Rackley, Warren and Coen prepare for Harvard
10/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh closes out non-league action on Saturday as the Mountain Hawks travel to New England to take on the Harvard Crimson. On Wednesday, head coach Andy Coen, along with senior defensive lineman Jon Warren and sophomore offensive lineman Will Rackley gathered at the Copperhead Grille on Airport Road in Allentown to discuss the upcoming showdown with the Crimson.
Below is the transcript of Wednesday’s luncheon.
LEHIGH HEAD COACH ANDY COEN
On last week’s game: “It was a very rewarding game for our football team. I was very happy with our kids, very proud of our kids, and how they came out and played. They’d had two tough weeks losing the games on the last play of the game, but they never doubted themselves. They kept coming out and kept working hard and had a little chip on their shoulder, and really I think they played their most complete game of the season.”
On the offensive production last week: “I was very pleased with how our offense performed this past weekend. It was without a doubt our most productive game. We ran the ball well at the end of the game, really threw the football very well most of the day and we ran a few trick plays as I’m sure everybody enjoyed watching. And they worked about as well as you could draw them up, so that was always nice.“
On the defensive performance: “We really did a nice job of containing the running game of our opposition. Fordham, I believe, on Saturday only ran for about 40 yards of offense … We also did a much better job getting to the quarterback this past weekend. That was really our Achilles heel in the Cornell game. We had five sacks on Saturday and really forced their quarterback into some bad throws.”
On the team’s overall performance: “It was a fairly complete game. We’re not there by a long shot in terms of where we want to be as a football team. We need to keep getting better and better. The message to the kids this week was: your hard work paid off last Saturday; let’s make sure it pays off again this Saturday.”
On playing Harvard on Saturday: “We’ve got a very good football team we’re playing on Saturday. They beat Cornell last week, and we think Cornell is a very good football team. Harvard’s really established themselves over the years as one of the top programs on the FCS level. This year is really no different; they’re led by an outstanding quarterback, Chris Pizzotti.”
On the Crimson’s defensive attack: “Their defense is outstanding. They have not allowed a tailback to rush for 100 yards in over three years. They are a big physical team, really on both sides of the football, and very athletic, so, it’ll be a tough matchup for us.”
On the team’s injury situation: “Unfortunately we did look a little bit like a M.A.S.H. unit yesterday at practice. The worst note on the injury front is that (sophomore running back) Jaren Walker will be out for the season. He unfortunately got hurt in the fourth quarter at the end of the game, so he won’t be playing the rest of the season.”
LEHIGH SENIOR DEFENSIVE LINEMAN JON WARREN
On how the game plan will compare to last season’s plan against Harvard: “We are going to employ a lot of the things from last year. But we’re going to throw in a couple more loops and be able to add another edge and, I guess you could say another weapon to attack this Harvard offense.”
LEHIGH SOPHOMORE OFFENSIVE LINEMAN WILL RACKLEY
On quarterback J.B. Clark’s leadership abilities: “I think he’s leading the offense pretty well. He’s gotten better at executing plays, helping to lead us to work harder and block for him. Over the past few weeks he’s gotten a lot better.”
Lehigh and Harvard get things started at 12:30 on Saturday from Harvard Stadium. The game will be televised live on WFMZ-TV and shown around the world on Lehighsports.com. The game will also be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 AM with Matt Kerr, Kody Fedorcha ’00 and Matt Markus on the call.
