Making it through the Rain

While the Yankees were on strike, the Lions pounced

Game of the Day (Day 50)

October 2, 1994

Columbia 28 Lafayette 13


October 1994 was a sad time in New York. It finally began to sink in that the baseball strike would not be settled, wasting the best season the Yankees had put together in 13 years. The NHL strike was on the way, souring the euphoria the city had been enjoying since the Rangers finally won the Stanley Cup a few months earlier.

But Columbia was having a renaissance, and this week 4 game at home against the Leopards provided the best evidence yet that this was a very different Lions team indeed.

Coming off an horrific tie at Lehigh because of a missed PAT, Columbia fell behind early after a 38-yard Lafayette field goal midway through the first quarter. But they answered back with a Jamie Schwalbe to Ryan Ornellas 51-yard pass to set up a Marcellus Wiley 10-yard run for a TD and the 7-3 lead.

Lafayette dominated much of the next 25 minutes of the game, going on a 99-yard TD drive in the second quarter, holding Columbia scoreless in the third, and getting another field goal about a minute into the fourth for a 13-7 lead.

Then coach Ray Tellier's shuttle quarterback strategy started to produce results. Mike Cavanaugh, the running QB, ran for back-to-back touchdowns of 24 and 33 yards and suddenly Columbia was up 21-13. In between those two TD's, Jake Lill recovered a Leopard fumble that ended an impressive drive.

Cavanaugh finished the game with 118 yards on just 12 carries and Schwalbe was 11 of 21 for 138 yards.

The Lions then scored an game-icing TD and Lafayette's 12-game winning streak over Columbia dating back to 1980 was over. A year earlier, the Leopards had pounded the Lions 58-6.

What a difference a year made.