Brown and White Vol. 106 no. 23

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 all the lehigh news first vol 106 no 23 friday december 4 1998 by jenn rauch managing editor hawks claw through spiders web to victory the mountain hawks have once again silenced their skeptics relishing the under dog role lehigh won a last second nail biter in the division i-aa playoffs against richmond university 24-23 sophomore jaron taaffe concluded lehigh's opening-round game by completing a 30-yard field goal with 3 seconds left to play propelling lehigh to a one point victory before 10,254 fans at richmond stadium taaffe who was in the same position in lehigh's last-second 20-19 victory over columbia university capped a 56-yard drive by the lehigh offense which began with 1:12 left in the contest it was the same thing as columbia taaffe said i said to myself if i make this kick we're going to win the game and there was no way i was going to let this be the last game for the seniors on the team lehigh 12-0 will now meet the university of massachusetts in the quarterfi nals of the i-aa playoffs tomorrow in amherst the hawks became the first patriot league team ever to win a i-aa playoff game lehigh also tied a school record with 12 victories and a record 13th win in a row dating back to last season it's a huge win coach kevin higgins said the patriot league championship itself is what you're playing for each year going undefeated put us with some great teams at lehigh when you win a playoff game i think it puts you in another category with guys who not only got to that level but found a way to win against a good opponent richmond 9-3 jumped out to an early 14-0 lead by scoring on two of its first three attempts lehigh managed to tie the game before the half and even took a 21-14 lead early in the fourth quarter but richmond got a field goal with 7:53 remaining and then scored a go-ahead touchdown with 1:18 remaining tailback jasper pendergrass gave the spiders who were the fifth ranked team in the country and the atlantic 10 champi ons the points to go ahead when he ran 5 yards for a 23-21 lead richmond had marched 80 yards on 13 plays that took 4:38 off the clock on the extra point attempt senior quad captain sam brinley managed to come off the right side to block jeff falkowksi's kick this turned out to benefit the hawks who needed the field goal to win rather than tie and send the contest to overtime that block was so big because it pre sented us with so much momentum and con photo courtesy of daphnie sicre phil stambaugh patriot league of player of the year throws another complete pass january commencement speaker announced by kelly height news editor peter g beidler will urge students to take risks and become authors of their own lives peter g beidler lucy g moses distinguished professor of english and win ner of two national teaching awards will give the commencement speech jan 10 at mid-year graduation a week ago farrington asked if i would give the speech beidler said he strongly encouraged me and i was glad to accept the offer beidler is a chaucer scholar known for teaching courses in english and liter ature with a speciality in medieval british literature american literature and con temporary native american literature in his address beidler will encourage graduates to seek out the unusual and take risks in order to create an interest ing life story for themselves and to be the authors of their own lives according to a press release i've been here 30 years and i've heard a lot of commencement speeches beidler said i've always wondered what it would be like to give one beidler is eager to help out the univer sity by giving the speech i really care about lehigh and all of the students he said president farrington feels that it is appopriate to honor beidler in this way he is deeply committed to excellence in education particularly for undergraduate students farrington said he exemplifies lehigh's commitment in education although sloan rother 01 isn't grad uating he listens to beidler speak everyday in class he's a great teacher rother said he's really articulate and always has something constructive to say beidler has received various awards and honors he was named the national professor of the year by the council for the advancement and support of education while at lehigh he received junior and senior lindback foundation award for distinguished teaching he was also a fulbright professor of english in the people's republic of china beidler confessed that he hasn't begun writing the speech i'm not sure what i'm going to say beidler said it will be a challenge a native of bethlehem beidler earned his bachelor's degree from earlham college and his master's and doctorate from lehigh he resides in easton with his wife anne — the office of external relations contributed to this article courtesy of media relations peter g beidler english professor see playoff page 4 mbmnmim i imiiiiihi phi mivamihu ( jjicjl i'll ' i l lwhipii!l the footba " team is zeta psi good scholar check out the chan 9 es on the road to tackle election presents being made in v r ■ umass saturday check for over 33,000 southside bethlehem pez c nd y comes in see page 24 see page 6 see page 9 cottee riavon sports 17,21-24 news 1-7 lifestyle 9-16 men's basketball 17 world news briefs 2 tori amos review 10 women's basketball 23 police reports 3 astral signs 11 source:strangeßuttruewebbite football awards 24 student senate 7 face in the crowd 13 httpy/www.sbt.bhmediacom