Saturday, October 11
12:30 PM
Lehigh University
0-5 , 0-1
24
vs
45
Bucknell
5-1 , 1-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Bucknell
14
10
7
14
45
Lehigh
7
0
3
14
24
Lehigh drops Patriot League opener to Bucknell, 45-24
10/11/2014 4:48:00 PM | Football
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Bucknell opened up a 31-7 lead early in the second half and the Lehigh football team answered with 17 straight points, but the Bison responded with the final 14 points on their way to a 45-24 victory in the Patriot League opener for both teams Saturday at Goodman Stadium. Senior Rich Sodeke tallied 52 rushing yards and 39 receiving yards to help pace the offense while junior Cody Kondas recorded five tackles and a sack. Lehigh (0-5) will vie for its first win of the season at Cornell next Saturday.
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Sophomore Nick Shafnisky was 16-of-30 on the afternoon with a rushing touchdown and four interceptions. The Bucknell defense picked off Lehigh five times on the afternoon. Freshman Chris Leigh tallied his first-career touchdown run while senior Derek Gaul had three catches for 57 yards, all in the second half.
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Bucknell (5-1) entered Saturday's game without the services of starting quarterback R.J. Nitti and tailback C.J. Williams due to injury, but Trey Lauletta stepped up to complete 15-of-20 passes for 313 yards and four touchdowns. Wideout Will Carter caught seven of those passes for 246 yards and three scores.
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"I thought the kids were ready to go and excited to play," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said afterwards. "I have no doubt that they were. But the execution doesn't bear out that excitement and enthusiasm. We turned the ball over five times. One was a fake punt, but we can't have four interceptions in any football game and hope to win."
 Both teams gained one first down on their opening drives before being forced to punt. Lehigh drove 86 yards in just five plays on its second drive, which began on its own 14-yard line. After the first two plays gained 10 yards, the Mountain Hawks went 76 yards over the next three. Shafnisky found senior Tyler Coyle up the middle for a 31-yard gain while a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the play got Lehigh down to the Bison 30. Two plays later, freshman Troy Pelletier took a pitch and ran 19 yards for the score to make it 7-0 Mountain Hawks with 7:51 left in the first quarter.
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Bucknell had an answer on its ensuing drive, going 65 yards on seven plays capped off by a 19-yard pass from Lauletta to Bobby Kaslander. The extra point tied the score at seven with 4:15 left in the first quarter.
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After a Lehigh punt, the Bison used a big play to take its first lead of the afternoon. Two plays into the drive, Lauletta found Carter for a 69-yard touchdown connection which made it 14-7 with 8.7 seconds left in the first quarter.
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The Mountain Hawks went three-and-out on their following drive then Bucknell gained one first down before junior Cody Kondas came up with a big third-down sack to force a punt.
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On Lehigh's ensuing drive, Shafnisky was picked off by Lee Marvel on a third-and-18 throw. Marvel returned the ball back to the Lehigh 18-yard line. It took the Bucknell offense four plays to reach the end zone as a one-yard touchdown run from Matt DelMauro made it 21-7 with 7:34 on the second-quarter clock.
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On a fourth-and-two at their own 37-yard line, the Mountain Hawks attempted a fake punt, but sophomore Austin Devine's pass was intercepted. Bucknell ran out the final 5:28 of the first half and kicked an 18-yard field goal as time expired to make it 24-7 at halftime. The Bison had two chances from the Lehigh one-yard line, but the Mountain Hawks stuffed the run attempts.
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Kondas led Lehigh's defense with five first-half tackles (including a tackle-for-loss) and sack. Shafnisky was 4-for-10 for 56 yards passing while Sodeke ran for 35 yards on nine carries. The Bison held a 244-120 edge in total yards.
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Bucknell struck again on the first play of the second half as Lauletta found Carter with a quick pass to his left. A good block sprung him down the left side and he outran the Lehigh defense 78 yards into the end zone, making it 31-7 just 18 seconds into the second half.
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The Mountain Hawks reached the 48-yard line before Devine unleashed a 51-yard punt. On the first play of Bucknell's next drive, senior Tim Newton forced a fumble and junior Olivier Rigaud recovered at the Bucknell 17-yard line to set up the offense in prime field position.
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The Bison defense came up with a big interception of Shafnisky on a third-down pass as he was eying Pelletier in the end zone, but underthrew the freshman wide receiver.
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Lehigh's defense quickly forced a three-and-out to force Bucknell to punt out of its own end zone. The Mountain Hawks began the drive with great field goal position at the Bucknell 32-yard line and turned that field position into three points. Lehigh reached the one-yard line due in large part to a 20-yard reception by Gaul on fourth down, but a penalty followed by incomplete pass forced a 23-yard field goal from sophomore Ryan Pandy to pull the Mountain Hawks within 31-10 with 5:05 left in the third quarter.
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The Lehigh defense forced a three-and-out and its offense capitalized. The Mountain Hawks' next drive began with an 11-yard reception from Sodeke, a 16-yard catch to get into Bucknell territory and a six-yard rush on a fourth-and-two. Leigh capped off the drive with an eight-yard run for his first-career touchdown to pull Lehigh within 31-17 with 14:02 left in the fourth quarter.
