Lafayette has ended its Patriot League football schedule at Lehigh each of the past two seasons.

In 2023, it ended with one of the biggest celebrations in program history, a 49-21 win over the Mountain Hawks that clinched the Patriot League championship and a trip to the FCS playoffs.

In 2024, the Leopards walked off the field at Goodman Stadium with a 38-14 loss that ended a disappointing season at 6-6 overall, 2-4 in the league.

There’s no doubt which ending the Lafayette program more enjoyed, and in the nine months since last November’s defeat, the Leopards players and coaches have worked hard toward rekindling what happened two years ago and putting last year in the rearview mirror.

The 2025 season begins at 6 p.m. Thursday at FBS member Bowling Green, and there’s a sense of renewed enthusiasm and unity for the Lafayette program.

While the Leopards are definitive underdogs for the game played at 24,000-seat Doyt Perry Stadium in Ohio, they are hoping to get a lot out of the experience and hope to use it for the other 11 games on the schedule that include another FBS foe, Oregon State, on Oct. 18.

“I talked to the guys and going into Week 1 you want to focus on the process, not the outcome,” said Lafayette coach John Troxell, who is beginning his fourth season at Lafayette and 20th overall. “We have to minimize mistakes if we want a chance to win. We want to be in it in the fourth quarter. If we can get the kids to the fourth quarter and make some plays, we’ve got a great opportunity.”

Troxell is emphasizing opportunities. This year, Lafayette is playing 12 games with hopes of getting to at least a 13th contest.

“The goal this year, really, is to get the guys to play as hard as they can and have as much fun as they can,” he said. “The opportunities for these guys get fewer and fewer as the weeks go by. So we’re going to try to make the most of it.”

Lafayette has had a big turnover in personnel. The Leopards have 34 first-year players, including several who came through the portal. That list includes linebacker Callahan Blair, who came from Vanderbilt, quarterback Daniel Lipovski (Delaware), defensive lineman Joey Shimko (Bowling Green), running back Payton Greer (Arkansas State), and linebacker Beckham Dee (Penn State).

They also lost a double-digit total through the portal, including star running back Jamar Curtis, who is at Sacramento State. Curtis ran for nearly 2,600 yards and scored 17 touchdowns each of the last two seasons. He was a two-time first-team all-league selection.

But while Curtis is on the other side of the country, the Lafayette offense has eight returning starters, including three-year starter Dean DeNobile at quarterback.

“We always have the ‘next man up’ mentality,” said starting left guard and team captain Brian Baucia. “I feel like we have a really good running back room that’s ready to go. That’s just the way college football is right now with the transfer portal. We weren’t very surprised by all the stuff that happened in the offseason.”

Not only will the offense be experienced, but it will have a lot of familiar faces to local football fans.

Nazareth’s Mason Kuehner and Sean Kinney are listed at starters at wide receiver and center, respectively. Easton’s Sean Wilson is the starting left tackle, and Allentown Central Catholic grad Ethan Hosak will start at tight end.

“I love those guys,” said Baucia, who is from Crofton, Maryland. “They welcomed me to the Lehigh Valley, taught me the culture here, and brought me to the best spots … where to shop, where to eat, and whatnot. I’m very blessed to have those guys as teammates and friends.”

As for celebrating a championship together, Baucia said not to count out the Leopards.

“We look back on last year as a mixed bag,” he said. “We kind of want to put that season behind us, but we also are using it as fuel just to keep going and keep working. We were obviously disappointed with the outcomes of some very close games last year. You’re going to have close games in a season, and last year some of them didn’t go our way. This year we have a motto of ‘Respect all, fear none.’ We’re ready to get started and face a great challenge at Bowling Green.”

3 things to know about Lafayette’s opener

(1) This is the first-ever meeting between Lafayette and Bowling Green, and it’s just the third time in 144 seasons that the Leopards are playing a team from Ohio. Lafayette beat Dayton 45-0 in 1923 and Ohio Wesleyan 27-7 in 1948. Since those were home games, Thursday’s contest will mark the first time the Leopards are playing a game in Ohio. Also, the Aug. 28 date is the earliest Lafayette has ever started a season and will be the fourth season opener under Troxell, who is 2-1, with wins over Sacred Heart in both 2022 and ’23 and a loss to Buffalo last year.

