Gridiron 25-8

[Imogen Petrusky]

Themost anticipated athletic event of the year: Exeter/Andover Weekend. A bright, sunny, Saturday with a chill in the air set the perfect setting for the 142nd clash of Red and Blue. The promise of talent, sportsmanship, and school pride shined through as thousands descended on the Exeter campus to celebrate the oldest rivalry in high school sports.

The third-seeded boys varsity water polo also enjoyed an exciting Saturday as they bested second-seeded Hamden Hall, 10-6, in the semifinal round of the New England Championship Tournament. Big Red, who avenged a loss to Hamden in their lone matchup of the regular season, will travel to Andover tomorrow to square off with top-seeded Brunswick School for the New England title.

Andover boys soccer scored first midway through the first half before doubling up their lead with some tic-tac-toe passing with three minutes to go before the break. The score would remain the same in the final 45 minutes as the Blue earned the 2-0 victory. Dieder Wagner '24 and Aaron Park '24 were strong on the back line for Big Red.

In the 142nd matchup on the gridiron, Exeter capped an exciting day with a 47-20 victory over Andover. The win marks the third straight for Big Red in the series while also earning the Northeast Prep Football Conference outright championship. Exeter (7-1) will await to hear the possibility of a NEPSAC bowl game this week.

As one of the nation's most long-standing and storied rivalries in college athletics, Lehigh versus Lafayette is among the most exciting and largest attended contests every year, no matter the sport. The two schools are located less than 20 miles apart from each other in eastern Pennsylvania and meet annually in most sports, either during the regular season or at the Patriot League Championship. Lehigh athletes and supporters are so passionate about this rivalry, they always claim their two favorite teams are Lehigh and whoever is playing Lafayette.

In fact, known as THE RIVALRY, the Lehigh-Lafayette football game is THE most-played college football rivalry in the nation. The two teams took to the gridiron in 1884, a mere one year after standardized football rules were established. The schools have met every year since 1897 and have not played in only one season since 1884. To this day, the much-anticipated game draws sellout crowds and national media attention, alternating home field advantage between Lehigh's Goodman Stadium and Lafayette's Fisher Stadium in Easton, Pa. Additionally, the week before the Lehigh-Lafayette football game is one of the most energized times on South Mountain. Students, faculty and staff proudly wear their brown and white and participate in Spirit Week, six days filled with campus and student activities that culminate with the gridiron showdown. One of the highlights of the week is the Friday Marching 97 Campus Tour, when members of Lehigh's infamous marching band weave their way through campus buildings, dining halls, classrooms, and even the library, serenading the campus community with all the traditional Lehigh fight songs.

This spirit, intensity of the competition, the importance of the results and yet the sportsmanship and mutual respect of the participants carries across all of Lehigh's sports. For Lehigh student-athletes, alumni and the campus community, the match-up of Lehigh-Lafayette in any sport is one of the most anticipated and often most memorable competitive events of any year, and of many college careers.

History of the two rivals in all sports they compete in shows that Lehigh has dominated the Lehigh-Lafayette series in recent years. Lehigh won the 2022-23 academic year 25-8. In 2021-22, Lehigh won 23-7-1. In 2020-21 it was 18-9.The shortened 2019-20 academic year was won by Lehigh 11-6-1. Previous years featured larger Lehigh margins including 26-6 in 2018-19, 28-4 in 2017-18 and 2016-17, 27-5 in 2015-16, 24-8 in 2013-14, 20-14 in 2012-13, 27-7 in 2011-12, 28-5 in 2010-11, 23-8 in 2009-10 and 22-8-1 in 2008-09.

After forcing a punt on the opening drive of the game, Charlotte took over at its own 14-yard line. The 49ers, looking to shake off a poor offensive performance the week before at Georgia State, proceeded to march down the field, covering the eighty-six yards between them and the goal line in ten plays, with Chris Reynolds finding Grant DuBose over the middle for a seventeen-yard score. With the touchdown pass, Reynolds tied Matt Johnson's program record for touchdown passes. Reynolds would break the record late in the first quarter with another passing score to DuBose.

Middle Tennessee matched the 49ers with their own long scoring drives in the first half, going seventy-five yards in both, with each resulting in a Chase Cunningham touchdown pass. Jimmy Marshall and Jaylin Lane were on the receiving ends of these scoring passes. Where the Blue Raiders were able to best the home team in the first half was with a Zeke Rankin 26 yd field goal. Those three points made the difference as the visitors led 17-14 going into the halftime break.

