The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 43

THE MORNING CALL SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2008 CH Colgate deals Lehigh another late-game loss "These kids' deserve a hotter fate eairl. BlOG fe: 3 A to, Jh 1 1 Raiders get TD pass with 2:28 left in 34-33 win over Hawks. By Keith Grolter Of The Morning Call Lehigh's faces told the story as much as the scoreboard. The Mountain Hawks walked off the field at Goodman Stadium late Saturday afternoon in disbelief. How could this happen again? But it did.

For the fifth time this season, Lehigh lost a game that was up for grabs in. the fourth quarter, and for the fourth time the Mountain Hawks' defeat was determined in the last two minutes. This time, it was Colgate rallying for a 34-33 Patriot League win, getting the game -winning touchdown with 2:28 left. Greg Sullivan's third TD pass of the day to Pat Simo-nds a 7-yarder gave the Raiders the winning points before 10,841 fans who witnessed an entertaining back-and-forth offensive spectacle that ended with' another unsatisfying outcome for the Mountain Hawks' faithful. Lehigh's fourth loss by three or fewer points assured the Mountain Hawks (3-6, 2-2) of a second consecutive losing season and knocked them out of the Patriot League title race.

And in a season filled with heartbreak, this one may have cut the deepest because Lehigh had rallied from a 21-6 with 27 consecutive points to take a 33-21 lead with 7:45 left in the third quarter. From that point on, however, Colgate showed why it's in position to win the league title and Lehigh revealed the flaws that now have it playing only for pride in the Season's final two weeks. "We just made too many mistakes," Mountain Hawks coach Andy Coen said. "We've made too many of them throughout the course of the season and when you add them up in these one-point games, it's tough. We're a young football team and we'll learn from some of the bad decisions we made." Most noticeable was two missed extra -point kicks (one by Jason Leo and the other by Tom Randazza) and a 43-yard field goal try by Leo that was wide.

There was also a fumble on the third play from scrimmage that led to a quick 7-0 Colgate lead, three fumbles oveall, and an ill-advised decision to field a punt inside Lehigh's 5-yard-line that, ultimately, set up the CU's 47-yard I I i don't believe we're a 3-6 team, but that's what our record says we are and that's where we're at, "iir mure ifA tors and they got two Damps left to nlav nnrl expect them to play hard in those two games." Colgate 14 7 7 6-34 Lehigh 6 14 13 0 33 First quarter C-Greg Sullivan 2 run (Jacob Stein kick) 12:07 (Drive: 4 plays, 19 yards, 1:37) L-Troy Healion 4 pass from J.B. Clark (kick failed) 9:10 (Drive: 8 plays, 67 yards, 2:49) C-Pat Simonds 79 pass from Sullivan (Stein kick) 1:22 (Drive: 1 play, 79 yards, 0:11) Second quarter C-Nate Eachus 5 run (Stein kick) 8:42 (Drive: 6 piays, to yarua, 1:34 L-Sekou Yansane 27 pass from J.B. Clark (Tom Randazza kick) 6:36 (Drive: 5 plays, 52 yards, L-Adam Watson 6 run (Randazza kick) 2:06 (Drive: 6 plays, 84 yards, 2:44) Third quarter L-Mike Fitzgerald 23 pass from Clark (Randazza kick) 10:42 (Drive: 6 plays, 53 yards, 2:20) L-Fitzgerald 39 pass from Clark (Randazza kick) 7:45 (Drive: 5 plays, 55 yards, 1:44) Fourth quarter C-Simonds 19 pass from Sullivan (Stein kick) 2:48 (Drive: 9 plays. 73 yards. 4:48) C-Simonds 7 pass from Sullivan (Stein kick) 2:28 (Drive: 10 plays, 47 yards, 5:01) First downs Rushes-yards Passing Comp-Att-Int Punts Fumbles-lost 19 21 44-175 25-60 218 338 15-23-2 24-40-0 4-34 2-43 0-0 4-3 8-63 8-65 Penalties-yards INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Eachus 26-103, TD; Sullivan 14-81, TD; Breslin H-l), team 3-(-8).

Watson 13-49, TD; Pierce 3-16, Ajewole 1-2, team H-3), Clark 7-H). PASSING -C: Sullivan 15-23-2-218. Clark 24-39-0-338, 3 TDs; Fitzgerald 0-1-0-0. RECEIVING Simonds 7-148, 3 TDs; Tupta 3-32, Rosnick 3-25, Eachus 1-9, Babb 1-4. urnzgeraia r-iii, in; ransane o-ju, iu; Pierce 2-40, Wojodowski 2-26, Zurn 2-21, Watson 2-17, Healion 2-10, TD; Ruyak 1-0.

