Football Heads to Easton to Battle Lafayette on Saturday

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell will head back on the road for the first time in a month to take on Patriot League opponent Lafayette on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 12:30 p.m. at Fisher Stadium in Easton, Pa. This will be the 103rd meeting between the two teams, since they first met in the Bison's first program game in 1883. Lafayette holds the overall winning record over Bucknell, but the Bison won the last contest. Bucknell enters the game 4-2 (1-1 PL) after a fourth quarter victory over Richmond and Lafayette comes in 4-2 (2-0 PL) after a home win against Fordham.

In the Bison's last time out, Ralph Rucker IV connected with Nate Anderson in the back of the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:14 to play, and safety Darius Day ended it with an interception deep in Bucknell territory as the Bison battled back to defeat new Patriot League foe Richmond 33-28 on Homecoming Day at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The Day pick was one of Bucknell's three pivotal second-half interceptions. Freshman James Schlendorf's breakup led to a diving interception by Brandon Biagiarelli to set up the winning score, and earlier in the half Schlendorf picked off a pass at the goal line as Richmond seemed poised to take a two-score lead. The Bison and the Spiders played a true back-and-forth game where neither team let up for a single second of play, with 990 yards of total offense between the two teams. Rucker went 24-for-34 for 284 yards and a touchdown. With 310 yards of total offense in the game, Rucker broke Bucknell's career total offense record, which was previously held by Brandon Wesley '13, who recorded 6,952 total yards of offense. Sam Milligan led the Bison in receiving with 11 catches for 133 yards. Logan Bush led a balanced and efficient rushing attack with eight attempts for 47 yards and a touchdown. Michael Cadden led the scoring efforts with two rushing touchdowns on the afternoon. All told, the Bison ran for 212 yards on the way to 496 total yards, both season highs. Schlendorf had a standout game on defense for the Bison as he recorded his career first sack, interception, and pass breakup, all of which played a big role in the Bison's scoring efforts. Deuce Geter, Schlendorf, and Jack Inserra each finished with six tackles.

In the Leopard's last time out, Quarterback Dean DeNobile threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns as the Leopards improved to 2-0 in Patriot League play via a 24-10 final over Fordham on Saturday at Fisher Stadium. The senior completed passes to nine different receivers, with Elijah Steward reeling in five catches for 85 yards. Carson Persing (4-84) managed a 63-yard catch along with a TD, while Matthew Scerbo added three catches for 49 yards, including his first career TD. It was DeNobile's second career 300-yard passing game. Defensively, the Leopards rang up 13 TFL with four sacks with 25 players recording at least one tackle, led by 12 from Ryan Gadson.

Media Notes:

When: Saturday, Oct. 11 at 12"30 p.m.

Where: Fisher Stadium — Easton, Pa.

Watch: ESPN+

Radio: 1070 AM WKOK

Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com

Live Stats: goleopards.com

Media Notes: Bucknell

Follow on X: @Bucknell_FB

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell heads on the road for the first time in over a month for a Patriot League faceoff. The Bison are heading to Easton, Pa. to take on the Lafayette Leopards at Fisher Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 11 at noon.
The Bison are coming off of a powerful 33-28 upset win over Richmond at Christy Mathewson-Memorial defense where the Bison sported a well-rounded rushing attack and had three heavily influential interceptions on the afternoon, including a game-ending one.
The Bison have had three Patriot League Players of the Week this season: Zachary Corna (Rookie of the Week,9/15), James Schlendorf (Rookie of the Week, 10/6) and Ralph Rucker IV (Offensive Player of the Week, 10/6).
The Bison were picked to finish fourth in the 2025 Preseason All-Patriot League Poll.
Alongside Ralph Rucker IV (PL OPOTY) and Tariq Thomas (PL ROTY), the Bison are returning two other Patriot League First Team selections in return specialist TJ Cadden and special teams standout Sam Milligan. Bucknell also returns two Patriot League Second Team selections in offensive lineman and 2024 Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year, John Ohnegian and punter Matt Schearer.
The Bison are entering their seventh season under head coach Dave Cecchini in 2025. Cecchini was voted the Patriot League Dick Biddle Coach of the Year during the 2021 campaign for leading the Bison to a spot in the first ever Patriot League Championship game following the abbreviated season, Cecchini's team is coming off a record setting season where the squad broke 13 individual records, seven team records and scored the most single-season points in program history.
Bucknell returned a total of 65 players from the 2024 season and lost 34 athletes from the roster.
The Bison welcomed 40 newcomers this season, including 32 freshmen. The additional eight players came from the transfer portal.
The Bison welcomed a host of new faces to the staff during the offseason; offensive coordinator Drew Folmar, tight ends coach P.J. Barr, defensive line coach Kentwan Balmer, running backs coach Jerome Smith, wide receivers coach Sam Costantino, linebackers and special teams coach Chase Murdock and Strength and Conditioning Coach Tim Warren.
Bucknell's 2025 captains are second-time captain and offensive lineman John Ohnegian, fifth-year quarterback Ralph Rucker IV, senior punter/kicker Matt Schearer and senior cornerback Terian Williams II.

