WASHINGTON – A new look Gallaudet University football team took to Hotchkiss Field here Friday night as the Bison began the 2025 season and started a new chapter in its long and storied history.
Gallaudet, the nation's deaf and hard of hearing University and Home of the Huddle, welcomed a new head coach to the sidelines for the first time since 2010 as
Stefan LeFors debuted his new look offense against Albright College.
The non-conference game turned into a defensive struggle as the Lions eked out a 9-7 victory before a crowd of 824 under the lights in the nation's capital.
"I give credit to Albright for winning the defensive battle against us. Tonight, featured two teams giving their all, we just came up a little short," said LeFors after the game.
Gallaudet (0-1) had a chance to take the lead late in the fourth quarter but sophomore kicker
Adem Mahassini (Long Island City, N.Y.) pushed his 29-yard field goal left with 3:42 left in the game.
The Bison got the ball back one final time under two minutes but a costly personal foul penalty and dropped passed ended GU's night.
"I am very proud of this team for what they showed tonight on the field in the season opener. We made big strides and take away a lot of positives to build from. There are also some areas we need to improve in, I'm confident we will get there," added LeFors.
GU took a 7-6 lead at the 9:49 mark in the second quarter when junior running back
Marcus Brown-Gabriel (Beeville, Texas) hauled in a 22-yard pass from first-year quarterback
JeVaughn Sargent (Laurel, Md.) for a touchdown.
Albright (1-0) was poised to add more points on the ensuing drive as it drove down to the red zone, but quarterback Chase Roberts (21 of 30, 290 yards, one touchdown) had his pass intercepted by
Braxton Heffelfinger (Parma, Idaho) in the end zone. Heffelfinger returned the pick 19 yards as the Lions were kept at bay.
The Bison got bailed out by two Albright pass interference penalties that wiped out interceptions and allowed Gallaudet to march down to the Albright 13-yard line. GU's drive stalled out and Mahassini was summoned to kick a 30-yard field goal but the attempt came up short.
Gallaudet led Albright 7-6 at the half.
Sargent finished 14-for-28, 184 yards and one touchdown pass and ran the ball eight times for 14 yards. Brown-Gabriel led all-rushers with 84 yards on 13 carries (6.5 yards per rush average). Sargent's top targets were seniors
Andrae' Green (Washington, D.C.) and
Jaylen Johnson (Redlands, Calif.) who had five and four catches, respectively. Green finished with 84 receiving yards while Johnson tallied 68.
Roberts and Sargent were sacked four times each as the defensive units were swarmed and provided strong pressure on both passing attacks throughout the game.
Gallaudet's defense had five players register five tackles in the loss. Senior defensive back
Zefan Nathanson (Manor, Texas) led the way with five tackles (four solo) and two tackles for a loss of seven yards and one forced fumble. Fellow senior defensive back
Joshua Saaty (Ada, Okla.) broke up two passes.
Albright got on the scoreboard first with a 73-yard touchdown pass from Roberts to Alden Stickler just 13 seconds into the second quarter. Colin Shaeffer's point after attempt was blocked by
Jaylen Johnson. GU answered with an eight-play, 77-yard drive that saw Sargent connect with Brown-Gabriel on the 22-yard touchdown pass.
Schaeffer redeemed himself in the third quarter with a made 31-yard field goal at the 4:23 mark as the Lions regained the lead, 9-7.
While it was not the outcome the Bison had hoped for the electric home crowd under the lights to begin the season was great to see and it helped to set the tone for a new era of Gallaudet football.
"It was a fantastic atmosphere at Hotchkiss Field tonight, and I want to thank the Gallaudet students and fans for really showing up and cheering us on," said LeFors. "It meant a lot to me in my debut but more importantly it was impactful for our team to see the support. We hope that can continue the rest of the season."
BISON TRACKS
- First-year punter Ryan Ortega (Grayson, Ga.) made four punts for 164 yards (41.0 average per punt) with a long of 48 and one punt that landed inside the 20
- Gallaudet is now 2-6 in night games at Hotchkiss Field
- The Bison are 5-10 in night games since 2008
- This was the second straight year the Bison were limited to single-digit points against Albright. The Lions won, 17-6, last year to begin the 2024 season.
UP NEXT
GU will have two weeks to prepare for its Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) debut at Hotchkiss Field as the Bison welcome Averett University (0-1) for a 1 p.m. conference opener.
Also see:
Gallaudet football head coach Stefan LeFors signs a play to the Bison players during an evening game at Hotchkiss Field.
Gallaudet football head coach Stefan LeFors stands on the sideline during the national anthem of Friday night's night game at Hotchkiss Field.
