh season and seeking his first winning campaign after going 6-6 last season.
“This will be another chapter in this rivalry, and we know they’re very talented,” Cahill said. “They do a lot of good things offensively. They have a really talented quarterback and very talented receivers and running backs who are talented as well. Then on defense, they do enough to wreak havoc.
“Every Patriot League game is going to be a really good game,” Cahill said. “They’re all probably going to come down to the last possession of the fourth quarter. That’s what happened last year, and they got the edge. Two years ago, we got the edge. It’s going to be another battle.”
A look at the matchups:
Columbia (0-0, 0-0) at Lafayette (2-1, 1-0)
Time/place: 6 p.m. Friday at Fisher Stadium, Easton
The storyline: After three road games, including a league-opening 42-27 win at Georgetown last week, Lafayette plays its home opener and gets to stay in Easton for awhile — this is the first of four straight home games. The Leopards have won two in a row since opening with a loss at Bowling Green, and they had great offensive balance against the Hoyas, getting 288 yards rushing and 290 passing. Columbia opens its season after going 7-3 last year. They were 5-2 in the Ivy League and shared the title with Dartmouth and Harvard. Columbia won last year’s meeting in New York City, defeating the Leopards 31-20.
Players to watch: ESPN’s College Football Final gave a helmet sticker to Lafayette’s Kente Edwards, the North Hunterdon High product who ran for 255 yards and four TDs. Edwards is No. 1 in the nation in rushing TDs with seven and second in rushing yards with 409. His rushing performance was the fourth best in a game in Lafayette history. While Edwards has been the headline-grabber, senior quarterback Dean DeNobile had 18 completions last week, and his 438 connections have put him sixth all-time at Lafayette in that category. He is also tied with 1983 grad Frank Novak for eighth in all-time passing yards (2,417). Columbia figures to be led by junior QB Chase Goodwin, who threw for 879 yards and six TDs in five starts last year.
Keith Groller’s pick: Lafayette 31-28
Lehigh running back Jaden Green (0) tries to run away from Richmond defensive players on Aug. 30 at Goodman Stadium. Green has 228 yards rushing and scored three touchdowns for the Mountain Hawks, who are unbeaten and play at Bucknell Saturday night. (Contributed photo / Lehigh Athletics/ Hannah Ally).
Lehigh (3-0, 1-0) at Bucknell (2-1, 0-0)
Time/place: 6 p.m. Saturday at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium, Lewisburg
The storyline: Lehigh would love to keep its outstanding start going as it dips back into league play. The Mountain Hawks could begin a season with a 4-0 record for the first time since 2013 and have a four-game winning streak for the first time since 2019. They are coming off their best offensive performance of the season, at least in terms of points scored, in a 35-21 win at Duquesne. QB Hayden Johnson threw for 224 yards and three TDs. Geoffrey Jamiel caught seven passes for 95 yards and both Luke Yoder and Jaden Green ran for more than 60 yards. Now, it’s a revenge game since Bucknell’s 38-35 double-overtime win last year at Goodman Stadium represented Lehigh’s lone league loss of the season.
Players to watch: Bucknell has the 17th-best passing game in the country, averaging 270 yards per game, and much of that can be attributed to fifth-year quarterback Ralph Rucker IV, who is on his way to rewriting the school’s record book. He has thrown for 767 yards and six touchdowns while completing 71% of his passes. He started his career at Oklahoma and is on this year’s Walter Payton Award Watch List. Lehigh’s Yoder has rushed for 275 yards in two games against Bucknell.
Keith Groller’s pick: Lehigh 34-30
https://www.mcall.com/2025/09/19/lehigh-valley-college-football-3/
