For Homecoming Weekend, the Orange and Blue’s football team matched up with Lafayette for the first Patriot League game of the season.

The game was scoreless in the first quarter, as both teams were struggling to put points on the board. Coleman Bennett ’24 made an impressive 97-yard run in the opening kickoff, but could not convert the run to make points.

The Bison had many scoring opportunities in the first quarter, but had difficulty capitalizing early in the game. 

Rushawn Baker ’25 managed to score a touchdown late in the second quarter to give the Bison a late lead in the game. Lafayette eventually overcame the Bison in points, showing the score 10-6, with the Leopards in the lead. 

The Leopards made another touchdown and capitalized on a field goal, still taking the lead from the bison in the third quarter. Lafayette made another touchdown and field goal in the fourth quarter, but the Bison answered this one. Bennett scored his first touchdown of the season with just a few minutes left in the fourth quarter, trying to come back in the game. 

Marques Owens ’25 caught three catches for 44 yards, while Josh Gary ’26 caught three for 41 yards. Ben Allen ’23 led the game with 10 tackles, Tyler Alston ’24 came up with nine tackles and one and a half sacks, and Patrick Quinlivan ’25 had a sack.

Ethan Grady ’25 completed 20 out of 40 passes for 199 yards during the game. Bucknell tallied 307 yards for the game, while the Leopards only tallied 257. Though the Bison lost in points, they were dominating and controlling the game through each play. 

“I think we’ve shown flashes of being a great team and we’ve had very productive parts of each game,” Grady said. “The key is going to be maintaining consistency and stringing those good moments together into a complete game.”

The Bison compete in their next match against Holy Cross on Oct. 8 at 4 p.m. You can stream the game to support Bucknell Football on ESPN+ and tune in to the live stats on the Bucknell Football website.