EASTON, Pa. – Lafayette held off a Colgate second-half charge and posted a 24-10 decision over the Raiders in the opener of the 2020-21 football season.
 
Colgate spotted the Leopards a 14-0 halftime lead but climbed back into the game on Jacob Jaworski's 32-yard field goal in the third quarter and Jake Froschauer's 1-yard plunge early in the fourth.
 
It was 14-10 and the Raiders had all the momentum.
 
Lafayette then drove into Colgate territory on the ensuing possession, the clock winding under the midway point of the final period. The Raiders looked to have forced a fourth-and-10 from the Colgate 24, only to have a personal foul whistled for roughing the passer.
 
The Leopards scored on the next play and then tacked on a short field goal after the game's only turnover.
 
Raiders quarterback Grant Breneman finished 19-of-31 for 237 yards and the one interception. Joshua Szott was the top receiver with five catches for 57 yards. Collin Heard and Milton Braasch II tied for tackle honors with eight apiece.
 
Lafayette's opening touchdown snapped a streak of 13 scoreless quarters and three consecutive shutouts against Colgate, dating to the 2016 season.


 
Bottom Line
• Lafayette 24, Colgate 10

From the Source
• Colgate head coach Dan Hunt: (On the game) "We pride ourselves on running the ball and stopping the run, and we did neither. That's going to dig us a hole every time. Not playing football for a year and a half, you don't know what you're going to get. The effort was good; the execution was not. We made enough mistake to beat ourselves, and Lafayette did not. That's what it came down to.
 
"First games are usually lost and we lost it. They played well enough to beat us. They were running the ball and we weren't stopping the run. That's usually going to be to this type of result."
 
(On the second half) "For most of the night, we were moving the ball pretty well. We would get down to the red zone and make a mistake and get knocked off track, and then not come away with points. You can't do that. When you get down there, you've got to finish.
 
"We were able to get the field goal on the second drive there and then finally get the ball in the end zone. We just couldn't get a stop on that next drive – the drive got extended there. They were able to score and that put us into a situation we didn't want to be in.
 
"We'll keep going and keep practicing hard and we'll keep getting better. The goal is to be better next week than we were this week, and that's what we'll strive for all week long."


 
Stats of the Game
• Saturday's game was the first for Colgate since a 16-0 victory right here in Easton over Lafayette back on Nov. 16, 2019 – a span of 483 days.
• Colgate's loss to Lafayette was the first to the Leopards in Easton since 2011 – the crazy 37-24 overtime defeat. The Raiders had won seven out of eight since then.
• Breneman was 18-of-24 until desperation time, when he missed on six of his last seven attempts.
• Prince Ekwughalu posted his second career sack, a 6-yard takedown in the third quarter.
 
Up Next
• Colgate is home for the next two Saturdays against first Lehigh and then Holy Cross.
• Those two teams met Saturday just over the hill in Bethlehem, with Holy Cross prevailing 20-3.
• Kickoff from Andy Kerr Stadium is 3:30 p.m., with ESPN+ carrying the livestream.