Lehigh University Athletics
Lehigh escapes with a 38-35 win
9/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football
Ithaca, NY – Senior Brant Hall passed for 234 yards and two touchdowns to lead eighth ranked Lehigh past Cornell, 38-35, Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field in front of 5,687 fans. With the win the Mountain Hawks improved their regular season win streak to 17 games and recorded their 14th straight win over Ivy League opponents.
Lehigh opened the scoring with a 31-yard field goal by Brian Kelley at the end of the first quarter and extended its lead to 10-0 on a two yard run by Dave Wilson early in the second. The momentum quickly changed near the end of the first half when Cornell’s John Kellner blocked a Lehigh punt and ran it back 39 yards for a touchdown to make it 10-7 at the half.
The Big Red took their first lead of the game when Vic Yanz caught a five-yard pass from Ricky Rahne four minutes into the third quarter. It was a seesaw game for the rest of the third as both teams traded touchdowns before Lehigh grabbed the momentum and scored 21 unanswered points. The Mountain Hawks took a 24-21 lead on a Brant Hall five yard run, extended their lead to 31-21 on a three yard run by Phil Pleasant and finished with a six yard pass from Hall to Darin Henry to make it 38-21. Lehigh needed all 38 points to pick up the win however as Cornell scored two late touchdowns, the latter coming with three seconds to go in the game to make it 38-35. An onside kick was unsuccessful as Lehigh’s Josh Snyder caught the kick off the bounce to seal the win for the Mountain Hawks.
Hall was the offensive leader for Lehigh rushing for 42 yards and touchdown to go along with his two passing touchdowns. Snyder was again his favorite receiver as the two connected six times for 137 yards. Wilson led the ground game rushing for 73 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, despite leaving the game in the third quarter with what appeared to be a serious knee injury.
Defensively, Lehigh held Cornell to just 298 yards of total offense including just 77 yards on the ground. Matt Salvaterra led the Mountain Hawks with nine tackles including one for a loss. Mike Gregorek registered five tackles on the afternoon including a sack. In addition he tallied his first interception of the season. Abdul Byron and Tom McGeoy each chipped in with six tackles.
"I thought our defense did a good job of keeping us in the game during the first half," said head coach Pete Lembo. "We made a lot of mistakes today that we need to work on. We committed entirely too many penalties and didn’t take care of the ball on special teams. With all of the mistakes we made, we still found a way to win the game."
Lehigh committed ten penalties for 91 yards on the afternoon and committed two special teams turnovers.
Lehigh returns home to the friendly confines of Goodman Stadium next Saturday to take on Patriot League foe Towson at 1:05.
Team Stats
Lehigh | Cornell | |
First Downs | 19 | 16 |
Yards Rushing | 204 | 77 |
Yards Passing | 234 | 221 |
Total Yards | 438 | 298 |
Penalties | 10-91 | 6-43 |
Time of Possession | 31:29 | 28:31 |
Passing
Player | Att-Cmp-Int | Yds | TD |
Brant Hall, Lehigh | 31-16-0 | 234 | 2 |
Ricky Rahne, Cornell | 40-25-1 | 221 | 2 |
Rushing
Player | Carries | Yards | TD |
Dave Wilson, Lehigh | 20 | 73 | 1 |
Mike Sutton, Lehigh | 1 | 44 | 0 |
Brant Hall, Lehigh | 11 | 42 | 1 |
Evan Simmons, Cornell | 10 | 34 | 1 |
Receiving
Player | Catches | Yards | TD |
Josh Snyder, Lehigh | 6 | 137 | 0 |
Phil Eversley, Lehigh | 3 | 22 | 1 |
Keith Ferguson, Cornell | 8 | 62 | 0 |
John Kellner, Cornell | 6 | 67 | 1 |
Defensive
Player | Solo Tackles | Assisted Tackles | TFL | Int. | Sacks |
Matt Salvaterra, Lehigh | 5 | 4 | 9 | 0 | 0 |
Abdul Byron, Lehigh | 5 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
Mike Gregorek, Lehigh | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1.0 |
Nate Spitler, Cornell | 5 | 7 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
