11/6/2014 1:42:00 PM | 150th Lehigh-Lafayette Game
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By Michael LoRé  Later this month, Lehigh and Lafayette will meet at Yankee Stadium in the 150th meeting of college football's most played rivalry. Michael LoRé, former Lehigh beat writer for the Express-Times, will be catching up with several of the men who produced memorable moments in Rivalry games.  Read more from Michael on his web site: http://michaelslore.wix.com/michaellore  Follow Michael on twitter @michaellore Â
Al Pierce's tenure at Lehigh University began in frustrating fashion.            The former high school running back was adjusting to life as a linebacker and playing on the defensive side of the ball full time for the first time since middle school.            Not only that, but Pierce's conversion was halted after breaking the third metacarpal in his left hand; an injury that kept him sidelined for most of his freshman season with the Mountain Hawks.            "A kid who comes into college wants to come in and play and get on the field as fast as possible and that's what I was trying to do," said Pierce ('11), who needed three screws surgically inserted into his hand. "To get injured in the beginning of the season and not being able to play was super frustrating."            While it was disheartening not being able to kickstart his collegiate career the way he would have liked, Pierce was equally as aggravated, if not more, with the way his senior year began. Just like three years prior, Pierce sustained a preseason injury that postponed the beginning of his season.            During a drill in summer camp, Pierce was backpedaling from his middle linebacker position to cover a receiver.            "They ran a 10-yard route," he recalled. "I turned to run with them. Two steps from stop to full-speed sprint it just popped. I felt it roll up. I knew immediately something wasn't right. I tore my hamstring pretty good.            "That was really frustrating because I felt I was having a really productive camp. The playbook wasn't an issue. I knew my position well. That was probably the most frustrating injury for me because of how much I was anticipating the year. I was up there all summer. That was my actual senior year. The guys I entered with it was our last year together."            Despite rocky starts to his freshman and senior years on South Mountain, Pierce capped his successful career in grand style. The endured hardships of injuries along with Lehigh struggling early in his career made his final two seasons with the Mountain Hawks that much sweeter.            Pierce, who was limited to seven games, concluded the '09 season with a major exclamation point. The Mountain Hawks, who came into the game at 3-7, and rival Lafayette College (8-2) were in the midst of a prototypical seesaw battle in the teams' 145th meeting of college football's most-played rivalry.            The Leopards knotted the score at 21-21 with 1:43 remaining to force overtime at Goodman Stadium. Lehigh quarterback JB Clark put the Mountain Hawks ahead 27-21 in just two plays with an 8-yard TD pass to tight end Alex Wojdowski.            Lafayette had its chance to respond.            Pierce, who had 12 of his season's 35 tackles that afternoon, wasn't going to let quarterback Rob Curley get the best of him again.            The two had a history.            The linebacker attended Moorestown High School in New Jersey. Curley led rival Holy Cross High School in nearby Delran.            "He threw a TD pass to win the game in OT my senior year," said Pierce, recalling Holy Cross' 34-28 win in overtime in 2004. "It was at the end of the year. It's funny that five years later I was in a similar situation in terms of where we were at in the game."            Pierce and the rest of the Mountain Hawks had scouted Lafayette to a 'T,' though. They knew what was coming.            "Coach (David) Kotulski prepared for it several times during the week," Pierce said. "I don't think Curley anticipated me dropping back at the time I did. I kind of knew it was coming as soon as they lined up in the formation they were in. I faked staying up, trying to bait him to throw it behind me and I timed it up, fortunately enough to be in a position to make that play. We had practiced it all week. I recognized the play as it happened."            On Lafayette's first play in overtime, Curley faked a handoff, rolled right and threw the ball to the left side, but Pierce was there lurking and came down with the game-clinching interception.Pierce with the 2010 Lehigh-Lafayette MVP Trophy           "Going through four years with a group of guys, you start off with 30 of them, I think 15 end up being there senior year," Pierce said. "It was just such a great feeling to go out on top with the kids I put in such an effort with and built such a relationship with. For most of us that was the last game we were ever going to play so that memory sticks."            Pierce, though, was able to add to his memories as he was awarded another year of eligibility due to sustaining that hand injury his freshman season.            His fifth year turned out to be the icing on the cake.            Lehigh used the momentum gained from the dramatic win to end the 2009 season as a springboard into the next fall. Pierce, one of the team's captains along with offensive lineman Will Rackley, totaled 110 tackles while leading the Mountain Hawks to a 10-3 record, the Patriot League title and the program's first appearance in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs since 2004. Not only that, but Lehigh won its third straight over the Leopards (20-13) with Pierce being named the game's MVP with 15 tackles.            "I was (on campus) again all summer," said Pierce, who was named to the All-Patriot League first team that year. "To see the effort that was made by all the guys up there in the summertime, I kind of had a good feeling how the season would go."            Pierce, who is a co-founder and CEO of Vergil DV — a Pittsburgh-based architectural design, branding and marketing company — said he plans on attending Lehigh's 150th meeting with Lafayette at Yankee Stadium on Nov. 22.            "It crept up pretty quick," the 28-year-old said. "I don't know if I'm getting older, but time just flies. I'm going out there a few days before to catch up with everyone."            Trips down memory lane with pit stops to Lehigh's 2009 and 2010 victories over the Leopards will certainly be visited.            "No matter what the situation, it's always an extremely competitive game," said Pierce, who also graduated with a master's degree in architecture from the University of Michigan last spring. "I don't know how many games I played in college, but I only remember a handful of them and Lafayette is on the top of that list.            "The Lehigh-Lafayette games are the ones that stand out the most. For me it's only been four years, but if you ask other alumni, they'll say those are the games that stick with them through the years. It's the culmination of four years of hard work and you just leave it all out there on the field. To be able to win like we did my senior year and my fifth year it's just something you never forget."
          
