Zach Zweizig

Lafayette College's senior quarterback Zach Zweizig's (#8)'s improbable football path led to his strong performance in the Leopards' 27-7 win over Lehigh Saturday at Yankee Stadium.

(lehighvalleylive.com photo | Matt Smith)

Try to sell Zach Zweizig's story to even the most fantasy-minded of Broadway producers and they'd laugh you out of their little offices on the second floors above the Great White Way.

"Geddaoudhere," they'd say. "Things like that don't happen in New York."

It's one heck of a story.

A Lafayette College football player, afflicted by a painful, crippling injury and family tragedy, comes to the verge of walking away from the sport he loves. But, encouraged by his loyal girlfriend, his avuncular, fatherly coach and his supportive teammates, he sticks it out but winds up riding the bench for his final season.

Until, that is, a series of injuries leaves the player as the team's only healthy, experienced quarterback just five days before the biggest game of the season, indeed of many seasons, the 150th anniversary of college football's most-played rivalry.

Of course the player leads his team to an epic victory by playing almost perfectly.

Geddoudahere indeed. Who could believe it?

Oh, and that success occurred in front of a sellout crowd .... at Yankee Stadium!

You can see our producer doubling over with disbelieving hilarity. "No way!" he'd say.

But in this case reality makes for a better story than fiction because that scenario sketched above is exactly Zweizig's tale, a tale that ended in Saturday's 27-7 Lafayette win over Lehigh, a fairy tale come richly and deservedly true.

A day later Zweizig still shakes his head about it.

"I still can't believe this happened," he said.

Probably Lehigh fans can't either. Their archrivals are down to their third-string quarterback who has not played a down in 14 months? Lehigh supporters had to be licking their chops.

But instead it was Zweizig who feasted on Mountain Hawk meat.

Zweizig was called on late in practice Tuesday when No. 2 quarterback Blake Searfoss broke bones in his foot in a routine non-contact (quarterbacks are never hit, at any time, in almost all football practices at any level) drill.

He was ready.

"It was like a riding a bike," Zweizig said. "It just all came back. I admit I was a little more focused than I usually was in practice."

Wednesday's and Thursday's practices came at a high level. Head coach Frank Tavani called them the best of the year, and Zweizig said the team was "focused and pumped; it was a great week."

"I threw him into that position and he never blinked," Tavani said.

That Zweizig would be the focus of practices during Lehigh week couldn't have been conceived a few months before.

He had suffered two concussions in September 2013, one against William & Mary that he admitted he didn't tell anybody about because "I'm a football player, and football players want to play."

The hit at Franklin Field, against Penn, he had no choice about.

"The whole stadium was spinning," Zweizig said. "It was a night game and the lights were shining in my eyes, spinning; I couldn't see the field. The sideline was spinning."

Zweizig was thus launched into a grim, relentless marathon of pain. Imagine a powerful headache every day for months on end.

"I was in my biggest fog," he said. "My head hurt all day. I'd stay in my room, try to relax, and my head hurt. I'd try and study for 20 or 30 minutes and my head would hurt. It was a rough six or even months."

The first hit Zweizig took at Yankee Stadium was the first hit he had taken since that night in Philadelphia, and he knew it was the single test he needed to pass.

"I didn't know what would happen when I took the first hit," he said. "I got hit, landed on the ground, and when I got up I was fine, I just knew I was fine. I was kind of nervous about my first hit but I was fine and everything just fell into place."

The same happened with Zweizig's mental makeup. He had been staggered by the recent deaths of his grandfather, who he was very close to, and, tragically, far too young, his father, Jonathan.

Tavani, without getting into detail, made it clear Zweizig was really struggling with the aftermath.

"We've spent a lot of time together in my office," he said. "We've gotten to be very close. Zach has actually taught me a lot."

The combination of all the stresses on Zweizig culminated with his deciding to give up football this summer – a decision he wound up reversing.

"My girlfriend told me I might regret it, I might miss an opportunity, and she knew I'd be happier playing," Zweizig said. "And I'd never quit anything in my life."

And from that decision to give football one more chance came, eventually, the glory that was Rivalry 150 at the House that Ruth Built, where he completed 13 of 23 passes for 166 yards, including the clinching touchdown, with no interceptions.

Zweizig may have had a little help Saturday.

"Before my dad died he told me he'd be sitting on the goalpost, making the ball bigger or smaller, whatever we needed, for a miracle play," Zweizig said. "I don't always believe in that kind of thing but I kind of felt it Saturday. I knew my dad and grandfather were there. I was talking to my grandmother before the game, and she said she knew they were smiling down on me. Everything aligned perfectly for me."

So perfectly it was almost a fantasy, so perfect a scenario no one would ever buy it on the stage, or in a film, or as a book.

But it's a true story – and one that should never be forgotten as long as Lafayette plays football. As Tavani said, Zweizig's example should show the value of tenacity, never giving up and determination for generations to come. There may well never be a better story, in fact, in this storied and fantastic rivalry.

Zach Zweizig strode into history Saturday – a case of reality being one heck of a lot more compelling than any fiction.

Brad Wilson may be reached at bwilson@express-times.com. Follow him on Twitter @bradwsports.