Archive For The “Ryan Spadola” Category
It may be 21 days until the start of Lehigh’s football season, but there’s plenty of football on TV for Lehigh fans to get excited about tonight.
For all the information you need on catching LB Billy Boyko, OG Will Rackley and WR Ryan Spadola this weekend, just check below the flip.
There have been many football offseasons when I’ve covered the possibility of one, or perhaps two, Patriot League players getting signed as free agents playing at the next level.
This offseason, we might see something unprecedented.
Four Lehigh football players – QB Mike Colvin, TE Jamel Haggins, LB Billy Boyko, and, of course, WR Ryan Spadola – all have an excellent chance at finding themselves in NFL training camps in the next couple of months.
One – Spadola – is a strong candidate for being drafted this Saturday.
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When you are looking to make the NFL, every moment, and every all-star game and combine, matters.
This past week, former Lehigh star WR Ryan Spadola, who is currently looking to be one of those guys that play on Sundays, looked to make every moment of his appearance in the Texas vs. The Nation All-Star game matter.
That didn’t just mean the game itself, where Ryan’s stat line read 1 catch for 8 yards, a pass from Tulane QB Ryan Griffin, or the outcome, which was a 24-13 win for the (appropriately named) Nation team over Texas.
(In a strange twist of fate, Ryan didn’t wear the gold helmet of Lehigh at the game, but more on that later.)
It also meant the positive press in the run-up to the game, and the large number of scouts available to see their progress.
In my exclusive Q&A with Ryan about his experience, I talk to him about his experience with the game, what he’s been doing, and what’s next for the Lehigh star.
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Out of 128 seasons of Lehigh football, only ten teams have enjoyed ten victories or more, and the 2012 chapter of Lehigh football was one of those ten rare teams.
Most of the ten victories did not come easy, which, combined with the perception of a weak schedule, had to be the reason why Lehigh was the first 10 Division I-win school since the expansion of the playoffs to 20 teams to be denied a playoff bid.
That shouldn’t take away from the great accomplishment of this 2012 Mountain Hawk team, however.
There is plenty to celebrate from 2012, and plenty of good things to write about.
The cardiac 28-26 victory at sold-out Liberty, in front of nearly 20,000 intense fans, before the Flames would end up being Big South co-champions.
The heart-stopping wins against Fordham, Holy Cross and Georgetown, which all came down to the last play.
And, of course, falling behind 21-10 early to Lafayette in the 148th version of “The Rivalry”, before roaring to a 38-21 victory and shotting out the Leopards for three consecutive quarters.
For this last post of 2012, we celebrate the wins one more time, and unveil the Hawks of the 2012 season.
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(Photo Credit: Express-Times)
For their end-of-the-season awards, the Patriot League released their postseason all-Patriot League teams for both academics and athletics, and unsurprisingly, Lehigh athletes put plenty of athletes on both lists.
Seven Lehigh athletes made the first team offense and defense: senior WR Ryan Spadola, senior OL Mike Vuono made it on offense, and senior DT Sajjad Chagani, senior DE Tom Bianchi, senior LB Billy Boyko, senior CB Gabe Johnson and senior FS Billy O’Brien cracked the first team.
Senior QB Mike Colvin, senior LB Sam Loughery, junior LB Nigel Muhammad and sophomore OL Ned Daryoush all made the Patriot League second team, while Spadola and senior RB Zach Barket made the more important list: the Patriot League All-Academic team.
More academic awards and athletic awards await, but congratulations on these awesome Lehigh athletes for what they’ve accomplished.
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I have some things to do before the 148th this weekend in Easton – namely, two weeks of players of the week (since I forgot for Holy Cross in my zeal to cover the Colgate game) and some links wrapping up last week’s game.
Something that has muted the party this week has been the heartbreaking story of Lafayette QB Zach Zweizig, whose father, 56, tragically died from complications of a stroke earlier this week.
My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. I love “The Rivalry”, I really do. But some things transcend it.
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After the weatherman promised a mostly sunny day on November 10th, the day of the Patriot League championship game at Murray Goodman stadium, there was instead a gray haze that persisted throughout the football game.
Like the weather, the game was also a story of the unexpected.
Few thought the Colgate offense would be held to just 35 points, after creaming Lafayette for 65 points the previous week. Many also were surprised that Lehigh could only manage 90 rushing yards against the No. 7-ranked rushing defense in the Patriot League.
The grey weather didn’t affect the outcome. It didn’t affect the passing game, the running game, or the kicking game.
But on a damp, strange, overcast day in November, the magic ran out for Lehigh. The undefeated Mountain Hawks fell in a war on Saturday, 35-23, busting up a season that almost seemed predestined to be Lehigh’s from the outset.
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We break down the Colgate game – and we give our fearless prediction, below the flip.
Not much more needs to be said about the importance of this game. Essentially, it’s for all the marbles. It’s why both teams practiced in March and April, why they sacrificed their time and energy all fall, why they, essentially, do this.
It’s worth, though, looking at some detail as to how Colgate won these games.
In all four games, Colgate scored a touchdown on their first possession. No punts, no turnovers, no field goals. Touchdowns.
In three of the four games, Colgate scored a touchdown on their second possession. Bucknell forced a punt in their game against the Raiders, but Colgate has mostly scored touchdowns there, too.
My point is that a big part of Colgate’s success has been early success. If football is a game of momentum, the Raiders have been successful in large part by getting out of the gate early, and then just continuing to roll forward. In fact, last week against Lafayette, the Raiders scored eight times in their first eight possessions – seven TDs, and one FG, and that only happened because it was at the end of the half.
Let’s look a little closer at this offense, too.
(Photo Credit: Jerome Gordon/Facebook)The term "Any Given Sunday" comes from the film by Oliver Stone of the same name, but it really comes from Steve Sabol and NFL Films, and the music and sentiment those films provided. "On any given…
(Photo Credit: Liberty Athletics)Two top-notch programs in FCS.Two football programs that are on the map nationally.That's what the matchup down in Lynchburg, Virginia promises this Saturday evening when the Flames host the Mountain Hawks.It also h…
