Saturday, September 17
Princeton, N.J.
6:00:00 PM
Lehigh University
2-1
34
at
22
Princeton
0-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
0
13
7
14
34
Princeton
3
3
3
13
22
Mountain Hawks earn hard-fought 34-22 win at Princeton
9/18/2011 2:31:00 AM | Football
PRINCETON, N.J. - The Mountain Hawks' offense came alive once again and the defense stood tall when it mattered most, as the Lehigh football team (2-1) pulled out a hard-fought 34-22 win at Princeton on Saturday evening. The No. 16/19 Mountain Hawks used a 13-point second quarter to take a 13-6 lead, which they extended in the second half. Senior Chris Lum posted yet another stellar performance, completing 28-of-38 passes for 384 yards and four touchdowns to lead the charge.
Saturday marked Lum's fourth-straight game eclipsing 300 yards dating back to last season. He is now up to 14 touchdown passes in only three games so far in 2011. His main target was junior Ryan Spadola, who had nine receptions for a career-high 214 yards and three of Lum's four touchdowns. Senior Jake Drwal also had four catches for 41 yards while sophomore Sean Farrell had the other touchdown reception, a two-yard catch in the third quarter.
Sophomore Keith Sherman led the ground attack, gaining 52 yards on nine carries, along with a touchdown. Junior Zach Barket had 15 carries for 44 yards.
“We knew this week we needed to come out and make plays,” Spadola said of his three touchdown effort. “Princeton threw a whole new scheme at us so it took us a quarter to figure out what we were doing. Once we got things figured out the coaches made adjustments we opened up and took advantage of their weak spots and made plays.”The Mountain Hawks received the ball to open the contest, but after three plays were forced to punt. Princeton moved the ball on its opening possession before stalling inside Lehigh's ten yard line. Patrick Jacob booted a 25-yard field goal to give the Tigers an early 3-0 lead.
Lehigh shook off its slow start as the Mountain Hawks took the lead with 13:27 to go in the second quarter as Lum hit Spadola on a deep post for a 49-yard touchdown to put Lehigh in front, 7-3. The drive covered 83 yards in six plays, highlighted by completions to seniors Mark Wickware and Jimmy Jefferson that resulted in first downs.
Junior Gabe Johnson delivered the first turnover of the contest in the second quarter as he grabbed a Wornham pass off a receiver's hands and tip-toed the sideline for his first interception of the season. However, Lehigh's ensuing drive stalled in Princeton territory as the Mountain Hawks turned the ball over on downs.
The Tigers crept within a point on a 28-yard Jacob field goal, but Lehigh put together a strong two minute drill, and extended their lead as Lum and Spadola hooked up for the second time, this time a 12-yard catch-and-run. The extra point attempt failed and the Mountain Hawks took a 13-6 lead into the locker room.
Lehigh out-gained Princeton (0-1) 232-196 in the first 30 minutes. Lum shook off a slow start to finish the first half 16-of-23 for 197 yards and the two touchdowns to Spadola, who caught five passes for 124 yards. Barket was the top ground gainer with 35 yards on nine carries.
As the second half began, Lehigh reasserted its dominance. After forcing Princeton to go three and out, Drwal set the Mountain Hawks up with a punt return into Princeton territory and on the first play, Lum and Spadola connected for the third time, this time for 46 yards to extend Lehigh's lead to 20-6 with 13:56 left in the third.
“Early in the first half he caught a couple,” said Lehigh head coach Andy Coen. “Princeton was trying to play both the run and the pass on an early down but we got Ryan behind them twice. We softened them up a bit and Ryan was able to make some great catches.
Princeton put together a lengthy 13-play drive midway through the third quarter, but once again Lehigh's defense stiffened in the red zone. The Tigers had to settle for their third field goal of the night as Jacob kicked a 20-yarder to cut the Tiger deficit to 20-9 with 2:41 remaining in the quarter.
Lehigh however, was able to answer as the Mountain Hawks marched 76 yards in three plays. Lum threw his fourth touchdown of the game, a two-yarder to Farrell to out Lehigh back up by 16, 27-9.
