Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Lafayette
Bucknell Football Rally Falls Short, Lafayette Prevails 33-20
10/29/2005 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 29, 2005
EASTON, Pa. - The Bucknell football team valiantly fought back from a 20-3 deficit to tie the game in the fourth quarter, but Lafayette's Joe Ort caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Brad Maurer with 1:47 left in the game to break a 20-20 tie and propel the Leopards to a 33-20 victory over the Bison.
Bucknell quarterback Dante Ross completed 18 of 31 passes for a career-high 275 yards. He tossed a pair of second-half touchdown passes -- one to freshman Kadero Watson, who had the best game of his young career, and the other to Sean Conover, an All-America defensive end who also caught four passes at tight end.
Maurer completed 14 of 18 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown, while backup Pat Davis completed 10 of 19 for 161 yards and two scores. Ort finished with seven catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns.
Trailing 20-3 after Davis hit Ort with a 32-yard score at the 9:42 mark of the third quarter, Bucknell stunned the defending Patriot League champs with 17 unanswered points.
The Bison pulled within 20-10 when Ross found a wide-open Watson out of the backfield for a 38-yard scoring pass. It was the first career touchdown for Watson, who caught two passes for 81 yards and rushed 11 times for 56 yards.
Bucknell had a great chance to draw closer after David Frisbey intercepted a Davis pass and returned it 40 yards near midfield. The Bison drove inside the 10, but on third down Conover just missed holding on to a diving catch in the end zone. Freshman kicker Will Carney then went wide right on a 29-yard field goal with 9:48 to play, the first miss of his career.
Carney atoned for the miss less than three minutes later, booting a 33-yarder to bring Bucknell within 20-13 with 6:56 to play. Ross' 43-yard pass to Watson set up the score.
Matt Palermo intercepted Davis' pass with 5:58 left and returned it to the Lafayette 47. Five plays later Conover outjumped a defender for a 24-yard touchdown catch, and stunningly, the game was tied at 20-all with 4:14 to play.
But Lafayette answered with a seven-play, 83-yard drive to take the lead. On third-and-12 from his own 28, Maurer hit Brandon Stanford for a 23-yard gain to keep the drive alive, and two plays later Ort, a 6'5" wide receiver, outjumped 5'10" freshman defensive back Devon Lutz for the go-ahead score with just 1:47 remaining.
Bucknell had one last chance to draw even, but on fourth-and-2 from the Bison 45, Tye Murphy intercepted a short pass and returned it 50 yards for a clinching touchdown.
Lafayette gained 466 total yards, yet Bucknell came up with four takeaways and held tight for most of the contest. The Bison forced turnovers on Lafayette's first two possessions. First, Ryan Slater recovered a fumble on Lafayette's third play of the day, and after a punt Stephen College intercepted a pass in the end zone to thwart a potential Leopards score.
Maurer had completed his first seven passes of the day prior to the interception.
Lafayette broke the scoreless tie on the final play of the first quarter, when Stanford backpedaled to field a 51-yard punt by Matt DeMartino, reversed field and ran 83 yards for a touchdown. The extra point try was wide left, and the Leopards led 6-0.
After being outgained 158-19 and not making a first down in the first quarter, Bucknell pieced together a six-minute drive and made four first downs on its first possession of the second quarter. Carney kicked a 25-yard field goal at the 9:00 mark to make it a 6-3 contest.
The Bison had another solid drive late in the first half, but Ross was stopped on a fourth-down rush at the Lafayette 33 with 1:12 remaining. The Leopards' two-minute offense seemingly gave the hosts some breathing room, as Davis connected with running back Jonathan Hurt on a 16-yard touchdown pass with 23 seconds left in the period.
Bucknell drove to the Lafayette 25 on its first possession of the second half after a Ross 30-yard pass to Peter Kaufman. But a fumbled exchange on a handoff to fullback Josh DeStefano ended the drive. Lafayette promptly answered with an eight-play, 74-yard TD drive capped by the 32-yard pass from Davis to Ort.
Bucknell gained 424 yards of offense against a Lafayette defense that came in ranked sixth nationally in total defense (251.6) and fourth nationally in scoring defense (13.1). Lafayette was also fifth in Division I-AA against the pass (132.4), but the Bison more than doubled that figure. They finished with a 21-20 edge in first downs and had a 10-minute advantage in time of possession.
Freshman Daniel Zvara finished with a career-high five catches for 63 yards, while Conover had four grabs for 62 yards. Josh DeStefano was the team's leading rusher with 59 yards on 14 carries. Ross was held to 27 rushing yards on 19 totes.
Bucknell plays its second of three straight road games next Saturday at Fordham at 1 p.m.
