Mountain Hawks, Leopards end spring looking forward to the fall
Lafayette went 4-7 last football season. Lehigh was 2-9.
Anyone who expects either Lehigh Valley Division I program to suddenly become a Patriot League championship contender and FCS-level playoff team based on what happens in a span of 15 practices is only deluding themselves.
But as both programs wrapped up spring drills Saturday about two hours and 15 miles apart, hope for improvement was a common theme.
“The biggest thing of today was to come out of it healthy and I feel like we did,” said Lehigh’s first-year coach Kevin Cahill. “You get to the 15th practice with a limited roster and that’s your No. 1 goal. Our evaluation is not just on today, but on the previous 14 practices as well. I thought it was a little disappointing for the offense. We fell back on some old habits and those are the habits we have to break. We’re good at talking about breaking those habits, but we have to do a better job of actually breaking the habits.”
Lafayette’s second-year coach John Troxell also saw some good and not so good.
“Obviously, you look for teachable moments and things you can correct as well as the good things,” he said. “It’s always good when you can see live work and can evaluate kids because we don’t do much of that during the week and during practice. Overall, I thought it went well. The guys have worked hard all spring and we did what we intended to do which was add some size and strength. Coach Davenport, our sports performance coach, has done a great job and we’re seeing the development of some of these guys. We’re still young, you’re seeing a lot of freshman out here running around.”
Air Lafayette
At Fisher Stadium, the Leopards were able to do something they struggled to do most of last season — make big plays in the passing attack.
Rising sophomore Dean DeNobile threw three TD passes to three different receivers with Carl Smith, Griffin Rooney and Zack Saturn also getting into the end zone. Ah-Shaun Davis also threw a TD, connecting with Rooney and Liberty High product Dallas Holmes caught a pass and the former Hurricanes QB threw one.
Holmes will play tight end and won’t be in a quarterback battle, but Troxell is encouraged by what he sees from the players who will be in the mix.
“It’s going to be great to watch them compete in the summer and have them come into camp ready to go,” Troxell said. “They’re all picking it up after having another year in the system. They’re familiar with it and we have continuity now with the same coaches back teaching the same thing. When you have that every day with every rep and every drill, that’s when you get better.”
DeNobile, who threw for more than 4,300 yards and 44 touchdowns at Morris Catholic in New Jersey, was happy to get a chance to play.
“I thought I played well and this was really the first time I was able to get team reps,” he said. “Coach DiMuzio put me in great position to succeed. I love the play calls he gave me.”
DeNobile said he loves the team. “I was welcomed with open arms when I got here last summer,” he said. “All of the quarterbacks get along well. They’ve helped me so much and I hope I’ve helped them. We’re all looking forward to next season. I can’t wait.”
Neither can Nahjee Adams, the Easton High graduate entering his junior season. He had at least one sizable gain on a run and another on a pass reception.
“I made a couple of plays here and there and as a general base I think I did good,” he said. “I think I could have done a little better and there are things I still need to clean up. But as a team I think we did every well. The offense did a good job of proving ourselves and the defense did as well. To come out here and showcase ourselves for the fall was big and hopefully we can get that roll running.”
Good times at Goodman
Lehigh changed up the past format for the Brown and White game with some interactive stuff that included kids fielding punts and end zone celebrations. There was extra attention paid to an improved fan experience.
“This is supposed to be fun,” Cahill said. “We play a sport and sports are fun. Yes, we’re competitive and all that stuff and we’re trying to focus on that. But we also want the fans to be here and enjoy Lehigh football. This used to be a powerhouse in the northeast. Is that where we are now? No. But is that the vision? Yes. We’ve got to get back to that, but we wanted to give people a taste of what’s going on here and we’re here to have fun while we’re still working our butts off to get the results that everybody wants. But there’s a long process for that.”
What Lehigh fans have always wanted is winning football, preferably with a lot of points being scored.
There was just one touchdown on Saturday and it came on a pass from Brayten Silbor to Eric Johnson. It was a much better moment for Silbor than the last time fans saw him at Goodman Stadium when he suffered a major injury and had to be carted off the field in a loss to Bucknell last October.
“There was a lot of uncertainty about him as a freshman about what was going on with him and how he was doing,” Cahill said. “He is a freshman. He is 18 years old. He is from Arizona. We’re in Pennsylvania. We’re not next door. You think about having to deal with all of that and having to adjust and I think he has done that and had a tremendous spring.”
At the same time, Cahill said all of the quarterbacks have been doing a great job.
“Dante has done a great job, but it has been good to see Brayten back on his two feet and performing well. The sky’s the limit for him.”
But mostly it was a day for the defense, especially defensive ends Stephon Bland and Drew DeMorat.
“Those guys did a great job,” Cahill said. “We talk about our core values and they represented our core values today. They said we’re going to be gritty, we’re going to be tough. We’re going to push through no matter what for the betterment of the team. They probably took 60 reps and didn’t get much a break. That’s why we took some breaks with special teams to get give them a break. There were others too, but two really stuck out.”
Lehigh and Lafayette both open their seasons on Sept. 2. The Mountain Hawks will host Villanova while the Leopards will visit Sacred Heart in Fairfield, Connecticut.