Princeton offered an immediate response as Ivan Charbonneau returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown as Lehigh's lead was cut to 27-16 with just under 11 minutes remaining.
An onside kick gave the Tigers another chance to climb back into the ballgame, and the Tigers capitalized as Wornham hit Chuck Dibilio on a shovel pass for a 26 yard touchdown. The missed two-pointer put Princeton down 27-22 with 6:49 to play.
The Mountain Hawks answered right back to create some separation, marching 61 yards on 10 plays, capped off by a Sherman two-yard touchdown run to make it 34-22 with less than two minutes remaining.
“We got the ball back with six and half minutes left and I knew we had to throw it,” Coen said. We had a big throw early in the drive to get us going. To run the ball in there for those last 30-40 yards was really big. My hats off to the offensive line, they really stepped up.
Princeton got to Lehigh's 16-yard line on its final drive, but it wasn't nearly enough as the Mountain Hawks held on for their second road win in as many tries.
Lehigh finished with 486 total yards to Princeton's 398; the Mountain Hawks held a 384-232 advantage through the air while the Tigers owned a 166-102 edge on the ground.
“There's no such thing as a bad win,” Coen said. “I feel better than I did a week ago, but we have to get better.”
The Mountain Hawks will return to action next Saturday when they host No. 20/22 Liberty on Homecoming at Goodman Stadium. Kickoff is set for just after 12:30 p.m. and tickets can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME, by visiting the Lehigh ticket office, located in Grace Hall or by logging on to Lehighsports.com.
EXTRA POINTS… Lehigh broke out new brown game pants for the contest… the Mountain Hawks failed to score on their opening possession for the first time this season… senior Jimmy Jefferson made his first career start in a three wide receiver catching four passes for 32 yards… senior Ben Flizack and junior Sajjad Chagani registered quarterback sacks on the night… Spadola was the last Lehigh receiver to catch three touchdowns in a game, as he did so against Bucknell last year… Lehigh is now 3-0 versus Princeton when facing the Tigers in season openers under Andy Coen… The Mountain Hawks moved to 2-0 in road games for the first time since 2006… Lehigh now has 14 wins over Princeton, the most for the Mountain Hawks against any Ivy League team.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
PRIN
Total Yards
486
398
Pass Yards
384
232
Rushing Yards
102
166
Penalty Yards
59
65
1st Downs
22
26
3rd Downs
5
6
4th Downs
1
0
TOP
32:21
27:39
1st Quarter
LEHIGH 0, PRIN 3
PRIN - Jacob, Patrick 25 yd field goal 13 plays, 59 yards, TOP 4:34
2nd Quarter
LEHIGH 7, PRIN 3
LEHIGH - Spadola, Ryan 49 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Divers, Tim kick) 6 plays, 83 yards, TOP 3:03
LEHIGH 7, PRIN 6
PRIN - Jacob, Patrick 28 yd field goal 9 plays, 61 yards, TOP 4:02
LEHIGH 13, PRIN 6
LEHIGH - Spadola, Ryan 12 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Kurfis, Lee rushfailed) 8 plays, 79 yards, TOP 2:36
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 20, PRIN 6
LEHIGH - Spadola, Ryan 46 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Divers, Tim kick) 1 plays, 46 yards, TOP 0:07
LEHIGH 20, PRIN 9
PRIN - Jacob, Patrick 20 yd field goal 13 plays, 47 yards, TOP 3:13
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 27, PRIN 9
LEHIGH - Farrell, Sean 2 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Divers, Tim kick) 13 plays, 76 yards, TOP 6:25
LEHIGH 27, PRIN 16
PRIN - Charbonneau, I 92 yd kickoff return (Jacob, Patrick kick)
LEHIGH 27, PRIN 22
PRIN - Dibilio, Chuck 26 yd pass from Wornham, Tommy (Wornham, Tommy passfailed) 8 plays, 70 yards, TOP 4:05
LEHIGH 34, PRIN 22
LEHIGH - Sherman, Keith 2 yd run (Divers, Tim kick), 10 plays, 61 yards, TOP 4:47
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