Bucknell Football Hosts Final Home Game of 2025

Saturday, November 15

Lewisburg, Pa.

Noon

Bucknell University

Holy Cross

Photo by: Margaux Munick

11/11/2025 12:53:00 PM | Football

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell is set to host its final home game of the 2025 season on Saturday, Nov. 15 at noon against Holy Cross as it looks to put its record above .500. This will be the 42nd meeting between the two teams since they first met in 1925. Holy Cross holds the overall winning record 13-28 and leads the Bison in games in Lewisburg 7-13. The Bison are looking to break the Crusader's six-game winning streak over them in Saturday's game. Bucknell enters the game 5-5 (2-3PL)after an all-around effort led to a win over Fordham and Holy Cross enters the contest 1-9 (1-4PL) after a loss to #4 Lehigh.

Media Notes:

When: Saturday, Nov. 15 at noon

Where: Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium

Watch: ESPN+

Radio: 1070 AM WKOK

Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com

Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

Media Notes: Bucknell

Follow on X: @Bucknell_FB

In the Bison's last time out, they put together an all-around impressive performance with big plays from the offense, defense and special teams to break its three-game losing streak with a 37-19 victory over Fordham at Moglia Stadium. The Bison opened the game on a 17-0 run before the Rams put points on the board, and were able to maintain that lead throughout the game to get the win. Bucknell's offense found the spark that it's been missing in its last few games as Chris Dietrich started at quarterback for his fourth consecutive game and went 17-of-22 for 166 yards and three passing touchdowns. Matt Schearer had a solid performance as he made three field goals; a 48-yarder, 37-yarder and a 42-yarder. Sam Milligan led the offense in receiving with four receptions for 77 yards and two touchdowns. Special teams had a stellar performance in the game as well, with both a blocked punt that was returned for a touchdown and a forced fumble that the Bison recovered.

In the Crusaders last time out, they had two interceptions on the day, from sophomore cornerback Amari Gardner and junior corner Eli Thompson. Thompson finished the day with a strong all-around defensive effort, also chipping in a seven-yard sack and five total tackles. Freshman running back Joseph Williams totaled a team-high 55 receiving yards and added in 14 rushing yards. Sophomore receiver Alijah Cason caught four passes for 52 yards. Freshman quarterback Dominic Campanile, in his first career start, completed 19 of his 34 passes, totaling 195 yards in the air.

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell is back at home one last time for a conference game against Holy Cross. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15 in Lewisburg.
The Bison are coming off of a 37-19 win over Fordham to snap a three-game losing streak.
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.

Holy Cross at a Glance

Holy Cross enters the contest 1-9 overall with a 1-4 Patriot League record. The Crusaders are coming off of a 38-3 loss to #4 Lehigh.
In their loss to Lehigh, the Crusaders had two interceptions on the day, from sophomore cornerback Amari Gardner and junior corner Eli Thompson. Thompson finished the day with a strong all-around defensive effort, also chipping in a seven-yard sack and five total tackles.
Freshman running back Joseph Williams totaled a team-high 55 receiving yards and added in 14 rushing yards. Sophomore receiver Alijah Cason caught four passes for 52 yards. Freshman quarterback Dominic Campanile, in his first career start, completed 19 of his 34 passes, totaling 195 yards in the air.
Holy Cross has utilized five different players at quarterback this season. Cal Swanson has played in six games and leads the bunch with a statline of 86-for-163 for 1,021 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions.
Jayden Clerveaux leads the team in rushing with 124 attempts for 555 yards and four touchdowns. He has a season-long rush of 67 yards.
Max Mosey is the Crusaders leading receiver with 42 catches for 388 yards.
Cam Santee leads Holy Cross' defense with 94 total tackles (35 solo, 59 assisted), 11 TFL, 2.5 sacks, five pass breakups, two QBH and two forced fumbles.
Ethan Moss is the Crusaders punter. He has 55 punts for 2,093 yards with two touchbacks, nine fair catches, 12 inside the 20 and seven 50+ yard punts. His season long punt is 67 yards.
Luis Palenzuela is 7-for-11 on field goals with his season long being a 34-yarder.
Owen Saraceno handles kickoff duties for Holy Cross and has had 36 kickoffs for 2,183 yards with seven touchbacks and one kick out of bounds.

Bucknell / Holy Cross Series

This will be the 42nd meeting between the two teams since 1925, when they first met.
Holy Cross leads the series 28-13 and has gone 13-7 in Lewisburg.
The Crusaders are on a six-game winning streak over the Bison.

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 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 3 field goals away from tying the career record and one field goal away from tying the single-season record.

Milestone Watch

Charlie Kreinbucher is 65 yards away from a career 500 receiving yards.
Nick Hoying is 15 tackles away from 150 total tackles.
Michael Cadden is 112 rushing yards away from 500.

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 was on the road for two games against Lafayette and Cornell.
The final four games of the season are all against conference opponents. Bucknell hosted Georgetown on Oct. 25, traveled to Fordham on Nov. 8, takes on Holy Cross at home on Nov. 15 and then ends its 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 1070 AM (WKOK). 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.

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