Lehigh Valley Marketplace

By Carole Gorney

It was getting late on November 18, 1995. It was the last football game of the season for Lehigh University and its arch gridiron rival Lafayette College. School pride and the Patriot League Championship were at stake.

The Lehigh-Lafayette football confrontation–the oldest such rivalry continuously played in the United States–had been held 130 times before 1995, but this game—the 131st—was special in many ways. For one thing, both teams had equal 8-3 records and were vying for the championship; for another, this was the first year that college teams were allowed to play in overtime. Neither team thought much about this new ruling when the game began, but it was to become a major factor in the outcome hours later.

In the first quarter, neither team scored, but in the second they were tied 14-14. In the third quarter, Lafayette took charge of the field with a nine-point lead over Lehigh. The Leopards added another seven points early in the fourth quarter to take a commanding 30-14 lead over the Mountain Hawks, but there were surprises in store…

In an almost miracle come-from-behind effort in the last seven minutes of the game, Lehigh scored 16 points with two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions. The scoreboard at Lehigh’s Goodman Stadium flashed 30-30 as time ran out on regulation play.

Back on the field when overtime began was Brian Klingerman, a Lehigh senior who was playing his very last game of football, and Nicholas Martucci, a freshman who, despite his youth, had played the entire game. When the first overtime ended with both teams failing to score, the game went into a second overtime. Darkness and fatigue became potential foes for the players on both sides.

“We got the ball first,” Martucci recalls, “but we had no choice as to the direction of the goal. We had to play toward the scoreboard end, where I was told the lights were turned up as high as they would go.” By the time Lehigh reached fourth down and its last play, the referees reportedly were ready to call the game. Fortunately for Lehigh, they didn’t.

I remember yelling to the team that [a tie] wasn’t going to happen again.”

Klingerman remembers that he didn’t think it seemed dark to the Lehigh team at all. The players were focused on besting Lafayette, which had beaten them badly the year before. “I remember yelling to the team that that wasn’t going to happen again.” A tie was not an option either for Klingerman, “As a senior, I did not want it to end that way.” And, of course, it didn’t.

In a play that Klingerman says he and quarterback Bob Aylsworth had run many times in the past, the determined senior completed a 14-yard pass with an incredible one-handed catch in the end zone to put Lehigh ahead by six points. After Lehigh successfully kicked for the extra point, Lafayette received the ball. (In college football, unlike “sudden death” in the pros, both teams get possession of the ball for an equal chance at scoring in overtime.)

When Lafayette failed to score, Lehigh clinched the championship. Klingerman, who had scored three touchdowns during the game, was named MVP.

“I was glad we won, but I was also glad the game was over,” Martucci admits. “We were drained physically and mentally. It had been a long week [leading up to the game] with lots of activities, and it was the last game of a long season.”

In the bleachers during the game was William Martucci, Nicholas’ father, Lehigh Class of ’67. An avid Lehigh football fan, he had taken his young son to Lehigh games in the old Taylor Stadium. Ironically–he points out–Nick attended classes as an accounting major in the Rauch Business Center that was built over the site of the old stadium.

The elder Martucci recalls that during the 1995 game he really thought Lehigh would win, but it began to look like the game would end in a tie. “A tie is like kissing your sister,” he quipped. “When Lehigh won, everyone [in the stands] went crazy—we were all jumping up and down. This was a new experience for Lehigh, which hadn’t been used to winning like that.”

In the four seasons that Nick played for Lehigh, Martucci attended all but two of his son’s games. With fatherly pride, he notes that during that time, Lehigh captured a second championship and beat Lafayette each of the four years. “There were ethnic, racial and economic differences among the players, but it didn’t matter. They were a real team. It was a great time.”

When asked about their personal contributions to winning the 1995 championship game, Klingerman and Martucci refuse to take any individual credit. Instead, both cite teamwork. The MVP says, “Every little bit of everybody’s game came into play.” Martucci adds, “When you are part of a team, you are just one of the guys. We all contributed.”

After graduation, Nick, who now lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, played two months for the Oakland Raiders before being cut. It was a different story for Klingerman, who resides in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. “That was the last time I ever touched a football in an actual game,” he reminisces. “For me, that was as good as it gets.”

Watching from the sidelines was Head Coach Kevin Higgins. He had been with the Lehigh coaching staff since 1988, but this was only his second season as head coach. His first season had been less than stellar, with Lehigh getting a trouncing from Lafayette, but Coach Higgins credits the defeat with providing the motivation for the 1995 win, and five more consecutive victories over the Leopards.

Game planning to beat Lafayette began off season and continued during spring practice for the 1995 season, Higgins says. “When the players checked in for fall practice they brought a “Beat Lafayette” sign. That was our focus.”

In the first three quarters of the 1995 championship game, it seemed as if 1994 was going to be repeated, but then all the preparation began to pay off. “Lehigh played as hard as any football team I have ever seen,” according to Higgins. There were also some smart coaching decisions, such as the one made by Offensive Coordinator Dave Clawson, now head coach at Bowling Green, for a draw play for a two-point conversion. “To this day I still tell him it was the best call he has ever made.”

This was the most amazing game I’ve ever been a part of as a coach.

Coach Higgins stayed with Lehigh for five more seasons and another three Patriot League championships (1998, 1999 and 2000). In 2001 he went to the Detroit Lions as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach, and four years later became head coach at The Citadel, where he just received a five-year contract extension. Despite all his experience and years in football, Higgins still states without hesitation that the 1995 Lehigh-Lafayette confrontation was “the most amazing game I’ve ever been a part of as a coach.”

2009 Game Details: The 145th game will be played on November 21, 12:30 p.m. at Goodman Stadium.

Carole Gorney is Professor Emeritus at Lehigh University where, in between attending Mountain Hawk football games, she taught writing and public relations courses for 25 years.