Shane Black, of Stafford, is a member of the Lafayette football team participating in the 150th meeting of college football’s most-played rivalry at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 22. More than 49,000 tickets have been sold for the game, which will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.
Black is a graduate of Mercersburg Academy and a senior.
The two schools, which are located 15 miles apart in Pennsylvania, first met in “The Rivalry” in 1884, one year after standardized football rules were instituted in the United States. Lafayette leads the all-time series 77-67-5 and won the 2013 meeting 50-28 en route to a Patriot League title and an FCS playoff berth.
Much has changed since that initial meeting, including the invention of the football helmet by Lafayette’s George “The Rose” Barclay in 1894, and the forward pass, which Lehigh’s Head Coach Howard R. Reiter’s is credited with helping develop in the early 1900s.
The Rivalry has continued unabated since 1897 making it not only the most played rivalry but the longest continuously played rivalry series in college football. This year marks not only the 150th game, but the 118th consecutive year, and is just the second time it will be played at a neutral site.
