Saturday, October 18
Ithaca, N.Y.
3:00 PM
Lehigh University
1-5
31
at
14
Cornell
0-5
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
17
0
0
14
31
Cornell
0
0
7
7
14
Photo by: Patrick Shanahan
Strong start and strong finish propels Lehigh to first win, 31-14 at Cornell
10/18/2014 6:58:00 PM | Football
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ITHACA, N.Y. – The Lehigh football team raced out to an early 17-0 lead but had to withstand a late Cornell comeback Saturday at Schoellkopf Field. With the Big Red within three midway through the fourth quarter, sophomore Nick Shafnisky capped a 12-play, 78-yard drive with a two yard touchdown run to provide insurance as the Mountain Hawks went on to defeat the Big Red 31-14.
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"After the two fluky touchdowns, the offense finally figured it out and took it to them and finished in the fourth quarter," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said on the ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 postgame show. "It was an excellent drive, all of it coming on the ground except for the one play. It was great to see us finish. We haven't been able to do that. We've had some leads in games but we haven't been able to finish."
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Senior Rich Sodeke rushed for a career-high 147 yards on 23 carries and capped the scoring for the Mountain Hawks with a seven yard touchdown run as Lehigh nabs its first win and improves to 1-5 on the season.
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Lehigh was held scoreless for more than 41 minutes in the middle of the game but responded with a strong finish to earn the victory. The Mountain Hawks out-gained the Big Red 379-273 on the day, including 173-88 on the ground.
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"I though the kids played really well (on defense) today," Coen said. "We got pressured them. We got a couple interceptions to stop drives. We scored a touchdown off of a kickoff. I thought all of the defensive kids played really well today."
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Shafnisky finished 18-of-34 for 206 yards and rushed 16 times for 17 yards and two scores. Senior Josh Parris led the receiving corps with 84 yards on a career high-tying eight catches.
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Lehigh won the toss and deferred its choice to the second half. The Mountain Hawk defense opened the game with a 3-and-out, highlighted by a sack from senior Tim Newton. On its first drive, Lehigh marched 56 yards in 13 plays, highlighted by a 28-yard pass from Shafnisky to junior Stefan Sansone on 4th-and-9. The drive stalled inside the Cornell ten and sophomore Ryan Pandy's 32 yard field goal gave Lehigh the early 3-0 lead.
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The Lehigh defense came up with another 3-and-out on Cornell's next possession, and the Mountain Hawks came away with points from their second possession. Sodeke ripped off a 59-yard run down to the Big Red one, which set Shafnisky up for a one yard touchdown.
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On the ensuing kickoff, junior Randall Lawson stripped Luis Uceta and senior Jason Suggs recovered and ran the ball in from ten yards out. Pandy's extra point put the Mountain Hawks up 17-0.
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The second quarter featured no scoring with Lehigh hurt by several pre-snap penalties. The Mountain Hawk defense did its part as interceptions by sophomore Brandon Leaks and junior LaQuan Lambert thwarted Cornell drives and gave Lehigh a 17-0 halftime advantage.
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Total yards in the first half were 192-104 in Lehigh's favor. Shafnisky was 10-of-16 for 102 yards passing and rushed for 13 yards and a TD. Sodeke was the top ground gainer with 71 yards on eight carries while Parris was Shafnisky's top target with four catches for 40 yards.
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With Lehigh unable to add to its lead, Cornell got on the board with 3:42 left in the third quarter as Jake Jatis found Collin Shaw for a 58 yard touchdown as Shaw collected a rebound after Leaks deflected the pass. The extra point cut Lehigh's lead to 17-7.
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The Mountain Hawks continued to let Cornell hang around, despite good field position. A bad snap on a Lehigh punt gave the Big Red the ball at the Lehigh 41. On the next play Kyle Gallagher hit Shaw for 40 yards down to the Lehigh one. Three plays later Gallagher's two yard pass to Matt Doneth brought the Big Red within 17-14 with 8:31 to play.
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Lehigh answered with its best drive of the day to add to its lead. Sodeke opened the drive with a 19-yard run and then picked up three yards on 3rd-and-2. Facing 3rd-and-7 from the Big Red 21, Shafnisky scrambled left and lobbed a pass over a defender to Parris to ran down to the Cornell two yard line. On the next play, Shafnisky dove in from two yards out for his second rushing touchdown of the day.
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On Cornell's next possession, the Mountain Hawks forced three incompletions before Newton and junior Matt Laub sacked Gallagher for a loss of 15 on fourth down. Two plays later, Sodeke capped his career day with a seven yard touchdown to account for the final margin.
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For Cornell, Jatis and Gallagher combined to go 17-for-44 for 185 yards. Both quarterbacks threw one touchdown and one interception. Shaw led the Big Red with 119 yards on four catches.
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"It has been way too long, but it feels good to get this win," Coen said. "I'm happy for our kids. We played well today, but there were still way too many penalties and procedural-type things. Obviously it's going to be nice to coach off a win for the first time.
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The Mountain Hawks return to Goodman Stadium next Saturday to host No. 12/13 Fordham on Homecoming and Family Weekend. Kickoff is set for 12:30 p.m. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling 610-7LU-GAME or by visiting LehighTickets.com.
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EXTRA POINTS… Suggs' fumble return touchdown was the first for Lehigh since Tim Newton scored from two yards out at Colgate last year… sophomore Pierce Ripanti led the defense with eight tackles… Lawson made his first career start at strong safety… the Mountain Hawks were credited with eight pass breakups, with freshman Quentin Jones accounting for three… Lehigh snapped its six game losing streak dating back to last season… the Mountain Hawks are now 10-14-2 all-time versus Cornell… Lehigh wore white pants with its white jerseys for the first time this season… Saturday's homecoming attendance at Cornell was 14,333.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
COR
Total Yards
379
273
Pass Yards
206
185
Rushing Yards
173
88
Penalty Yards
50
30
1st Downs
18
13
3rd Downs
6
6
4th Downs
1
2
TOP
35:01
24:59
1st Quarter
LEHIGH 3, COR 0
LEHIGH - Pandy, Ryan 32 yd field goal 13 plays, 56 yards, TOP 4:57
LEHIGH 10, COR 0
LEHIGH - Shafnisky, Nick 1 yd run (Pandy, Ryan kick), 5 plays, 82 yards, TOP 1:39
LEHIGH 17, COR 0
LEHIGH - Suggs, Jason 10 yd fumble recovery (Pandy, Ryan kick)
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 17, COR 7
COR - Shaw, Collin 58 yd pass from Jatis, Jake (Wells, John kick) 5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:21
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 17, COR 14
COR - Doneth, Matt 2 yd pass from Gallagher, Kyle (Wells, John kick) 4 plays, 41 yards, TOP 1:48
LEHIGH 24, COR 14
LEHIGH - Shafnisky, Nick 2 yd run (Pandy, Ryan kick), 12 plays, 78 yards, TOP 5:05
LEHIGH 31, COR 14
LEHIGH - Sodeke, Rich 7 yd run (Pandy, Ryan kick), 2 plays, 8 yards, TOP 0:51
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
18
TD
0
YDS
206
INT
0
Players Mentioned
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DL
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RB
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DB
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