Lafayette at a Glance

Lafayette enters the contest 4-2 overall and 2-0 in the Patriot League, currently sitting at second in the conference.
In their last time out, Quarterback Dean DeNobile threw for 314 yards and two touchdowns as the Leopards improved to 2-0 in Patriot League play via a 24-10 final over Fordham at Fisher Stadium. The senior completed passes to nine different receivers, with Elijah Steward reeling in five catches for 85 yards. Carson Persing (4-84) managed a 63-yard catch along with a TD, while Matthew Scerbo added three catches for 49 yards, including his first career TD. It was DeNobile's second career 300-yard passing game. Defensively, the Leopards rang up 13 TFL with four sacks with 25 players recording at least one tackle, led by 12 from Ryan Gadson.
Overall, DeNobile is 108-for-161 for 1,285 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.
Kente Edwards leads the Leopards rushing attack with 71 attempts for 585 yards and 10 touchdowns. Ethan Weber follows closely behind with 71 attempts for 314 yards and five touchdowns.
Carson Persing leads the team in receiving with 27 catches for 374 yards and two touchdowns. Elijah Steward is next up with 25 catches for 319 yards and two touchdowns.
On defense, Beckham Dee is the leading force with 36 total tackles (17 solo and 19 assisted), 2.5 tackles for loss, one sack, three pass breakups, three quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery.
Christian Bush has recorded 22 punts for 939 yards and averages 42.68 yards per punt. His longest punt this season is 57 yards and he has had three touchbacks, six fair catches, seven punts inside the 20-yardline and six 50+ yard punts.
Jack Simonetta is 2-for-2 in field goals and has a season-long 37-yard field goal.
Graham Smith and Mac Dumont have both taken kickoffs for the Leopards. Smith has 16 kickoffs for 966 yards and averages 60.4 yards per kickoff. He has two touchbacks and one kick out of bounds. Dumont has had 16 kickoffs for 941 yards and averages 58.8 yards per kickoff. He has had three touchbacks and two kicks out of bounds.

Bucknell / Lafayette Series

This will be the 103rd meeting between the two teams since 1883 when they first met.
Lafayette leads the series 39-57-6.
Bucknell is on a one-game winning streak.
The last time in Easton, Lafayette took the victory 56-22.

Inside the Record Book

QB Ralph Rucker IV re-invented the record books. Rucker is now Bucknell's single-season leader in touchdown passes (25), passing yards (2,826), completion percentage (.672), passing completions (244) and total offense (2,922) Rucker also leads Bucknell in single game passing yards (437) and single game touchdown passes (5 TD passes 3X). With this being his final season, Rucker holds career records in passing touchdowns (56), passing yards (6,873), total offense (7,254) and completion percentage (.650).
Sam Milligan ranks first in touchdown catches in a single game with four against VMI on Saturday, Sept. 13. He also ranks sixth all-time in receiving yards in a single game with 192 yards in that VMI win for Bucknell.
TJ Cadden tied for the longest kickoff return (100 yds) and holds the records for most punt return touchdowns in a season (2) and most total return touchdowns (3; two punt returns and one kickoff return).
Matt Schearer holds the record for season PAT's with 45.
As a 2024 team, Bucknell broke even more records. The 2024 team holds the records for; single season completions (277), single season passing yards (3,220), single season average passing yards per game (268.33), single season total yards (4,651), single season total plays (836), single season total points (346), single season first downs (252), single game total offense (428) and single season touchdown passes (28).

On Record Watch

Ralph Rucker is 152 passing attempts away from the career record for passing attempts.
Ralph Rucker is 8 yards away from the career total offense record.
Ralph Rucker is 29 pass completions away from the career record.
Matt Schearer is 10 field goals away from the career record.

Milestone Watch

Ralph Rucker is 118 passing attempts away from the career record for passing attempts.
Ralph Rucker is 5 pass completions away from the career record.
Matt Schearer is 8 field goals away from the career record.

