Lehigh University
0-4
Penn
2-0
Penn claims high-scoring slugfest from Lehigh, 65-47
9/23/2017 5:41:00 PM | Football
Junior quarterback Brad Mayes threw for 444 yards and four touchdowns on 26-of-40 passing but three turnovers led directly to 21 of Penn's 35 first-half points. Senior Gatlin Casey was Mayes' top target with 10 receptions for 193 yards and three touchdowns, while classmate Troy Pelletier added 106 yards on seven catches.
Penn (2-0) rolled up 615 yards of total offense, including 366 on the ground. Karekin Brooks led the Quakers with 268 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries and also threw a four-yard touchdown pass.
"Right from the get-go here, I thought it was going to be a shootout, but we just made a couple mistakes that put us in bad situations," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "It was kind of like a ping pong game going back and forth. I thought through it, our kids competed pretty well against a very good football team. They've been the Ivy League champions the last two years for a reason. It was similar in the beginning; it reminded me of our game up there (last year). Obviously, this time Penn really got the better of us."
Lehigh falls to 0-4 for just the third time in 12 seasons under Coen.
After winning the coin toss and deferring its choice in its first three games, Lehigh took the football after winning the toss on Saturday, but Mayes was sacked by Nick Miller on the Mountain Hawks' opening drive. Five plays later Quaker quarterback Will Fischer-Colbrie scored on a one yard run to five Penn the early lead.
The teams traded touchdowns throughout most of the rest of the first half, with the first Mayes-to-Casey connection, plus a four-yard run by junior Micco Brisker and a two-yard touchdown by junior Dominick Bragalone pulling Lehigh even at 7-7, then 14-14 and 21-21.
Penn went up two touchdowns late in the first half as a pair of Mayes interceptions turned into Quaker touchdowns. A one-yard Brooks run put Penn in front for good and then Fischer-Colbrie hit Logan Sharp for a 26-yard score.
Lehigh answered with an eight-play, 78-yard drive as Mayes and Casey connected on a 13-yard score to bring the Mountain Hawks within 35-28 at halftime.
Penn scored on its first two possessions of the third quarter, while Lehigh scored on its first, a 29-yard pass from Mayes to Bragalone, but the Mountain Hawks turned the ball over on downs on their second possession of the half and were never able to get within one score.
Fischer-Colbrie finished 13-of-20 for 235 yards and three touchdowns for Penn, while standout wide receiver Justin Watson caught five passes for 47 yards and scored on a 54-yard rush off a backwards pass.
Bragalone gained a season-high 92 yards in his return to action after missing the Yale game due to injury.
Total yards finished 615-552 in Penn's favor, while Lehigh had 28 first downs to the Quakers' 24.
"There were some positive things," Coen noted. "It's hard to get a lot of positive takeaways when you play these types of games back-to-back. I've never been in this type of situation, but we're just going to go out and continue to get better as best we possibly can. I thought we had a great week of preparation. I felt we had a great week of practice to prepare for this game, and we did a lot of things well. Obviously though, not enough good things, like giving up big plays and things of that nature."
The Mountain Hawks will try again to get into the win column when they visit Wagner next Saturday in their final non-league game of the regular season. Game time is set for 6 p.m. from Hameline Field in Staten Island, N.Y. with audio coverage on ESPN Radio of the Lehigh Valley (1230/1320/1160-AM) and ESPNLV.com.
EXTRA POINTS… Penn's win was its first over Lehigh since 2003 as the Mountain Hawks had won the previous two meetings since the series resumed in 2015… sophomore Keith Woetzel led Lehigh defensively with nine tackles, including one tackle-for-loss… Casey's eight receiving touchdowns are tops in the FCS… he now ranks fourth in school annals with 26 career touchdown receptions… Mayes scored his first career rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter… the previous Goodman Stadium record for combined points in a game was 95, set in Lehigh's 51-44 double-overtime win over CCSU in 2013 and its 58-37 win over Fordham last year… senior Tyler Cavenas registered Lehigh's second sack of the season… the Mountain Hawks recovered a muffed punt for their lone takeaway… all three of Lehigh's takeaways this season have come off of muffed punts with freshman Nate Norris accounting for two of the three recoveries… Saturday's attendance was 5,060… the game was played under sunny and hot conditions with temperatures in the mid 80s.
Team Stats
PENN 7, LEHIGH 0
PENN - Fischer-Colbrie 1 yd run (Soslow, Jack kick), 5 plays, 41 yards, TOP 1:36
PENN 7, LEHIGH 7
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 6 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Henning, Austin kick) 6 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:28
PENN 14, LEHIGH 7
PENN - Brooks, Karekin 3 yd run (Soslow, Jack kick), 3 plays, 64 yards, TOP 1:18
PENN 14, LEHIGH 14
LEHIGH - Brisker, Micco 4 yd run (Henning, Austin kick), 8 plays, 77 yards, TOP 3:29
PENN 21, LEHIGH 14
PENN - Pearson, C. 43 yd pass from Fischer-Colbrie (Soslow, Jack kick) 10 plays, 92 yards, TOP 3:53
PENN 21, LEHIGH 21
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 2 yd run (Henning, Austin kick), 7 plays, 77 yards, TOP 3:00
PENN 28, LEHIGH 21
PENN - Brooks, Karekin 1 yd run (Soslow, Jack kick), 4 plays, 29 yards, TOP 0:34
PENN 35, LEHIGH 21
PENN - Sharp, Logan 26 yd pass from Fischer-Colbrie (Soslow, Jack kick) 2 plays, 31 yards, TOP 0:36
PENN 35, LEHIGH 28
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 13 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Henning, Austin kick) 8 plays, 78 yards, TOP 2:51
PENN 42, LEHIGH 28
PENN - Brooks, Karekin 2 yd run (Soslow, Jack kick), 5 plays, 71 yards, TOP 2:13
PENN 42, LEHIGH 35
LEHIGH - Bragalone, Dom 29 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Henning, Austin kick) 3 plays, 34 yards, TOP 1:26
PENN 49, LEHIGH 35
PENN - Watson, Justin 54 yd pass from Fischer-Colbrie (Soslow, Jack kick) 8 plays, 79 yards, TOP 3:43
PENN 56, LEHIGH 35
PENN - Ryslik, David 4 yd pass from Brooks, Karekin (Soslow, Jack kick) 11 plays, 87 yards, TOP 5:06
PENN 56, LEHIGH 41
LEHIGH - Casey, Gatlin 3 yd pass from Mayes, Brad (Henning, Austin kickblocked) 8 plays, 75 yards, TOP 2:52
PENN 63, LEHIGH 41
PENN - Bokun, Nicholas 21 yd pass from Fischer-Colbrie (Soslow, Jack kick) 7 plays, 66 yards, TOP 4:08
PENN 63, LEHIGH 47
LEHIGH - Mayes, Brad 3 yd run (Mayes, Brad passintercepted), 7 plays, 55 yards, TOP 1:45
PENN 65, LEHIGH 47
PENN - Cammon, Jay 98 yd PAT return