Charlotte took the opening drive of the second half and drove the ball all the way to the nineteen-yard line, but a tipped field goal attempt fell short, and Charlotte was in need of some type of spark to baring the crowd back into the game. That spark almost came from an acrobatic interception by Lance McMillan, but he was ruled out of bounds. Instead, the 49ers would have to retake possession of the ball by forcing a Middle Tennessee punt. The ball was downed at the eleven-yard line, meaning the home team would need to march eighty-nine yards to hit paydirt. And march they did, taking four minutes off the clock and culminating with Reynolds's third touchdown pass of the night, this one to Elijah Spencer.

Middle Tennessee wasted no time responding. Three plays later, the Charlotte players watched DJ England-Chisolm race fifty-one yards down the home sideline on his way to a touchdown that helped the Blue Raiders retake the lead. Two drives later, Charlotte offered its response, a seventy-seven yard drive with Calvin Camp ripping off the last forty-four on a run as time expired in the third quarter, giving Charlotte the lead heading into the last stanza.

The fourth quarter was setting up to be a battle of wills between two offenses that ended up combining for over a thousand total yards. The points would be plenty. Shadrich Byrd began the fourth quarter scoring by catching a pass and making two Middle Tennessee defenders fall over on his way to a nineteen-yard touchdown to put the 49ers up by eleven. Chase Cunningham and the Blue Raiders were not content to let the game slip away and the QB hit Jarrin Pierce for his fourth TD pass of the night to bring the game back within three points after a successful two-point conversion. Charlotte responded again, marching seventy-five plus yards for the fourth time on the evening with Chris Reynolds adding a one-yard rushing touchdown to go with his four through the air. Middle Tennessee scored again on Cunningham's fifth touchdown of the night, but the 49ers recovered the onside kick to seal the win and start the season 3-1 for the first time since 2014.

Chandler Staton hit a go-ahead field goal from 45 yards out with 5:45 left, and the defense made a key stand before Nate Noel's open-field running clinched a 31-30 victory over longtime rival Marshall on Thursday night in front of 28,377 fans at a rocking Kidd Brewer Stadium.

The biggest crowd for a midweek game at Kidd Brewer Stadium gave the Mountaineers (3-1) a lift as they climbed out of a nine-point hole and erased a fourth-quarter deficit in a win for the first time since midway through the 2017 season at Idaho.

Following Staton's field goal, Marshall (2-2) moved into App State territory, but D'Marco Jackson and Jalen McLeod forced a 6-yard loss after Brendan Harrington quickly disrupted the rushing attempt. Caleb Spurlin's second-down pressure forced a throwaway, and a third-down incompletion led to a punt that gave App State possession at its own 8 with four minutes left.

Noel had gains of 11, 14, 41, and 22 yards on the final drive alone, smartly going down short of the end zone in the final two minutes to prevent Marshall from possibly regaining possession with an eight-point deficit. He finished with a career-high 187 yards on 20 carries.

"I kind of felt like it was a little (too) easy," Noel said of the free path he had once he approached the 5-yard line. "I remembered the situation and knew to fall. I was thinking about the Todd Gurley situation that happened when he fell and scored accidentally and they came back and won."

Corey Sutton had 10 catches for 127 yards with one incredible, rally-starting score, and Thomas Hennigan contributed nine catches for 123 yards to help Chase Brice throw for 283 yards. Defensively, Jackson had another monster game with 14 tackles.

App State and Marshall played every year from 1977-1996 as SoCon rivals, with the Mountaineers' last victory in the series being a 10-3 win in 1995, when Clark delivered a key block on the game's only touchdown.

"I think we were 'bend but don't break'," Spurlin said. "I think that's from offense to special teams to defense. We compete and play hard. There's nothing else to say about that. You watch the film, offense, defense, and special teams all play hard."

Michael Hughes made a TD-saving tackle on the opening kickoff, and a three-and-out stop by App State's defense preceded a nine-play, 80-yard touchdown drive for the Mountaineers. Hennigan made two catches for 43 yards on the series, and Peoples scored the first of his three short touchdowns with 9:38 remaining in the period.

Marshall accounted for the next three scores, but stops at the App State 4 and App State 15 led to short field goals, and the Thundering Herd took a 13-7 lead on a 56-yard touchdown pass early the second quarter.

App State responded with a 15-play, 75-yard touchdown drive that covered 5:23, as Peoples scored on a 2-yard run midway through the quarter. Marshall immediately retook the lead on a 97-yard kickoff return by Rasheen Ali, but the Mountaineers had time for one more first-half drive following a third-down sack from Jalen McLeod.

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