Punts-Ava. Fumbles-Lost 1-0 3-2 Penalties-Yards 8-65 4-40 Time of Possession 33:15 26:45 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Lafayette, Coon 30-169, Russo 4-13, TD; Rudolph 2-11, Ferber 1-6, Morrow 1-1, Stripe 1-1, Quilling H-l). Bucknell, Lee 6-37, Kizekai 10-26, Mullen 5-16, C.Hopson 2-14, Pulgrano 1-4, An.Lair 8-(-7). PASSING Lafayette, Quilling 17-26-0-274, 3 TDs. Bucknell, An.Lair 9-12-1-85, TD; C.Hopson 3-5-0-10, Pulgrano 1-1-0-37, TD; Azarik 0-1-0-0.

PFCFIVIHC I afavprte Aitair C-fK TIV Cnnte 4-118, TD; Russo 2-27, TD; Bennett 2-16, Coon 2-11, Layton 1-12, Morrow 1-5. Bucknell, Pasternak 7-82, Kizekai 4-49, Mullen 1-4, Woods H-3). Paul Reinhard is a freelance writer. 1 Groller's Corner: Read If about Lehigh's latest It heartbreak vs. Colgate.

winning drive. Still, Lehigh, riding the hot hand of sophomore quarterback J.B. Clark, who threw for a career-high 338 yards and four TDs, scored on four consecutive full possessions and was in position to win. Lehigh couldn't rekindle its earlier offensive magic on its final three drives and Colgate's bruising attack, featuring the hard running of Hazleton Area product Nate Eachus and the Sullivan- Simonds passing combo couldn't be stopped. "Our kids hung in there, Simonds made a big difference and our defense made some plays after we got down," said Colgate coach Dick Biddle, whose No.

24 ranked team (8-2, 4-0) rallied in the second half to beat a Lehigh Valley team for a second straight week. "Our kids fight. We stay with what we do best. Most people start throwing the ball when they're down. We don't.

We stick to the run and throw it only when we have to. Our kids just believe." Lehigh has to believe things have to get better. Second quarter Laf Russo 1 run (Rodriguez kick), 1327 Buck Pasternak 8 pass from An.Lair (Carney kick), 3:59 Laf FG Rodriguez 20, :01 Third quarter Laf Conte 51 pass from Quilling (Rodriguez kick), 12:08 Buck Pasternak 37 pass from Pulgrano (Carney kick), 10:00 Laf Coon 3 run (Rodriguez kick), 7:43 Fourth quarter Laf Adair 34 pass from Quilling (Rodriguez kick), 14:54 A 1,979. Laf Buck First downs 23 12 Rushes-yards 40-200 32-90 Passing 274 132 Comp-Att-Int 17-26-0 13-19-1 Return Yards 3 18 Denise Sanchez The Morning Call SEKOU YANSANE caught one of three touchdown passes from quarterback J.B. Clark, but it wasn't enough for Lehigh.

Road-wean Lafayette heads home after win over Buclmell "Marc had a great day; for his first start, what can you say?" Tavani said. Defensively, Romans had nine tackles and when the offense needed a lift in the second half, he recovered a loose ball after Andrew Poul-son stripped it free, setting upaTD. Lafayette 7 10 14 7-38 Bucknell 7 7 7 1-21 First quarter Laf Russo 23 pass from Quilling (Rodriguez kick), 8:56 Buck Kizekal 100 kickoff return (Carney kick), 8:40 for a 35-yard gain to set up Coon's TD. Quilling, the'sophomore from Parkland who took over for Curley last week against Colgate, did everything asked of him Saturday. He was l7-for-26 for 274 yards and three TDs.

He hit fullback Joe Russo for a 23-yard TD to open the scoring, then hooked up with Conte on the 51-yarder and with Shaun Adair on the 34 -yard flea-flicker. ADVERTISING EXCELLENCE By Paul Reinhard Special to The Morning Call LEWISBURG If the Lafayette football coaches gave a Comeback Player of the Year. Award, they would have a lot of worthy nominees this year. A couple of the walking wounded stated their cases emphatically Saturday as the Leopards kept alive their postseason hopes with a 38-21 Patriot League victory over Bucknell. Running back Tyrell Coon and tight end Michael Conte had career games.

Linebacker Andy Romans had the kind of performance people have come to expect of him the last couple of years. Add to that the veteranlike play of quarterback Marc Quilling, making his first college start in place of injured Rob Curley and you have a successful ending to what coach Frank Tavani called "five very, very long weeks on the road" by winning for the seventh time in nine weeks and setting the stage for an even bigger homecoming this weekend. Lafayette boosted its league record to 3-1. Holy Cross and Colgate won Saturday to remain undefeated in the league. The Crusaders come to Fisher Stadium on Saturday.

