Saturday, November 4
Lewisburg, Pa.
12:00 PM
Lehigh University
3-6 , 3-1
42
at
21
Bucknell
4-5 , 1-3
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
28
7
7
0
42
Bucknell
7
7
0
7
21
Fast start, team effort power Lehigh to 42-21 win at Bucknell
11/4/2017 4:20:00 PM | Football
LEWISBURG, Pa. – In its most complete all-around effort of the season, the Lehigh football team built a 28-7 first quarter lead and never looked back in a 42-21 win at Bucknell Saturday at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The Mountain Hawks entered Saturday's action with just six takeaways on the season but Lehigh created four turnovers, the first two of which were turned into 14 early points. Lehigh's defense yielded just 342 yards and 21 points to Bucknell, season lows in both categories.
Offensively, Lehigh gained just 383 yards but had good balance. The Mountain Hawks rushed for 190 yards, led by junior Dominick Bragalone, who rushed 21 times for 136 yards and three touchdowns, his fifth consecutive 100-yard rushing game. Junior quarterback Brad Mayes completed 17-of-25 passes for 193 yards and two touchdowns and was intercepted once.
Senior Troy Pelletier was the top receiver, with nine catches for 97 yards. A four-yard reception on the fourth place of the second half gave Pelletier the Patriot League's career receptions record at 296, surpassing Fordham's Javarus Dudley. Classmate Gatlin Casey was physically able to contribute more than he could in the previous two games and finished with five catches for 88 yards and two scores.
Sophomore cornerback Marquis Wilson led the defense with 10 tackles while classmate Keith Woetzel added nine. Junior Mark Walker and freshman Divine Buckrham each had seven tops, with Walker adding a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and an interception.
The win moves the Mountain Hawks to 3-6 overall and 3-1 in the Patriot League. Lehigh remains in control of its own destiny for the Patriot League title with two games remaining. Bucknell falls to 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the league.
"I'm very happy for our football team coming off the loss at Fordham," head coach Andy Coen said. "Without a doubt the best team effort that we've had all season. Offense, defense and the kick game. Everybody got involved with it and it was great to see get all the turnovers that we had. They were huge. They gave us short fields at times and we were able to put it in and that was a big part of making this game as one sided as it was."
The teams traded punts on their opening possessions, but Walker made his impact felt on the first play of the next drive. After a three-yard run by Bison quarterback Matt Muh, Walker knocked the ball loose, scooped it up and returned it 25 yards to the Bucknell nine yard line.
"I'm really happy for (Mark)," Coen said. "He's had his ups and downs in the program. He's really passionate about football and he's a great student. He's the type of guy that you want to have at Lehigh, so I'm really proud of him."
Two plays later, Mayes hit Casey on an eight yard pass to give Lehigh the lead.
"You could see the difference just having Gatlin out there," Coen said. "When those guys are all out there together, it's hard for anybody to pick a guy. You can't just pick that guy or that guy. We had them all today and that was great."
Bucknell evened things up on the second play of its next drive, as Chad Freshnock split the Lehigh defense and raced 85 yards for the tying score.
A good kickoff return by sophomore Devon Bibbens and a Bucknell personal foul gave Lehigh the ball back at the Bison 44 and on the Mountain Hawks' first play, Bragalone raced 44 yards for a touchdown to put Lehigh back in front 14-7.
On the ensuing kickoff, junior Matt Butler hit Stefone Moore-Green, forcing a fumble that junior Brian Olshanski recovered at the Bucknell 33. Bragalone capped a four-play drive with a seven yard scoring run that put Lehigh up 21-7.
Lehigh capped the 28 point quarter with a 22-yard touchdown run by junior Micco Brisker.
Freshnock's second touchdown run of the game, a 23-yarder, brought Bucknell within 28-14 but Lehigh answered with a 75 yard drive capped by Bragalone's third touchdown, a 29 yard rush down the left sideline to re-establish a three-touchdown lead.
Bucknell put together at 15-play drive late in the half but the Lehigh defense held its own, stopping the drive as senior Quentin Jones picked off Muh at the one yard line.
Both defenses settled down in the second half. Lehigh extended its lead to 42-14 on a 47 yard pass from Mayes to Casey late in the third quarter, while Freshnock's two-yard run with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter accounted for the final score.
Freshnock led Bucknell with 16 rushes for 174 yards and three touchdowns. Muh completed 22-of-37 passes for 144 yards and two interceptions. Walker picked Muh off in the third quarter for Lehigh's fourth takeaway.
"What I love about these kids is they're all here together," Coen said. "They're committed to each other. That was a big part of our talk last night, just being a tight team. We had a lot of guys banged up. We weren't sure who was going to be playing, but we kept talking throughout the week about getting tighter and tighter and we were a really tight football team today."
The Mountain Hawks return to Goodman Stadium next Saturday to host Holy Cross on Military Appreciation Day and Family Weekend. Game time is set for 12:30 p.m. Tickets are available and can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.
EXTRA POINTS… Lehigh has now beaten Bucknell in three straight seasons and 18 times in the last 20 seasons… head coach Andy Coen earned his 80th career victory and his 50th Patriot League victory… Bragalone's three touchdown game was the third of his career… the last one was against Fordham last season… he is now at 999 rushing yards for the season and with one more will become the first Lehigh player to post three 1,000-yard rushing seasons… Casey's two touchdown catches give him 30 total touchdowns for his career… Mayes eclipsed 5,000 passing yards for his career… Lehigh's four takeaways were its most since recording five at Holy Cross last season… junior tight end Jimmy Schulz got his hand on a Bison punt in the first quarter which led to Lehigh's fourth touchdown… junior Ed Mish was 6-for-6 on extra point attempts and kicked off for the first time since the Monmouth game… the Mountain Hawks wore their brown pants for the first time this season, paired with white helmets and jerseys.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
BUCKNELL
Total Yards
383
342
Pass Yards
193
144
Rushing Yards
190
198
Penalty Yards
61
79
1st Downs
21
16
3rd Downs
5
3
4th Downs
0
1
TOP
33:43
26:17
1st Quarter
LEHIGH 7, BUCKNELL 0
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 8 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Mish, Ed kick) 2 plays, 9 yards, TOP 0:41
LEHIGH 7, BUCKNELL 7
BUCKNELL - Freshnock, Chad 85 yd run (Burdick, John kick), 2 plays, 87 yards, TOP 0:59
LEHIGH 14, BUCKNELL 7
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 44 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 1 plays, 59 yards, TOP 0:17
LEHIGH 21, BUCKNELL 7
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 7 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 4 plays, 33 yards, TOP 1:42
LEHIGH 28, BUCKNELL 7
LEHIGH - Brisker, Micco 22 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 8 plays, 52 yards, TOP 4:31
2nd Quarter
LEHIGH 28, BUCKNELL 14
BUCKNELL - Freshnock, Chad 23 yd run (Burdick, John kick), 5 plays, 70 yards, TOP 2:17
LEHIGH 35, BUCKNELL 14
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 29 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:57
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 42, BUCKNELL 14
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 47 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Mish, Ed kick) 7 plays, 76 yards, TOP 3:22
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 42, BUCKNELL 21
BUCKNELL - Freshnock, Chad 2 yd run (Burdick, John kick), 7 plays, 73 yards, TOP 1:53
Game Leaders
CMP
17
TD
2
YDS
193
INT
1
Players Mentioned
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