Saturday, September 24
12:30 PM
Lehigh University
2-2
42
vs
28
Princeton
1-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Princeton
7
7
0
14
28
Lehigh
7
14
14
7
42
Lehigh rides another big offensive day to 42-28 win over Princeton
9/24/2016 5:18:00 PM | Football
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Led by the arm of senior quarterback Nick Shafnisky and the instincts of senior linebacker Colton Caslow, the Lehigh football team cruised to its second straight victory against an Ivy League opponent as the Mountain Hawks defeated Princeton 42-28 Saturday afternoon at Goodman Stadium.
After accounting for 388 yards of offense and five touchdowns last week, Shafnisky topped that performance by accounting for 490 yards, including a career-high 461 passing yards to go along with four touchdowns, which tied a career-high. Shafnisky completed 29 out his 36 passes on the day.
On the defensive side of the ball, Caslow had quite the day himself. The Altamonte Springs, Fla. native led the team with seven tackles, including two tackles for a loss, and one sack. Caslow also picked off a pass over the middle of the field in Princeton territory for his first career interception and one of three interceptions on the day for the Lehigh defense.
The Lehigh offense accumulated 621 yards, 157 on the ground and 464 through the air. Junior wide receivers Gatlin Casey and Troy Pelletier put together nice performances as well. Casey tallied a career-high 148 receiving yards with two touchdowns on six receptions while Pelletier had 190 receiving yards and a touchdown off nine grabs. Sophomore running back Dom Bragalone rushed for 126 yards to go along with a one-yard touchdown. Lehigh's six offensive touchdowns were scored by five different players.
"I'm obviously thrilled with the outcome today," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "I thought Princeton was going to be a big challenge for us and they certainly were. I'm really impressed with our players over the last couple weeks. We're practicing at a higher level every week. We keep talking about it being just about us. We only want to worry about what we can control every day. The kids are really buying into that and it's like a brick by brick mentality, like we've talked about with some of our leadership stuff here. It's really paying off for us. The kids are fighting through some adversity.
He concluded, "I was really happy and proud of how these kids came out and fought for what wound up being a 60-minute game."
The Mountain Hawks started the game with an impressive 11-play, 75-yard drive capped off by a 7-yard pass from Shafnisky to senior wide receiver Derek Knott. After the Tigers knotted up the game at seven, the Mountain Hawks impeded a Princeton drive when senior defensive lineman Tyler Cavenas picked off a screen pass in Lehigh territory. Lehigh capitalized on the turnover with a 42-yard deep ball from Shafnisky to Casey to give the Mountain Hawks a 14-7 lead with 11:55 left to play in the first half.
The teams traded touchdowns the rest of the half as the Mountain Hawks went into halftime with a 21-14 lead. Sophomore Micco Brisker gave Lehigh its third score of the day with a three-yard run.
Early in the second half, Princeton was driving for a potential tying score after getting a piece of an Ed Mish field goal attempt, but Caslow came up with a big interception to stop the bleeding. The Mountain Hawks regained momentum and re-established a two-score lead when Shafnisky hit Pelletier on a slant for a 14-yard touchdown pass with 5:14 left in the third quarter as the Mountain Hawks went up 28-14.
Lehigh established is largest lead of the game on its longest play of the season so far as Shafnisky connected with Casey for the second time, this time on a 56 yard, catch-and-run to put the Mountain Hawks up 21 late in the third quarter.
"I knew we were getting big chunks of yards with those throws," said Coen of Shafnisky's career passing day. "When he got banged up a little bit, we still wanted to keep him in the game, but we weren't going to run. He's a tough man. He takes hits and gets up. He's become a really good leader for us and the rest of his teammates have tremendous confidence in him. I wish I could have him for another couple years."
The Tigers sandwiched touchdowns around Bragalone's one-yard run in the fourth quarter, but with Princeton looking to pull within one score late, senior Evan Harvey notched Lehigh's third interception of the game, which allowed the Mountain Hawks to run out the clock.
