Lehigh University
1-4 , 1-0
Georgetown
0-6 , 0-4
Defense dominates as Lehigh blanks Hoyas
10/10/2009 2:30:00 PM | Football
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Mountain Hawks came out with something to prove Saturday afternoon as they defeated the Georgetown Hoyas 27-0 to win their first game of the season in front of 5,789 fans at Goodman Stadium. Lehigh was led by a balanced running attack and a ferocious defense that put pressure on the Hoyas’ freshman signal caller Isaiah Kempf all day. The Mountain Hawks held Georgetown to a total of 125 yards and sacked Kempf eight times. Lehigh Senior captain Matt Cohen led the defense with three sacks and a total of six tackles as the Mountain Hawks improve to 1-4 on the season and 1-0 in the Patriot League.
"Certainly very happy to get this first one under our belt," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said afterwards. "I thought we had a great plan going in and we executed that plan well today. There were a few offensive lapses in the third quarter but it was nice to see them re-group and punch that last touchdown in down there." He continued, "Overall I thought our defense did a great job, guys were flying to the ball and we made life tough for Georgetown today."
Lehigh took the early lead when sophomore Chris Lum connected with junior Craig Zurn for a 17-yard touchdown pass. The drive was set up by a 36 yard punt return from junior Jarard Cribbs who took the ball to the Georgetown 43. Lehigh went for it on fourth and one at the Hoyas 20-yard line to keep the drive alive. Junior Tom Randazza’s extra point attempt was blocked by Georgetown so the Mountain Hawks carried a 6-0 lead into the second quarter.
In the second quarter Lehigh’s special teams set up the Mountain Hawks to score again. On fourth down the Hoyas failed to block Lehigh’s Bryan Andrews as he blocked the punt attempt and Lehigh took over on the Georgetown eight yard line. Lehigh capitalized on the blocked punt when Lum hit sophomore Jake Drawl as he cut across the end zone on a seven-yard pass to give the Mountain Hawks the 13-0 lead.
The Hoyas were able to take their next possession all the way down to the Lehigh 15, but senior Jose Buerba missed a 32-yard field goal attempt to the right.
Lehigh took advantage of the missed field goal and drove 80 yards in just over four minutes and punched in its third score of the game to take a 20-0 lead. Jaren Walker battled his way for seven yards and the score. Walker’s running mate Jay Campbell had a 37 yard run to set up Lehigh deep in Georgetown territory.
Lum finished the first half 5-of-9 with 41 yards and two touchdowns. Campbell finished the half with 66 yards rushing on 10 carries. The Lehigh defense held the Hoyas to only three yards rushing in the half and a total of 101 yards.
After neither team was able to score in the third quarter, Lehigh put the game away midway through the fourth quarter when Lum hit sophomore De’Vaughn Gordon on a slant pattern for his third touchdown pass of the day to give Lehigh a 27-0 lead.
Campbell finished with a career-high 111 yards on 20 carries to lead the Lehigh offense, while freshman Michael Colvin added 45 yards on six rushes. Lum finished 8-of-19 for 67 yards but did throw for three touchdowns. Freshman James Flynn was the Mountain Hawks’ leading receiver with three receptions for 27. "It feels good to get the monkey off our back," Campbell explained in the post game press conference. "We talked about coming out today and establishing momentom not just for today's game but for the rest of the season. We still have a lot of season ahead of us and we're excited about our potential."
Defensively, Cohen was helped out by sophomore Colin Newton who made seven total tackles and added a pair of sacks. "Colin's been doing a great job for us these last two, three weeks. He'll take on blockers no matter their size and he has one thought in mind, to get to the ball."
For the game Lehigh out-gained Georgetown 300-125 including a 219-26 advantage on the ground. The Mountain Hawks held a 16-10 edge in first downs and held the ball for 33:17.
The Mountain Hawks will wrap-up their four-game home stand next weekend when they host Yale on Homecoming. Kick-off is set for 12:30 from Goodman Stadium and tickets can be purchased in one of three ways: by calling 610-7LU-GAME, by visiting the Lehigh Athletics Ticket Office, located in Grace Hall, or by logging onto Lehighsports.com.
GAME NOTES: Lehigh will end its longest home stand since 1991 (four games) next week against Yale … Several members of the Lehigh football team wore pink mouth pieces that were donated to help promote breast cancer awareness … The shutout was the first for Lehigh since its 19-0 win over Drake in the 2008 season opener and the second straight for the Mountain Hawks over Georgetown at Goodman Stadium (45-0 in 2007)… junior Casey Eldemire made his second career interception in the third quarter… Saturday’s game will be replayed Sunday morning at 10 a.m. on Service Electric 2 Sports and Thursday morning at 8 a.m. on Fox College Sports Atlantic.
Photography (c) Specialty Photographic, 2009
Lehigh - Georgetown Post-Game Extra
Team Stats
GU 0, LEHIGH 6
LEHIGH - Zurn, Craig 17 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Randazza, Tom kickfailed) 7 plays, 43 yards, TOP 3:32
GU 0, LEHIGH 13
LEHIGH - Drwal, Jake 7 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Randazza, Tom kick) 3 plays, 8 yards, TOP 0:53
GU 0, LEHIGH 20
LEHIGH - Walker, Jaren 7 yd run (Randazza, Tom kick), 11 plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:16
GU 0, LEHIGH 27
LEHIGH - Gordon, De'Vaug 3 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Randazza, Tom kick) 9 plays, 43 yards, TOP 4:28