(2) Former Ohio State and NFL star running back and Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George, a Philadelphia native, is making his debut as Bowling Green’s coach. George, the 1995 Heisman winner, played in the NFL from 1996-2004, starting with the Houston and Tennessee Oilers who later became known as the Tennessee Titans. George played in the 2000 Super Bowl for the Titans.

He spent the four previous seasons as the coach at Tennessee State, where his teams went 24-22, including 9-4 last year when the Tigers reached the FCS playoffs. He is instilling a program he calls GUTS, which is an acronym for gumption, understanding, tenacity, and sacrifice. He is only the fifth Heisman winner to become an FBS-level coach, joining Steve Spurrier, Pat Sullivan, John David Crow, and Frank Sinkwich. George, whose son Eriq is on the Bowling Green roster as a defensive lineman, was the first player ever featured on the cover of the EA Sports’ Madden NFL video game in 2001.

(3) Bowling Green has 48 new players on its roster with 25 coming from other Division I programs through the transfer portal and 22 from the high school recruiting process. Five of the players followed George from Tennessee State. Also new is quarterback Drew Pyne, who will become the only active quarterback to start for four different teams over the past four years. Pyne started 10 games for Notre Dame in 2022, one game for Arizona State in 2023 and one game for Missouri last year before suffering a season-ending injury.

Probable starting lineup

(*) Indicates returning starter

OFFENSE

QB: Dean DeNobile (6-1, 198, Sr.)*

TB: Kente Edwards (5-9, 197, Jr.)

WR: Elijah Steward (5-10, 182, Sr.)*

WR: Carson Persing (5-7, 172, Jr.)*

WR: Mason Kuehner (5-11, 187, So.)*

TE: Ethan Hosak (6-2, 237, Jr.)

LT: Sean Wilson (6-3, 299, Jr.)*

LG: Brian Baucia (6-2, 314 Sr.)*

C: Sean Kinney (6-2, 305, So.)*

RG: Spencer Adams (6-4, 322, Sr.)

RT: Reed Collins (6-5, 305, Sr.)*

DEFENSE

DE: Jaylon Joseph (6-2, 228, Jr.)*

NT: Ahmir Crawley (5-11, 290, Jr.)

DT: Phillip Peiffer (6-5, 270, Sr.)

DE: Darien Riley (6-4, 257, Jr.)

OLB: Ian Langan (6-3, 223, Sr.)

WLB: Robert Stevens (6-1, 216, Jr.)

MLB: Paul Widerman (6-1, 222, So.)

CB: Ryan Gadson (5-11, 187, So.)

FS: Kevin Dodard (5-11, 182, So.)

SS: Davis Oliver-Goodwin (6-3, 178, Jr.)

CB: Jalen Edwards (5-11, 183, Sr.)

Kicker: Jack Simonetta (5-8, 168, Jr.)*

Punter: Christian Bush (6-1, 178, Jr.)

The schedule

Patriot League games are in bold

Thursday: At Bowling Green, 6 p.m.

Sept. 6: At Stonehill, 1 p.m.

Sept. 13: At Georgetown, 1 p.m. 

Sept. 19: Host Columbia, 6 p.m.

Sept. 27: Host Princeton, 3:30 p.m.

Oct. 4: Host Fordham, 12:30 p.m.

Oct. 11: Host Bucknell, 12:30 p.m.

Oct. 18: At Oregon State, 10 p.m.

Nov. 1: At Holy Cross, 1 p.m.

Nov. 8: Host Colgate, 12:30 p.m.

Nov. 15: At Richmond, 2 p.m.

Nov. 22: Host Lehigh, 12:30 p.m.

 

https://www.mcall.com/2025/08/27/lafayette-college-football-preview/