"It's been a point of emphasis from the beginning," Coen said of the three takeaways. "When I saw that ball on the ground, I don't remember the last time we recovered a fumble. I think one of the guys tried to scoop it instead of just falling on it. After that, I thought we missed our opportunity, but the boys stepped up big with the three interceptions. They were huge, because Princeton was starting to make a run to get back into the game. Without the interceptions, it would have been a lot harder for us."
Princeton's Chad Kanoff completed 19-of-31 passes for 184 yards and all three interceptions. Charlie Volker scored three of Princeton's four touchdowns and rushed for 82 yards.
The Mountain Hawks will wrap-up their non-league slate next Saturday when they travel to New Haven, Connecticut to face Yale. Game time is set for 1:30 p.m. from the Yale Bowl with video coverage on the Ivy League Digital Network and audio coverage on ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley and ESPNLV.com.
EXTRA POINTS… Shafnisky's 29 completions were a career-high, surpassing the 28 completions last week at Penn… the 461 passing yards are the third-highest total in school history… Scott Septimphelter threw for 480 at Lafayette in 1992, while Scott Brunner threw for 467 against Colgate in 1989… Lehigh's last 400-yard passing game also came against Princeton as Brandon Bialkowski threw for 430 against the Tigers in 2013… Lehigh's 621 yards of total offense were the most since gaining 604 in a 69-0 win over Georgetown in 2002… the last time Lehigh had multiple 100-yard receivers before Saturday was Sept. 28, 2013 when Lee Kurfis (117) and Sergio Fernandez-Soto (123) accomplished the feat versus New Hampshire… the Mountain Hawks dominated time of possession for the second straight week, holding a 35:49-24:11 margin… Lehigh's three interceptions were its most since picking off three in its Patriot League Championship-clinching win over Georgetown in 2011… Harvey and senior Brandon Leaks both added six tackles for the Mountain Hawks… Lehigh wore gold helmets, brown jerseys and gold pants for just the second time since the start of the 2010 season… the only other instance was last year's Lafayette game… Lehigh has now won five of the last six meetings with Princeton… the Mountain Hawks are now 14-13 against Ivy League opponents under Andy Coen…Saturday's attendance was 5,493 on Youth Sports Day.
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Story by Zion Olojede '18
Team Stats
PRIN
LEHIGH
Total Yards
442
621
Pass Yards
243
464
Rushing Yards
199
157
Penalty Yards
56
45
1st Downs
28
30
3rd Downs
6
7
4th Downs
2
1
TOP
24:11
35:49
1st Quarter
PRIN 0, LEHIGH 7
LEHIGH - Knott, Derek 7 yd pass from Shafnisky, Nick (Mish, Ed kick) 11 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:19
PRIN 7, LEHIGH 7
PRIN - Volker, Charlie 8 yd run (Rice, Tavish kick), 11 plays, 71 yards, TOP 3:59
2nd Quarter
PRIN 7, LEHIGH 14
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 42 yd pass from Shafnisky, Nick (Mish, Ed kick) 3 plays, 62 yards, TOP 1:18
PRIN 7, LEHIGH 21
LEHIGH - Brisker, Micco 3 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 13 plays, 98 yards, TOP 5:50
PRIN 14, LEHIGH 21
PRIN - Volker, Charlie 22 yd run (Rice, Tavish kick), 8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:33
3rd Quarter
PRIN 14, LEHIGH 28
LEHIGH - Pelletier, Troy 14 yd pass from Shafnisky, Nick (Mish, Ed kick) 4 plays, 51 yards, TOP 1:11
PRIN 14, LEHIGH 35
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 56 yd pass from Shafnisky, Nick (Mish, Ed kick) 5 plays, 74 yards, TOP 2:48
4th Quarter
PRIN 21, LEHIGH 35
PRIN - Volker, Charlie 4 yd run (Rice, Tavish kick), 13 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:53
PRIN 21, LEHIGH 42
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 1 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:11
PRIN 28, LEHIGH 42
PRIN - Lovett, John 12 yd run (Rice, Tavish kick), 7 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:31
Game Leaders
CMP
29
TD
4
YDS
461
INT
0
CMP
1
TD
0
YDS
3
INT
0
Players Mentioned
RB
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WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
DL
/ Football
LB
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WR
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DB
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WR
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