Saturday, November 26
Durham, N.H.
2:00 PM
Lehigh University
9-3 , 6-0
21
at
64
New Hampshire
8-4 , 6-2
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
0
14
7
0
21
New Hampshire
15
21
14
14
64
Photo by: Ryan Szepan
UNH runs past Lehigh in opening round of FCS playoffs
11/26/2016 7:02:00 PM | Football
DURHAM, N.H. – The No. 18/15 Lehigh football team fell into an early 22-0 hole, which proved too much to overcome as the Mountain Hawks pulled within 36-21, but couldn't get any closer in a 64-21 loss at No. 22/21 New Hampshire in the first round of the FCS Playoffs Saturday in front of 2,240 at Wildcat Stadium.
Sophomore quarterback Brad Mayes was 24-of-43 for 273 yards with a touchdown and interception, in place of senior Nick Shafnisky who didn't start due to illness. The Mountain Hawks' defense did force three turnovers, but Lehigh turned the ball over four times itself after committing just eight turnovers over its first 11 games of the season. Lehigh's four giveaways led to 21 Wildcat points.
New Hampshire outgained Lehigh 637-399, highlighted by a commanding 364-85 advantage on the ground. Lehigh held a 314-273 edge through the air.
Shafnisky did enter into the game, finishing 5-of-13 with a pair of interceptions, while adding a rushing touchdown. Junior Troy Pelletier finished with eight catches for 138 yards while senior Derek Knott recorded eight receptions for 84 yards and classmate Trevor Socarras had seven catches for 44 yards. Sophomore Dominick Bragalone rushed 13 times for 65 yards, highlighted by a 37-yard touchdown scamper.
Senior Evan Harvey and sophomores Sam McCloskey and Kareem Montgomery each had interceptions for the defense.
Lehigh saw its nine-game winning stream come to an end as the Mountain Hawks finish at 9-3. New Hampshire improves to 8-4 and earns a date with No. 4 seed James Madison next Saturday.
"My hats off to Coach McDonnell, his team and his staff," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "They did a great job. We have a good football team. I wish we could've shown it off a little better. New Hampshire did a better job in every way, shape or form. We struggled tackling them. We've done a great job with our secondary all season long, not getting beat on big plays and that was the name of the game today. UNH must've had four or five big plays that they executed and that kind of took us out of our rhythm."
New Hampshire picked off Mayes on the first drive of the game, setting the Wildcats up at the Lehigh 29-yard line. Six plays later, Dalton Crossan ran it in from five yards out to give New Hampshire a 7-0 advantage with 11:20 left in the first quarter.
The Mountain Hawks took the second drive into UNH territory, but were eventually forced to punt. The Wildcats followed by going 80 yards on eight plays, which included a Crossan 43-yard run, leading to a Crossan nine-yard touchdown reception. The ensuing two-point conversation gave UNH a 15-0 lead with 6:28 on the first-quarter clock.
After Lehigh's drive was stopped on downs in its own territory, the Mountain Hawks' defense made a big stand as McCloskey intercepted a fourth-and-two pass, giving the Lehigh offense the ball back at its own 25-yard line.
The Mountain Hawks followed with an 11-play drive into UNH territory, but after converting a fourth-and-one, Shafnisky's first pass of the day was intercepted at the two-yard line. The Wildcats followed by going 98 yards on 10 plays, capped off by a 35-yard touchdown reception from Neil O'Connor to give UNH a 22-0 lead with 10:06 remaining in the second quarter.
Lehigh responded with its first scoring drive of the afternoon, going 76 yards on seven plays. The drive included a big 17-yard reception by Pelletier on third down. Two plays later, Bragalone scampered 37 yards on the right side into the end zone, pulling the Mountain Hawks within 22-7 with 7:19 to go in the quarter.
It took New Hampshire less than two minutes to respond, driving 75 yards on five plays as a 16-yard touchdown run from quarterback Adam Riese gave the Wildcats a 29-7 advantage.
Not long after, UNH went 60 yards on just four plays in less than one minute. A 47-yard reception to the one-yard line was followed by a one-yard touchdown run, giving the Wildcats a 36-7 lead with 2:58 remaining in the second quarter.
UNH got the ball back at its own 22-yard line, but Harvey came up with an interception on the first play of the drive. Two plays player, Mayes found Pelletier, who ran 20 yards into the left side of the end zone. His 12th touchdown of the season pulled the Mountain Hawks within 36-14 with 1:43 on the clock, which proved to be the score at halftime.
