Saturday, September 2
Bethlehem, Pa.
12:30 PM
Lehigh University
0-1
35
vs
38
Villanova
1-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Villanova
7
21
7
3
38
Lehigh
7
7
14
7
35
Second-half rally falls short as No. 17 Lehigh drops opener to No. 10/9 Villanova, 38-35
9/2/2017 5:04:00 PM | Football
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - In a game that featured over 900 yards of combined offense, No. 9/10 Villanova outlasted No. 17 Lehigh, 38-35, in the season opener for both sides Saturday at Goodman Stadium. The Wildcats jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead and never trailed as Villanova always seemed to have an answer to a Lehigh comeback attempt.
Junior Brad Mayes threw for 406 yards and four touchdowns, completing 33 of his 49 pass attempts. Mayes' three-yard touchdown pass to senior Gatlin Casey brought Lehigh within three with 4:58 to play but the Mountain Hawks never got the ball back as Villanova picked up two first downs to run out the clock.
Lehigh had a pair of 100-yard receivers on the day as junior Luke Christiano tallied a game-high 143 receiving yards in his first-career start and senior Troy Pelletier caught 11 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. Pelletier, a preseason All-American, moved into second place on Lehigh's all-time receptions list, passing Ryan Spadola and now needs to four to tie Lehigh's all-time career mark. Among Christiano's 143 yards was a 66-yard touchdown on the second play of the second half, which pulled Lehigh within seven. Casey tallied 64 receiving yards and added two touchdown receptions as well. Junior Dom Bragalone rushed for 82 yards on 25 carries, with a touchdown.
Matt Butler led Lehigh's defense with nine tackles and a forced fumble while Kareem Montgomery tallied seven tackles.
"I thought we had every opportunity to win this football game," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "I thought our players prepared to get the job done. When you look at this, you're going to see a lot of mistakes. You see it from some young guys because we did have a lot of young guys playing in a first game type of situation, but we had some guys who were just out of character today in doing some things."
Villanova jumped out of the gates quickly with a 4-play, 67-yard drive that resulted in a 13-yard catch and run by Ryan Bell. After 1:40, the Wildcats led 7-0.
The Mountain Hawks responded even the score at seven apiece with a 13-play, 74-yard drive capped off by a four-yard run from junior Bragalone with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter.
The Wildcats used a strong rushing attack to build a two-touchdown lead in the second quarter behind an 18 yard touchdown run by Zach Bednarczyk and a 14 yard run from Matt Gudzak.
Lehigh pulled within 21-14 with 4:10 remaining in the second quarter as Pelletier capped off a 13-play, 70-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown reception.
The turning point in the contest was a swing late in the first half. Lehigh had moved to the Villanova 13 yard line but Bragalone fumbled and Rob Rolle retuned the ball deep into Mountain Hawk territory. On the very next play Gudzak ran in from 33 yards to give the Wildcats a 28-14 halftime lead.
Christiano's touchdown two plays into the second half brought Lehigh within seven but Villanova responded less than a minute later with a 75-yard touchdown to regain a 14-point, 35-21 advantage.
The Mountain Hawks pulled back within seven late in the third quarter as a 29-yard reception from Casey pulled them back within 35-28 with 2:15 on the clock.
A Wildcats' field goal gave them a 38-28 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter. Villanova's defense stuffed Mayes on a quarterback sneak on Lehigh's next drive, but the Mountain Hawk defense responded with a stop as sophomore Riley O'Neil broke up a Bednarczyk fourth-down attempt. Mayes then engineered an 11-play, 79-yard drive, capped by the three-yard touchdown to Casey to pull Lehigh within three, but it would be the last time the Mountain Hawks' offense would see the ball.
"That's a very good football team," Coen said of Villanova. "I give them a lot of credit; they were fast and physical, but this was an opportunity for us to beat a very good Villanova team and also to beat somebody from the CAA, which I thought would be very important for us as a program and for our league. No one's really been able to make that happen in a long time.
"I'm not looking at this game as any type of moral victory," Coen concluded. "What we've been here for a long time is winning football games and we had an opportunity to win a game today and we didn't get it done."