If Lafayette hopes to be considered for an NCAA FCS postseason bid, it must defeat Holy Cross and archrival Lehigh, which nearly gave Lafayette a hand Saturday before losing to Colgate 34-33. Holy Cross would then have to defeat Colgate, setting up a three-way tie for first. In that scenario, a vote of the athletic directors of the schools not involved in the tie would determine who gets the bid. The Morning Call congratulates its dynamic sales professionals who make innovative solutions to their customers' needs an everyday commitment. In particular, we recognize Septembers team members: SANDY BALL has emerged as a successful sales rep by focusing on two things: her customer's needs and finding new business.

She has developed strong relationships in her territory and this has allowed her to be a true marketing consultant to each account By understanding each customer's situation, she can recommend the most effective advertising solution. Sandy has also worked very hard to grow her new business by capitalizing on her relationship building skills. ElOG I SportsTalk: Find out more about Lafayette's win over host Bucknell. "When you start getting your main players back and playing at full strength, we're a different football team," Tavani said after looking at the stat sheet, which showed Coon with career highs for carries (30) and yards (169) and Conte making four catches for a career high 118 yards. Coon was injured in the Liberty game.

He played one play against Fordham, then sat out last week. He showed no ill effects of the ankle injury Saturday. "I was kind of tired during the game, but I just had to take a deep breath and get myself together and get back in it when they called on me," Coon said. And it was. His touchdown came on a 3 -yard run, but he had a 38-yarder that set the stage for a third-quarter TD and was involved in a flea-flicker play that resulted in the game's final score.

Conte played last week but had just one catch for nine yards. He was a much bigger factor Saturday. "It was depressing missing the Liberty game and the Fordham game," Conte said. But when asked if he felt he now is making up for lost time, he said, "Maybe a little bit, but a tight end doesn't get a lot of opportunities, so you have to make sure you catch the ball first." He scored on a 51-yard pass play in which he bounced off two Bucknell defenders but never lost his focus. And in the third period, he and Quilling teamed PATRIOT LEAGUE Georgetown 13, Marist 12: At Washington, Keerome Lawrence threw for 119 yards and a TD for the yas.

Lawrence, who completed 11 of 17 passes, connected with Collin Meador on a 13-yard TD in the first quarter for Georgetown (2-7, 0-4 Patriot League), which snapped a 7-game losing streak. The Red Foxes (3-7) had a 12-10 lead at halftime after Obuzua Ehikoya had scoring runs of 3 and 4 yards. Ehikoya ran for 89. But Jose-Pablo Buerba's 30-yard field goal put the Hoyas ahead for good. Ml --i Sandy Ball Chris Drayton CHRIS DRAYTON found new opportunities by calling on existing clients that were pacing behind last years numbers and made an effort to contact all advertisers to address and re-evaluate their current advertising initiatives.

He would also like to recognize his entire support team for all their efforts leading to his success for the month. Marixsa Ali MARIXSA AU has been a member of the recruitment team for over four yean Hernumber one priority is getting results for her customers, and she will always go the extra mile to get the job doneforthera Her customers appreciate her knowledge and experience in the recruitment advertising industry. Randolph's 5 TDs passes lead Holy Cross, 38-17 i i fry i TRACFY PKUS'S outstanding revenue performance resulted from her success wtth accounts in the Automotive. Healthcare, and financial categories. She put together multt-media packages that helped her clients grow share during one of their toughest periods in recent history.

Traces online success is the result of promoting the feet that an online print combo reaches 82 of the Lehigh Valley. ALEXANDRA SEGATTI is a thorough, organized sales representative who always goes the extra mile to help her customers. She is able to analyze their hiring needs and match them up with the appropriate recruitment advertising to get them trie best job candidates. From Call wire services Dominic Randolph threw for 407 yards and five touchdowns to lead Holy Cross to a 38-17 win over Fordham on Saturday. Randolph was 35-of-59 and threw three of his TDs to Jon Brock, who had eight catches for 105 yards.

For Fordham (4-5, 0-4 Patriot League), John Skel-ton was l4-of-3l for 168 yards and a touchdown. Holy Cross (6-3, 4-o) opened the scoring with a 43-yard touchdown pass from Randolph to Brett McDermott midway through the first quarter. 1 Tracy Picus Alexandra Use it Segatti for life. THE MORNING CALL the morning call.com.