Football Hosts First-Time Opponent Saint Francis for Senior Night

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell will honor its 20 seniors on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. in their home game against Saint Francis. This will be the first time that the Bison and the Red Flashes meet. Bucknell comes into the game 2-2 (0-1 PL) after a loss to #10/10 Lehigh and Saint Francis come in 0-4 (0-1 NEC) off of a loss to Delaware State.

Despite scoring back-to-back touchdowns in the fourth quarter to make it a two-score game with just over six minutes remaining, the Bison fell to the Mountain Hawks by a score of 41-24. In the loss, Ralph Rucker IV broke Bucknell's all-time passing yards record with 291 on the day, putting him at 6,421 for his career. Rucker surpassed Brandon Wesley '13 and his 6,277 career passing yards to become Bucknell's all-time passing yards leader. He went 23-for-34 for 291 yards and two touchdowns in the game to get the record. Rucker also rushed for 35 yards and a touchdown to be the Bison's leading rusher of the night. Sam Milligan led the Bison receivers with 109 yards on five receptions. Nick Hoying and Deuce Geter led the Bison in tackles with six tackles each.

Saint Francis is coming off of a 39-10 loss to Delaware State. In the loss, Brenden Hodge registered six catches for 134 yards, while Nick Whitfield Jr. was 25-for-35 for 265 yards passing. Geno Calgaro paced the defense with 11 tackles.

The contest between Bucknell and Saint Francis will be sponsored by Weiss and will serve as the Bison's Senior Night and Canines at Christy game, where fans can bring their dogs to the stadium to watch the game. Dog tickets cost $10 and the proceeds gathered from the dog tickets will be donated to a local charity.

Media Notes:

When: Saturday, Sept. 27 at 6:00 p.m.

Where: Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium — Lewisburg, Pa.

Watch: ESPN+

Radio: 1070 AM WKOK

Internet Radio: BucknellBison.com

Live Stats: BucknellBison.com

Media Notes: Bucknell

Follow on X: @Bucknell_FB

Bucknell at a Glance

Bucknell continues its four-game home-stand on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. as it takes on Saint Francis at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium. The game will serve as the Bison's Senior Night where 20 seniors will be recognized. It will also be the Canines at Christy game.
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.
The Bison are coming off of a 41-24 loss to #10/10 Lehigh. In the loss, Ralph Rucker IV broke Bucknell's all-time passing yards record with 291 on the day, putting him at 6,421 for his career this far and making him the Bison's all-time passing yards leader.
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.

Saint Francis at a Glance

Saint Francis enters the contest 0-4 overall and 0-1 in the NEC.
The Red Flashes are coming off of a 39-10 loss to Delaware State. Brenden Hodge registered six catches for 134 yards, while Nick Whitfield Jr. was 25-for-35 for 265 yards passing. Geno Calgaro paced the defense with 11 tackles.
Raphael Ekechi leads Saint Francis in rushing with 25 attempts for 93 yards.
Nick Whitfield Jr. is 64-of-104 for 571 yards, one touchdown and five interceptions.
Brenden Hodge leads the Red Flashes in receiving with four receptions for 159 yards.
Geno Calgaro leads Saint Francis' defensive efforts with 47 total tackles (24 solo and 23 assisted). He has 5.5 tackles for loss on the season.
Aidan Cirulli has 28 punts for 1,150 yards on the season. His average punt is 41.07 yards and his longest is 64-yards. Cirulli has had two touchbacks, five fair catches, six punts inside the 20-yard line and six punts over 50-yards long.
Mac Plummer is 1-for-2 on field goals with his season long being a 22-yarder. Plummer has also had one kickoff for 65-yards that resulted in a touchback.
Eli Tucker has had seven kickoffs for 419 yards. He averages 60.5 yards per kickoff and has had four touchbacks.

Bucknell / Saint Francis Series

This will be the first meeting between Bucknell and Saint Francis in program history.

Inside the Record Book

QB Ralph Rucker IV has 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 (46), passing yards (6,421) and completion percentage (.647).
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 178 passing attempts away from the career record for passing attempts.
Ralph Rucker is 242 yards away from the career total offense record.
Ralph Rucker is 44 pass completions away from the career record.

Milestone Watch

Charlie Kreinbucher is 66 yards away from a career 500 receiving yards.
Tariq Thomas is 9 yards away from 1,000 rushing yards.

Bison Award Winners

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.
Senior Night will take place on Sept. 27 against Saint Francis at 6 p.m. and Homecoming will be 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 stay at home for its final game of the four-game homestand. The Bison will take on Richmond at noon on Saturday, Oct. 4 for its homecoming game.

Football Hosts First-Time Opponent Saint Francis for Senior Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

TJ Cadden

Aaron Davis

Deuce Geter

Nick Hoying

Charlie Kreinbucher

Sam Milligan

John Ohnegian

Ralph Rucker IV

Matt Schearer

Tariq Thomas

Terian Williams II

Football Hosts First-Time Opponent Saint Francis for Senior Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

TJ Cadden

Aaron Davis

Deuce Geter

Nick Hoying

Charlie Kreinbucher

Sam Milligan

John Ohnegian

Ralph Rucker IV

Matt Schearer

Tariq Thomas

Terian Williams II

Related Videos