Bison Award Winners

James Schlendorf was named Patriot League Rookie of the Week (10/6) and was named a Stats Perform FCS Freshman Player of the Week Honorable Mention athlete (10/6).
Ralph Rucker IV was named Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week (10/6).
Zachary Corna was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week (9/15) and was named a Stats Perform FCS Freshman Player of the Week Honorable Mention athlete (9/15).
Sam Milligan was named a Stats Perform FCS National Offensive Player of the Week Honorable Mention athlete (9/15/)
Terian Williams II was named a Stats Perform FCS National Defensive Player of the Week Honorable Mention athlete (9/8/).
The Bison returned six 2024 All-Patriot League Selections; Ralph Rucker IV, Tariq Thomas, TJ Cadden, Sam Milligan, John Ohnegian and Matt Schearer.
Rucker was the 2024 PL Offensive Player of the Year and Thomas was the 2024 PL Rookie of the Year.
Rucker was named the 2025 Patriot League Preseason Offensive Player of the Year and 2025 Stats Perform FCS Preseason All-America Third Team.
Five Bison were named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team; Rucker, Ohnegian, Aaron Davis, TJ Cadden and Milligan.

Head Coach Dave Cecchini

Dave Cecchini, one of the all-time great wide receivers in Patriot League history who has since gone on to achieve tremendous success in the coaching ranks, was named the 27th Bob Odell Head Football Coach at Bucknell University on February 6, 2019.
Cecchini was voted as the 2021 Spring Patriot League Dick Biddle Coach of the Year for guiding the team to a spot in the Patriot League Championship Game. In addition, he was selected as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Award, presented by STATS to the FCS Coach of the Year, for the second time in his career.
In his first season at the helm, Cecchini led the Bison to a third-place finish in the Patriot League, their highest placement since they were the 2014 runners-up. Their Patriot League victories came over defending champion Colgate (32-14), rival Lehigh (20-10) and Georgetown (20-17); two of their three league losses came by a touchdown or less.
In 2017 while at Valparaiso, Cecchini was a finalist for the American Football Coaches Association's FCS National Coach of the Year and the STATS FCS Coach of the Year awards; he was also voted as the Pioneer Football League Coach of the Year and the AFCA FCS Region 4 Coach of the Year.
Since arriving at Bucknell, Cecchini's players have combined to earn 34 All-Patriot League First/Second Team awards as well as one First Team All-American.

Inside the 2025 Schedule

This is the 140th season of football at Bucknell. The Bison played their first-ever game in 1883 and have been playing a consistent schedule since 1887.
Bucknell is scheduled to play 12 games for just the fourth time in program history. The Bison will host six games and have six games on the road.
Bucknell opened the 2025 season with back-to-back away games at Air Force and Marist before going on a four-game home stand.
This is the first time since the Bison's Patriot League Championship season of 1996, that there will be four home games in a row.
Senior Night took place on Sept. 27 against Saint Francis at 6 p.m. and Homecoming was the final game of the homestand on Oct. 4 against Richmond at 12 p.m.
Bucknell's home opener was on Sept. 13 against VMI. The Bison then started Patriot League play against Lehigh on Sept. 20 at home, which was Bucknell's Family Weekend game.
After its home stand, Bucknell will head on the road for two games against Lafayette and Cornell.
The final four games of the season will all be against conference opponents. Bucknell will host Georgetown on Oct. 25, travel to Fordham on Nov. 8, take on Holy Cross at home on Nov. 15 and then end the season at Colgate on Nov. 22.

How to Follow the Bison

All of Bucknell's games this season will be broadcast on ESPN+ with the exception of the season opener at Air Force, which will be shown on CBS Sports Network.
All of the Bison's games will be broadcast on 100.9 The Valley (WVLY). The broadcast will also be available for internet streaming on BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell is active on X (@Bucknell_FB) and Instagram (Bucknell_FB).
Interact with the team using the hashtags #ACT and #rayBucknell.

Up Next

Bucknell will take to the road for the second week in a row to Ithaca, N.Y. to take on Cornell on Saturday, Oct. 18 at 1 p.m.

Football Heads to Easton to Battle Lafayette on Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nate Anderson

Brandon Biagiarelli

Logan Bush

Michael Cadden

TJ Cadden

Aaron Davis

Darius Day

Deuce Geter

Jack Inserra

Sam Milligan

John Ohnegian

Ralph Rucker IV

Matt Schearer

Tariq Thomas

Terian Williams II

Football Heads to Easton to Battle Lafayette on Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Nate Anderson

Brandon Biagiarelli

Logan Bush

Michael Cadden

TJ Cadden

Aaron Davis

Darius Day

Deuce Geter

Jack Inserra

Sam Milligan

John Ohnegian

Ralph Rucker IV

Matt Schearer

Tariq Thomas

Terian Williams II

Related Videos