Montgomery picked off Riese on the opening drive of the second half, and the Lehigh offense followed by taking it 29 yards. Shafnisky finished the drive with a three-yard touchdown run, pulling the Mountain Hawks within two scores at 36-21 with 12:35 still remaining in the third quarter.
However, New Hampshire answered with a 61-yard scoring drive less than four minutes later. The Wildcats took a 50-21 lead at the end of the third quarter and added two additional fourth-quarter scores to wrap up the 64-21 final.
"Early in the third quarter we got an interception, came down and scored but we couldn't continue that momentum," Coen said. "They were clearly a better football team than we were today."
Riese finished 18-of-30 for 273 yards, with three touchdowns and three interceptions for New Hampshire. Crossan and Trevon Bryant both eclipsed 100 yards rushing with Crossan gaining 184 on 24 carries and Bryant netting 113 on 11. They each scored two touchdowns.
McCloskey led Lehigh with eight tackles, while junior Tyler Cavenas added seven and a sack. The Mountain Hawks lose 17 seniors that helped guide Lehigh to its 11th Patriot League title and 10th FCS playoff appearance.
"They've meant a lot for our program and to me personally," Coen said of the senior class. "They're a great bunch of kids. I credit these guys for getting us back to a higher level. We were able to do it with these guys leading the way. "It's hard to see some of these guys go out on this note because they deserve much better but they're a great bunch of kids and that's really the most important thing."
EXTRA POINTS… The 64 points allowed and 43 point margin of defeat was the most ever for Lehigh in a NCAA playoff game… the last time Lehigh gave up more than 60 points was in a 61-28 loss to Colgate in 1997… the Mountain Hawks came into Saturday with just eight turnovers lost, the fewest in the FCS… Lehigh's 466 points scored in 2016 set a new school record, surpassing the 463 scored by the 1999 team that went 10-2… Lehigh scored 21 points in all three of its losses in 2016… junior Gatlin Casey had four catches for 37 yards… the Mountain Hawks were 9-0 in 2013 when he had a touchdown reception and 0-3 when he did not… for the second straight week and the third time this season Lehigh paired its white jerseys with gold helmets and gold pants.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
UNH
Total Yards
399
637
Pass Yards
314
273
Rushing Yards
85
364
Penalty Yards
0
20
1st Downs
21
28
3rd Downs
6
7
4th Downs
2
0
TOP
28:01
31:59
1st Quarter
LEHIGH 0, UNH 7
UNH - Crossan,Dalton 5 yd run (Ellman,Morgan kick), 6 plays, 29 yards, TOP 1:57
LEHIGH 0, UNH 15
UNH - Crossan,Dalton 9 yd pass from Riese,Adam (Riese,Adam pass) 8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 3:43
2nd Quarter
LEHIGH 0, UNH 22
UNH - O'Connor,Neil 35 yd pass from Riese,Adam (Ellman,Morgan kick) 10 plays, 98 yards, TOP 4:28
LEHIGH 7, UNH 22
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 37 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 7 plays, 76 yards, TOP 2:43
LEHIGH 7, UNH 29
UNH - Riese,Adam 16 yd run (Ellman,Morgan kick), 5 plays, 75 yards, TOP 1:54
LEHIGH 7, UNH 36
UNH - Crossan,Dalton 1 yd run (Ellman,Morgan kick), 4 plays, 60 yards, TOP 0:55
LEHIGH 14, UNH 36
LEHIGH - Pelletier, Troy 20 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Mish, Ed kick) 2 plays, 38 yards, TOP 0:29
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 21, UNH 36
LEHIGH - Shafnisky, Nick 3 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 6 plays, 29 yards, TOP 1:49
LEHIGH 21, UNH 43
UNH - Bryant,Trevon 10 yd run (Ellman,Morgan kick), 8 plays, 61 yards, TOP 3:49
LEHIGH 21, UNH 50
UNH - Presley,Kieran 4 yd pass from Riese,Adam (Ellman,Morgan kick) 12 plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:18
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 21, UNH 57
UNH - Bryant,Trevon 48 yd run (Ellman,Morgan kick), 2 plays, 68 yards, TOP 0:27
LEHIGH 21, UNH 64
UNH - Gray,Evan 25 yd run (Ellman,Morgan kick), 1 plays, 25 yards, TOP 0:06
Game Leaders
CMP
24
TD
1
YDS
273
INT
1
CMP
5
TD
0
YDS
41
INT
2
Players Mentioned
RB
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WR
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DL
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LB
/ Football
WR
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DB
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DB
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WR
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