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The Bison gained two first downs on the following drive, but a big sack by senior Isiah Campbell put Bucknell in second-and-18 to change momentum of the drive. Bucknell was forced to punt and Lehigh's offense converted with a second straight touchdown and 17th straight point. It took the Mountain Hawks five plays to go 64 yards, highlighted by a 33-yard reception from Gaul, who stayed on his feet after the initial tackle attempt. The following play, Shafnisky ran nine yards for the touchdown to pull Lehigh within 31-24 with 6:46 still remaining.
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"I lit into the guys at halftime and challenged them to come back from the deficit we were in," Coen said. "Unfortunately, we gave up the big play on the first play of the second half, but after that, there was a pretty good stretch of really good football. We've seen that week after week. It's here and it's there. I'm frustrated as the head football coach that I haven't been able to get them to execute that way play after play because I think they're capable of doing it. I see it. We're just not there."
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The Bison quickly changed momentum back in their favor as Lauletta found Carter for a 77-yard bomb to make it 38-24 with 5:46 on the clock.
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The momentum continued for Bucknell as the defense picked off Shafnisky for a third time on a second-down throw. The Bison offense methodically went 17 yards on seven plays to take a 45-24 advantage with 1:39 remaining, which proved to be the final.
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Final yards were 436-289 in favor of Bucknell, including a 313-193 edge through the air and 123-96 advantage on the ground.
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"I don't know how we're going to get there quickly and it's never a quick fix, but after the game, I challenged each player to do their part," Coen said. "Find a way to be consistent every time you're on the field. Know we're you're supposed to be, execute the right way and have success one play at a time. That's the game of football. Until we can do that consistently, we won't win a game. We need to find it within each game, and it starts with me. We've got another game next week on the schedule. We need to be excited to go up and play Cornell."
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Lehigh heads back on the road for its final non-league game of the season as the Mountain Hawks visit Cornell on October 18. The Mountain Hawks and Big Red last met in 2008 and last squared off in Ithaca, N.Y. in 2001. Game time is set for 3 p.m. from Schoellkopf Field with audio coverage on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 and online at ESPNLV.com.
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EXTRA POINTS … Saturday marked the first home game featuring rain at kickoff since 2009 against Yale… Carter's 246 receiving yards set a Goodman Stadium record previously set by Lee Kurfis last year versus Central Connecticut State… Lehigh's defense recorded six tackles for loss by six different players… sophomore Pierce Ripanti and junior Olivier Rigaud led Lehigh with six tackles apiece… Lehigh failed to rush for 100 yards for the first time in eight games… the last time the Mountain Hawks failed to reach the century mark was last year at Bucknell… the Mountain Hawks lost the turnover battle (-4) for just the second time in five games.
Team Stats
BUCKNELL
LEHIGH
Total Yards
436
289
Pass Yards
313
193
Rushing Yards
123
96
Penalty Yards
55
50
1st Downs
16
16
3rd Downs
9
1
4th Downs
1
2
TOP
35:14
24:46
1st Quarter
BUCKNELL 0, LEHIGH 7
LEHIGH - Pelletier, Troy 19 yd run (Pandy, Ryan kick), 5 plays, 86 yards, TOP 2:21
BUCKNELL 7, LEHIGH 7
BUCKNELL - Kaslander, B. 19 yd pass from Lauletta, Trey (Maurer, Derek kick) 7 plays, 65 yards, TOP 3:36
BUCKNELL 14, LEHIGH 7
BUCKNELL - Carter, Will 69 yd pass from Lauletta, Trey (Maurer, Derek kick) 3 plays, 83 yards, TOP 1:05
2nd Quarter
BUCKNELL 21, LEHIGH 7
BUCKNELL - DelMauro, Matt 1 yd run (Maurer, Derek kick), 4 plays, 18 yards, TOP 1:41
BUCKNELL 24, LEHIGH 7
BUCKNELL - Maurer, Derek 18 yd field goal 13 plays, 40 yards, TOP 5:28
3rd Quarter
BUCKNELL 31, LEHIGH 7
BUCKNELL - Carter, Will 78 yd pass from Lauletta, Trey (Maurer, Derek kick) 1 plays, 78 yards, TOP 0:12
BUCKNELL 31, LEHIGH 10
LEHIGH - Pandy, Ryan 23 yd field goal 10 plays, 26 yards, TOP 4:24
4th Quarter
BUCKNELL 31, LEHIGH 17
LEHIGH - Leigh, Chris 8 yd run (Pandy, Ryan kick), 11 plays, 70 yards, TOP 3:58
BUCKNELL 31, LEHIGH 24
LEHIGH - Shafnisky, Nick 9 yd run (Pandy, Ryan kick), 5 plays, 64 yards, TOP 1:23
BUCKNELL 38, LEHIGH 24
BUCKNELL - Carter, Will 77 yd pass from Lauletta, Trey (Maurer, Derek kick) 2 plays, 79 yards, TOP 0:56
BUCKNELL 45, LEHIGH 24
BUCKNELL - DelMauro, Matt 1 yd run (Maurer, Derek kick), 7 plays, 17 yards, TOP 3:24
Game Leaders
Players Mentioned
TE
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WR
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LB
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WR
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DL
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K
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WR
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DB
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LB
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RB
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