Lafayette hopes for the full Montie vs. Princeton
Lehigh hopes to be Ram tough vs. Fordham
Rent Montie has spent a lot of time waiting his turn to play quarterback at Lafayette College.
He got his opportunity Saturday in the Leopards’ Patriot League opener at Bucknell and made the most of it.
Playing in tough weather conditions, Montie completed 16 of 21 passes for 122 yards and ran for 34 yards and two touchdowns as Lafayette beat Bucknell 24-14 to improve to 2-3 overall while getting the league slate off on the right foot.
“It really felt great,” he said. “It felt really good to feel the support of my team behind me. The offensive line played a great game and we had a good rushing game with Jamar [Curtis] and Jermaine [Conyers] running very well.”
Montie, who got the start in place of the injured Ryan Schuster, admitted it wasn’t a huge passing day in part because of the conditions.
With Schuster sidelined likely for the rest of the season, Montie will look to do more when the Leopards host Princeton at 12:30 Saturday in the final nonleague game on the 2022 schedule.
“It felt really good to get in there because it has been kind of a long time coming for me,” Montie said. “I kind of got to show what I can do.”
Montie is a junior from Palm Harbor, Florida, who arrived at Lafayette in 2020 at the same time COVID-19 affected the entire sports world. No one got to play in 2020 and he didn’t play in the spring of 2021.
Last fall, he got to see some action in early-season games against Air Force and William & Mary, but then an injury kept him out for the rest of the season.
“Last year we had a mantra at the quarterback position of just being the one driving the bus,” Montie said. “Coach [Kort] Shankweiler [a former Lafayette assistant] came up with that for us. It’s a little bit different this year with the offense. Obviously we have a little more control with the RPO offense we run, but at the end of the day, it’s really just about getting your team in the best position to win games. I thought I was able to do that at Bucknell, which was really a testament to the O-line, the defense, and the rest of the day.”
Because the Bucknell game was played in a steady rain, the approach got a little more conservative, especially in the red zone.
Against Princeton, which is 3-0 and has allowed just 37 points in three games, a more balanced attack will likely be needed.
“Princeton’s a good team and they are going to play a lot of Cover-4 and Cover-3 on defense and force you to move the ball down the field instead of making big, explosive plays,” Montie said. “So, we’ve got to be really safe with the ball and stay ahead of the chains. We have to avoid the thirdand-longs and make sure we’re efficient.”
Montie said he feels comfortable with the new offense installed by first-year head coach John Troxell and offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach T.J. DiMuzio.
“In high school we ran an offense more similar to the offense we have now than the one we had last year,” Montie said. “Last year’s offense was more pro-style and under center with big play-action plays. This year, there are more quarterback runs, more run-pass options. My skill set fits this offense better than the old offense.”
Lafayette has its bye week after Saturday’s game and then five straight Patriot League games to the finish line.
“You want to win every game obviously,” Montie said. “But the league games are a little more important to us because they relate to our postseason and getting that championship ring. But we want to change the culture here and want to compete nationally, and not just in our league. We want to start turning heads. It’s a week-by-week process and we’re still young, we’re still trying to find our identity. We just want to keep moving forward.”
Lehigh seeks consistency
While Montie will be the starter for Lafayette at Fisher Stadium, Lehigh coach Tom Gilmore wouldn’t commit to a starter at quarterback for his team’s game against Fordham.
Both junior Dante Perri and freshman Brayten Silbor have played in the past two games, losses to Princeton and Monmouth. Perry has completed 61.6% of his passes for 717 yards, five touchdowns, and five interceptions.
Silbor has completed 46.4% of his throws for 205 yards. He has not thrown a touchdown or an interception in 28 attempts.
“Dante has made a lot of progress since the beginning of last year and Brayten has made a lot of progress since the beginning of this year,” Gilmore said. “They’re both talented players. Obviously, Dante has the experience edge over Brayten, but the way we’re handing it in practice this week is the way we’ve handled it the last couple of weeks. Both are getting a lot of reps with the 1s and we’re putting them in similar situations throughout the course of practice. No matter who starts, you have to have a backup quarterback.”
Gilmore said Perri is a great leader who has established himself in the past two seasons and handled it well when Silbor replaced him the past two weeks.
“Dante handled it great with his interactions and was very supportive,” Gilmore said. “We call it the quarterback room and they’re all supportive of each other and they’re best friends and they support each other and that’s what we want to see and need.”
Gilmore said that despite its 1-4 record, Lehigh is a better team than it was last year.
“We feel there’s still a lot of opportunities out there for us, but we have to grab those opportunities and consistently execute,” he said. “We can’t be up and down. We’re seeing four and five plays that are really good and then we have a breakdown for one reason or another. We just have to keep that focus and discipline for longer periods of time. That has been a big issue for us.”
Fordham (4 -1 ) at Lehigh (1 -4 ) Game time: Storylines:
12 noon Saturday
The No. 16 ranked Rams feature the top-ranked offense in FCS football. They lead in scoring offense (51.8 ppg), total offense (642.2 ypg) and passing offense (430.6 ypg) and also have the top rushing offense in the Patriot League (193.6). Lehigh will have to slow down Fordham’s fast-paced attack and stage long, time-consuming drives on offense itself to keep the Rams offense off the field.
Players to watch: Fordham quarterback Tim DeMorat is leading passer in FCS football with 2,153 yards and 26 touchdown passes in five games. Fotis Kokosioulis is the top receiver with 49 caches for 728 yards and eight TDs. Zaythan Hill, Lehigh’s senior running back, has had two big games against Fordham. Last year, he ran 159 yards on 27 carries and scored three TDS in a 35-28 loss in the Bronx. Freshman wide receiver Geoffrey Jamiel has won back-to-back Patriot League rookie of the week awards. Against Monmouth, he had three catches for 82 yards and has caught at least three passes in every Lehigh game so far.
What to expect: It could be another high-scoring spectacle like last year’s 63-point affair. Fordham has scored at least 48 points in each of its games, but has allowed at least 31. Its lone loss was by a 59-53 margin to Ohio. Lehigh’s defense must get pressure on DeMorat and cause turnovers on defense and be able to run the ball to chew up some clock to have a chance at an upset.
Keith Groller’s prediction: Fordham 45-27
Princeton (3 -0 ) at Lafayette (2-3)
Game time: 12:30 p.m. Saturday Storylines: The Leopards have an opportunity to gain confidence and build momentum entering their bye week and a five-game stretch in the Patriot League to close the regular season. Princeton leads the series with Lafayette 44-4-3 and the Leopards haven’t tamed the Tigers since 2003. Princeton won the last meeting 28-3 in 2019, but the Leopards defense figures to keep this game much more competitive.
Players to watch: Princeton’s offense is led by junior QB Blake Stenstrom who has thrown for 804 yards and four touchdowns in three games. Seniors Dylan Classi and Andrei Iosivas both have more than 250 yards receiving. Freshman Ryan Butler is averaging 5.1 yards per carry and has four TDs. For Lafayette, freshman Jamar Curtis and sophomore Jermaine Conyers, who came to Lafayette along with Troxell, have combined for 226 yards rushing. Julius Young has 21 catches for 165 yards and a TD.
What to expect: Lafayette’s defense is ranked No. 1 in the Patriot League in scoring (18.0 ppg), and red-zone defense (68.4%) and is second in yards allowed (353.4). It’s a unit that has 31 tackles for loss, nine quarterback sacks and five interceptions. To have a chance to end an 11-game losing streak, the defense will have to more takeaways and an offense that averages just 10.2 points and 198.2 yards per game will need its best performance. Keith Groller’s prediction: Princeton 24-17