Lehigh out-gained Villanova by a slim 484-475 margin. The Mountain Hawks had a 406-209 edge through the air, while the Wildcats held a commanding 266-78 edge on the ground. Lehigh had 24 first downs to Villanova's 21, while time of possession was virtually even.
The Mountain Hawks will take to the road for the first time in 2017 when they visit Monmouth next Saturday. Game time is set for 1 p.m. from Kessler Stadium in West Long Branch, N.J. with video coverage available on ESPN3 and audio coverage on ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160) and ESPNLV.com.
EXTRA POINTS … Villanova has now won six straight games in the series to take a 9-5 lead… Lehigh's lost for the first time in its last 12 games in which Gatlin Casey had a touchdown reception… the Mountain Hawks well to 6-6 in season-openers under Andy Coen and 4-8 in home openers… senior Quentin Jones returned to action after missing the last seven games last year, recording three tackles and returning four punts for 35 yards… junior Donavon Harris had six tackles, including a tackle-for-loss and a pass breakup… Mayes eclipsed 400 passing yards for the second time in six career starts… six players made their first career starts: Christiano, Butler, senior wide receiver Sasha Kelsey, junior guard Eric Hawkinson, junior defensive end Harrison Kauffman and sophomore linebacker Keith Woetzel… Saturday's attendance was 5,816.
Junior Brad Mayes threw for 406 yards and four touchdowns, completing 33 of his 49 pass attempts. Mayes' three-yard touchdown pass to senior Gatlin Casey brought Lehigh within three with 4:58 to play but the Mountain Hawks never got the ball back as Villanova picked up two first downs to run out the clock.
Lehigh had a pair of 100-yard receivers on the day as junior Luke Christiano tallied a game-high 143 receiving yards in his first-career start and senior Troy Pelletier caught 11 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. Pelletier, a preseason All-American, moved into second place on Lehigh's all-time receptions list, passing Ryan Spadola and now needs to four to tie Lehigh's all-time career mark. Among Christiano's 143 yards was a 66-yard touchdown on the second play of the second half, which pulled Lehigh within seven. Casey tallied 64 receiving yards and added two touchdown receptions as well. Junior Dom Bragalone rushed for 82 yards on 25 carries, with a touchdown.
Matt Butler led Lehigh's defense with nine tackles and a forced fumble while Kareem Montgomery tallied seven tackles.
"I thought we had every opportunity to win this football game," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "I thought our players prepared to get the job done. When you look at this, you're going to see a lot of mistakes. You see it from some young guys because we did have a lot of young guys playing in a first game type of situation, but we had some guys who were just out of character today in doing some things."
Villanova jumped out of the gates quickly with a 4-play, 67-yard drive that resulted in a 13-yard catch and run by Ryan Bell. After 1:40, the Wildcats led 7-0.
The Mountain Hawks responded even the score at seven apiece with a 13-play, 74-yard drive capped off by a four-yard run from junior Bragalone with 3:20 remaining in the first quarter.
The Wildcats used a strong rushing attack to build a two-touchdown lead in the second quarter behind an 18 yard touchdown run by Zach Bednarczyk and a 14 yard run from Matt Gudzak.
Lehigh pulled within 21-14 with 4:10 remaining in the second quarter as Pelletier capped off a 13-play, 70-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown reception.
The turning point in the contest was a swing late in the first half. Lehigh had moved to the Villanova 13 yard line but Bragalone fumbled and Rob Rolle retuned the ball deep into Mountain Hawk territory. On the very next play Gudzak ran in from 33 yards to give the Wildcats a 28-14 halftime lead.
Christiano's touchdown two plays into the second half brought Lehigh within seven but Villanova responded less than a minute later with a 75-yard touchdown to regain a 14-point, 35-21 advantage.
The Mountain Hawks pulled back within seven late in the third quarter as a 29-yard reception from Casey pulled them back within 35-28 with 2:15 on the clock.
A Wildcats' field goal gave them a 38-28 lead less than a minute into the fourth quarter. Villanova's defense stuffed Mayes on a quarterback sneak on Lehigh's next drive, but the Mountain Hawk defense responded with a stop as sophomore Riley O'Neil broke up a Bednarczyk fourth-down attempt. Mayes then engineered an 11-play, 79-yard drive, capped by the three-yard touchdown to Casey to pull Lehigh within three, but it would be the last time the Mountain Hawks' offense would see the ball.
