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NEW YORK (AP) Ross Scheuerman ran for a school-record 304 yards and scored three touchdowns on Saturday at Yankee Stadium, leading Lafayette past Lehigh 27-7 in the 150th edition of the most-played rivalry in college football.
For the first time since 1891, the Patriot League rivals from Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley played at a neutral site, and the Leopards (5-6, 3-3) and Mountain Hawks (3-8, 2-4) turned out to be a huge hit in the Bronx. A sellout crowd of 48,256 was the second-largest for a college football game at the new Yankee Stadium, which has now hosted four regular-season games and four Pinstripe Bowls since it opened in 2009.
Lafayette turned to senior third-string quarterback Zach Zweizig to start for the first time this season after its top two QBs went down with foot injuries in the last two weeks. Zweizig finished 13 for 23 for 166 yards with a 23-yard touchdown pass to Matt Mrazek in the fourth quarter, capping his career with milestone victory.
Lafayette leads the series 78-67-5.
Scheuerman (pronounced Sherman like the tank, appropriately) handled the heavy lifting for the Leopards with 45 carries and three catches for 53 yards.
Lehigh broke out new pinstripe uniforms to honor their hosts, but that was the only thing that looked good for the Mountain Hawks in the first half. Lafayette took a 21-0 lead and outgained Lehigh 363-57.
Freshman Chris Leigh gave Lehigh a spark with a 70-yard touchdown run with 2:36 left in the third quarter to make it 21-7.
The teams have been playing since 1884, twice a year in the early days, and haven't missed a date since 1896. The only other time The Rivalry was played away from Lafayette's campus in Easton or Lehigh's in Bethlehem was 1891, when the second of three meetings was held in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
Lafayette athletic director Bruce McCutcheon and his Lehigh counterpart, Joe Sterrett, said they started talking about making the 150th edition of The Rivalry unique four and half years ago. With a lot of help from Mark Holtzman, the executive director of non-baseball events at Yankee Stadium and a Lafayette graduate, the game was moved from eastern Pennsylvania to the south Bronx.
''We wanted to do something different for 150. We could have had it in Easton and it would have been great, but it would have been the same as 148 and the same as 149,'' McCutcheon said at halftime Saturday. ''This is different. This is something these kids will never forget.''
The subways were packed with fans in brown (for Lehigh) and maroon (for Lafayette) on Saturday afternoon, though most retreated back to them before Lafayette got to celebrate in right-center field on a cold evening in New York.
Zweizig hadn't taken a snap in a game this season before starting Saturday.
The senior had seven career starts, but none since last year when he started the first three games and missed the rest of the season with a concussion. Drew Reed and Blake Searfoss had shared the quarterback job this season, but Reed injured his right foot in win over Colgate two weeks ago and Searfoss injured his left foot in practice earlier this week.
The two took the tour of Yankee Stadium on Friday with teammates hobbling around on crutches.
Lafayette took the burden off Zweizig by leaning on Scheuerman, who carried 16 times in the first quarter and scored the first two touchdowns on 1-yard plunges.
Scheuerman showed off some speed on his third score of the first half, bouncing around the left end and racing toward the visitors' dugout for a 79-yard TD that made it 21-0 with 7:31 remaining in the half.
Scheuerman had 209 yards on 25 carries in the first half for Lafayette's first 200-yard rushing game since 2008.
