Lehigh is not going to the playoffs, but several local kids are

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/ FROM KEITH GROLLER Lehigh may have been snubbed by the NCAA tournament committee, but Lehigh Valley football fans have plenty of options if they want to root for local kids at the FCS level. Colgate, Villanova and New Hampshire are all in the 20-team field and feature locally-produced players. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Patriot League champion Raiders (8-3) will play Wagner (8-3) at noon on Saturday on Staten Island. Colgate is on a seven-game winning streak and Wagner has won eight in a row. These two have played four common opponents -- Albany, Sacred Heart, Holy Cross and Georgetown. Both went 3-1 against those common four. Colgate lost to Albany, Wagner lost to Georgetown. Colgate is making its ninth NCAA playoff appearance and first since 2008. The Raiders are 4-8 all-time in the NCAAs, including a second-place finish in 2003. The winner travels to No. 2-seed Eastern Washington for a Dec. 1 second-round matchup. That will be a 6:05 p.m. kickoff. Colgate features Kris Kent and Adam Bridgeforth (Nazareth), Anthony Orlando (Liberty), Ty Edmond (Southern Lehigh), Jake Kern (Northern Lehigh), and Dan Cason (East Stroudsburg South). Kent has 76 tackles, including 3.5 sacks and an interception. Orlando has nine tackles and an interception and Cason has 32 receptions for 512 yards. ______________________________________________________ Villanova (8-3) will also be on the road, traveling to Long Island to take on Stony Brook (9-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday. The winner takes on third-seeded and second-ranked Montana State (10-1) in the second round. The Wildcats closed out the regular season with a 41-10 win at Delaware on Saturday, a victory which gave Villanova a share of the CAA title with New Hampshire, Towson and Richmond. Villanova is making its 10th playoff appearance since 1989 and won the 2009 national title. The local flavor on the Wildcats roster includes freshman Kevin Gulyas from Central Catholic and sophomore Chris Polony from Whitehall. Gulyas has played in six games and has three catches for 34 yards. Polony has played in five games and has completed six of 13 passes for a touchdown and 56 yards. Former Whitehall head coach Tony Trisciani is the team's defensive backs coach. _____________________________________________________ The University of New Hampshire (8-3) is back in the playoffs and will have a bye before traveling to Wofford (8-3) on Dec, 1 for a second-round game. UNH is 8-3, but coming off a lopsided 64-35 loss to Towson in its regular season finale. It was the second time this season the Wildcats have allowed 64 points in a game. They also surrendered 64 to Old Dominion in a much-talked about 64-61 loss back in September that set numerous offensive records. UNH features Shane and Tad McNeely from Central Catholic, Danny Riley from Northampton, Mike Coccia from Freedom and Joey Orlando from Liberty. Orlando, the only senior of the group, has 45 catches for 533 yards and five touchdowns. Shane McNeely has 27 tackles, including a sack and 2.5 tackles for losses. Coccia has started every game at center for UNH.