Carter and Lauletta Follow Big Performances with Weekly Awards

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell football's Will Carter (Moreland Hills, Ohio/Orange) and Trey Lauletta (Exton, Pa./Downingtown East) had headline-grabbing days on Saturday in the Bison's 45-24 win at Lehigh and on Monday they were honored with weekly awards. Carter was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career after catching seven passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns, while Lauletta earned his initial Bison Athlete of the Week award after becoming the first Bucknell quarterback in 20 years to throw for 300 yards in a game.

Lauletta, who was making his second career start in place of an injured R.J. Nitti, connected with Carter on touchdowns of 69, 78 and 77 yards as Bucknell (5-1, 1-0 PL) defeated the Mountain Hawks (0-5, 0-1 PL) for a second consecutive year.

Carter's 246 receiving yards rank second in the Bison record book for a single game and fifth in Patriot League history. It marked the most receiving yards by an FCS player this fall and he became the first Bucknell player over 200 yards since 1989. After catching two previous long touchdown passes, Carter's third came with 5:46 left in the fourth quarter and helped halt a Lehigh comeback that had cut Bucknell's advantage from 24 points down to seven.

The three touchdowns by Carter tied a school record that had only been done by three other players and not since 1986.

The 78-yard pass play from Lauletta to Carter on the first play of the second half that staked the Bison to a game-high 31-7 lead marked the longest by Bucknell since 2010. He is one of just five players in program history to have multiple touchdowns of at least 70 yards in the same game.

Carter also ran the ball once for 12 yards, giving him a career-high 258 all-purpose yards, good for ninth in program history.

Saturday's performance was Carter's second career 100-yard game. He has caught 22 passes for a team-high 531 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He is averaging 24.1 yards per catch and is now just 73 yards shy of 1,000 in his two-year career.

Lauletta completed 15 of 20 passes for 313 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions in just his second appearance of the season. The 313 yards rank eighth on Bucknell's single-game list and he became the first Bison to eclipse 300 yards since Rob Glus in 1994.

In addition to his three touchdowns to Carter, Lauletta connected with Bobby Kaslander for Bucknell's first score, making him the ninth player in program history to throw at least four touchdown passes in a game.

Lauletta, a senior, entered the game with 335 career passing yards spanning eight appearances. His previous career high for passing yards was 166 and he nearly doubled that figure against Lehigh.

Football players have dominated the Bison Athlete of the Week Award this season. Lauletta joined teammates Josh Brake (Sept. 1), R.J. Nitti (Sept. 22) and C.J. Williams (Sept. 29) as winners of the award.

Bucknell, which at 5-1 is off to its best start to a season since 2001, will be idle this weekend before returning to action next Saturday, Oct. 25, for a 2 p.m. Patriot League contest at Georgetown. The Hoyas are 2-5, 0-2 PL this year and also have a bye this weekend.

Note: There will be a Bucknell Football Luncheon this Wednesday, Oct. 15, at La Primavera Restaurant in Lewisburg. The event begins at noon. Head coach Joe Susan and select players will recap Saturday's win at Lehigh and talk about the team's strong 5-1 start to the season. The buffet lunch costs $10.