"That's a very good football team," Coen said of Villanova. "I give them a lot of credit; they were fast and physical, but this was an opportunity for us to beat a very good Villanova team and also to beat somebody from the CAA, which I thought would be very important for us as a program and for our league. No one's really been able to make that happen in a long time.
"I'm not looking at this game as any type of moral victory," Coen concluded. "What we've been here for a long time is winning football games and we had an opportunity to win a game today and we didn't get it done."
Lehigh out-gained Villanova by a slim 484-475 margin. The Mountain Hawks had a 406-209 edge through the air, while the Wildcats held a commanding 266-78 edge on the ground. Lehigh had 24 first downs to Villanova's 21, while time of possession was virtually even.
The Mountain Hawks will take to the road for the first time in 2017 when they visit Monmouth next Saturday. Game time is set for 1 p.m. from Kessler Stadium in West Long Branch, N.J. with video coverage available on ESPN3 and audio coverage on ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160) and ESPNLV.com.
EXTRA POINTS … Villanova has now won six straight games in the series to take a 9-5 lead… Lehigh's lost for the first time in its last 12 games in which Gatlin Casey had a touchdown reception… the Mountain Hawks well to 6-6 in season-openers under Andy Coen and 4-8 in home openers… senior Quentin Jones returned to action after missing the last seven games last year, recording three tackles and returning four punts for 35 yards… junior Donavon Harris had six tackles, including a tackle-for-loss and a pass breakup… Mayes eclipsed 400 passing yards for the second time in six career starts… six players made their first career starts: Christiano, Butler, senior wide receiver Sasha Kelsey, junior guard Eric Hawkinson, junior defensive end Harrison Kauffman and sophomore linebacker Keith Woetzel… Saturday's attendance was 5,816.
Team Stats
VU
LEHIGH
Total Yards
475
484
Pass Yards
209
406
Rushing Yards
266
78
Penalty Yards
56
30
1st Downs
21
24
3rd Downs
5
5
4th Downs
0
2
TOP
29:48
30:12
1st Quarter
VU 7, LEHIGH 0
VU - Bell, R. 13 yd pass from Bednarczyk, Z. (Kresge, D. kick) 4 plays, 67 yards, TOP 1:40
VU 7, LEHIGH 7
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 4 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 13 plays, 74 yards, TOP 4:45
2nd Quarter
VU 14, LEHIGH 7
VU - Bednarczyk, Z. 18 yd run (Kresge, D. kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:40
VU 21, LEHIGH 7
VU - Gudzak, M. 14 yd run (Kresge, D. kick), 3 plays, 77 yards, TOP 1:30
VU 21, LEHIGH 14
LEHIGH - Pelletier, Troy 2 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Mish, Ed kick) 13 plays, 70 yards, TOP 5:58
VU 28, LEHIGH 14
VU - Gudzak, M. 33 yd run (Kresge, D. kick), 1 plays, 33 yards, TOP 0:08
3rd Quarter
VU 28, LEHIGH 21
LEHIGH - Christiano, Luk 66 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Mish, Ed kick) 2 plays, 75 yards, TOP 0:28
VU 35, LEHIGH 21
VU - Phillips, T. 75 yd pass from Bednarczyk, Z. (Kresge, D. kick) 3 plays, 76 yards, TOP 0:51
VU 35, LEHIGH 28
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 29 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Mish, Ed kick) 4 plays, 40 yards, TOP 1:55
4th Quarter
VU 38, LEHIGH 28
VU - Kresge, D. 32 yd field goal 8 plays, 38 yards, TOP 2:51
VU 38, LEHIGH 35
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 3 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Mish, Ed kick) 11 plays, 79 yards, TOP 4:58
Game Leaders
CMP
33
TD
4
YDS
406
INT
0
Players Mentioned
LB
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WR
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WR
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DB
/ Football
OL
/ Football
DB
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DL
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WR
/ FootballQB
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DB
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DB
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WR
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LB
/ FootballLehigh Sports Central: Football
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