Spring training for the Lehigh football team is a month long and culminates in an intra-team scrimmage played in front of family members, alumni and friends.
Junior quarterback Dante Perri said the month-long period gives off a camp-like atmosphere, and that because the players are going up against each other, a competitive spirit is always present.
“The energy is high, the tempo is high and if you are not performing, guys will hold you accountable,” Perri said. “If I throw an incompletion, I have to hear it from the whole defense and the whole sidelines.”
Junior Hank Shapiro catches the football during practice at Frank Banko Field on April 9. The 2022 football game schedule was announced in February, and the team has already begun practicing for the upcoming fall season. (Chunjing Yang/BW Staff)
First-year coach Mike Moyseenko, who is the passing game coordinator and running backs coach, said coaches have 34 days to fit in 15 practices.
Within those five weeks, the coaches get to work with the players for a maximum of 20 hours each week.
“That’s practices, that’s lifting and that’s meetings,” Moyseenko said. “Depending on the scheduling, we are practicing three to four times a week with meetings, and on off days the guys are getting lifts in to try and maintain the gains that they made since getting back to campus a couple of months ago.”
The Lehigh football team completes drills at Frank Banko Field on April 9. The spring season is meant to prepare the team for the beginning of the regular season in September. (Chunjing Yang/BW Staff)
Moyseenko said the training period is important for the players and the coaching staff in preparation for the fall season.
Junior running back Jack DiPietro said the spring is a good way to get back into a football mindset.
“Refining our craft and reteaching ourselves the plays gets it fresh in our minds for the fall,” he said.
2021 was a tale of two seasons for Lehigh football.
The Mountain Hawks failed to score a touchdown in their first six games, scoring a total of nine points in that span.
Things took a turn after they scored 28 points during their Oct. 23 loss to Fordham.
The team erupted for a combined 118 points in its final five games, translating to three straight wins at the end of the season, including the season finale against Lafayette in the 157th edition of The Rivalry.
DiPietro and Perri said that the team wants to continue this momentum from last fall, bringing it through the spring season and into the next regular season.
Lehigh football team members run sprints at a spring practice on April 9. The Mountain Hawks will begin their fall 2022 season with a game at Villanova on Sep. 2. (Chunjing Yang/BW Staff)
“The knock on us this whole year is that we are young, and we don’t have experience,” Perri said. “Now these guys that are young are getting a whole year under their belt, and now we can start perfecting what we do.”
The Lehigh Football Spring Game will take place on April 23 at Goodman Stadium, and the fall season begins with an away game at Villanova on Sept. 2, 2022.
“No more excuses of being young,” DiPietro said. “People are going to be surprised with what we put on the field in the fall.”
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