Saturday, September 15
Annapolis, Md.
3:30 PM
Lehigh University
1-2
21
at
51
Navy
2-1
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
7
0
0
14
21
Navy
21
13
14
3
51
Lehigh battles, but big plays and takeaways carry Navy past Mountain Hawks, 51-21
9/15/2018 8:15:00 PM | Football
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Playing its first FBS opponent in 15 years and making its first visit to Navy since 1987, Lehigh fell by a 51-21 score to the Midshipmen Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. The Mountain Hawks hung tough early but five turnovers led to 20 Navy points and the Mids' triple option attack generated enough big plays to go ahead comfortably.
Freshman Rashawn Allen started in place of injured senior Dom Bragalone and made the most of his first career start, carrying 16 times for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Allen scored on a 75-yard run on Lehigh's first play from scrimmage and later powered his way out of a pileup for a 26-yard score.
Navy (2-1) racked up 629 yards of offense including 484 on the ground. Quarterback Malcolm Perry rushed 19 times for 223 yards and three touchdowns. The Midshipmen also had a commanding 37:41-22:19 advantage in time of possession.
Junior Keith Woetzel tied a career high with 13 tackles, including one for loss, while senior Sam McCloskey set a new career high with 10 tackles and 1.5 for loss. The Mountain Hawks fall to 1-2 with the loss.
"We knew coming into this game it was going to be a very challenging game for us," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "Our kids were super excited for this opportunity.
"The defense did a really good job" Coen continued, "It's so hard to contain that option and they hit us for some big plays. The second half we started to do better throwing the football and that opened up some windows for us. Turnovers killed us. If we didn't have all the turnovers, this game could have been a little closer. We got the one turnover late that led to the last score, so there was a lot of positive things."
The Midshipmen took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in seven plays capped by a five-yard Perry run, but the Mountain Hawks answered immediately as Allen bounced outside to his left and outran the Navy defense on Lehigh's first play.
"We knew he was a good player, but I didn't expect him to take his first handoff for 100 yards, or however many yards, for a touchdown, and that was great coming off the score Navy had before," Coen said of Allen's first run. "It kept us in the game from the beginning. There are a lot of positive things, but it's tough, in a lot of situations they were the stronger, faster guys."
Lehigh's defense came up with a stop on Navy's next possession but on the first play of the Mountain Hawks' second drive senior quarterback Brad Mayes' first pass attempt was tipped and intercepted by Jacob Springer.
Navy cashed in, taking the lead on a 24-yard touchdown run by Perry, the start of 41 unanswered points scored by the Mids.
Lehigh turned the ball over two more times in the opening half, with Navy adding two touchdowns and a pair of Bennett Moehring field goals to go up 34-7 at halftime.
Another tipped pass resulted in a Navy interception on Lehigh's first play of the third quarter but the Mountain Hawks dug in and stopped the Mids on downs.
Perry's third touchdown of the game, a 30-yard run on 4th-and-2, gave Navy a 41-7 lead.
The Mountain Hawks put together a strong 10-play, 75-yard drive spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters. Allen broke out of a pile and sprinted for a 26-yard score to bring Lehigh within 48-14. Lehigh's second team offense added a late touchdown as junior Tyler Monaco hit senior Cam Richardson in the back of the end zone for a two-yard touchdown.
"We jumped on the kids a bit going into the second half," Coen said. "The kids changed their mindset. They came out and played hard in the second half and that was really important.
"At a certain point it was obvious we were not going to win the game but we pride ourselves on what we do in the fourth quarter," Coen continued. "Our guys did a great job. They kept competing and stayed together as a team. I saw those things even through a tough day and I was really pleased to see that."
Mayes finished 19-of-31 for 158 yards passing. Sophomore Jorge Portorreal caught seven passes for 41 yards, while senior Conner Bianchini added five for 36 yards and senior Sasha Kelsey contributed four for 42.
The Mountain Hawks will be back on the road next Saturday when they travel to Penn. Game time is set for 3 p.m. from Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 1230 and 1320.
EXTRA POINTS… Navy now leads the series against Lehigh 15-6-1 and are 4-1 versus the Brown and White since 1983… Lehigh is now 3-6-1 against FBS opponents since Division I split in 1978… the late touchdown marked the first touchdown pass for Monaco and first touchdown reception for Richardson… freshman Austin Dambach made the first two catches of his career… senior Ed Mish averaged 51.0 yards on five punts and placed four inside the opponents' 20-yard line… junior Riley O'Neil had the lone Lehigh takeaway, an interception late in the second quarter… following the threat of inclement weather based on the path of Hurricane Florence earlier in the week, temperature at kickoff was 82 degrees under cloudy skies… Saturday's attendance was 30,011.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Freshman Rashawn Allen started in place of injured senior Dom Bragalone and made the most of his first career start, carrying 16 times for 147 yards and two touchdowns. Allen scored on a 75-yard run on Lehigh's first play from scrimmage and later powered his way out of a pileup for a 26-yard score.
Navy (2-1) racked up 629 yards of offense including 484 on the ground. Quarterback Malcolm Perry rushed 19 times for 223 yards and three touchdowns. The Midshipmen also had a commanding 37:41-22:19 advantage in time of possession.
Junior Keith Woetzel tied a career high with 13 tackles, including one for loss, while senior Sam McCloskey set a new career high with 10 tackles and 1.5 for loss. The Mountain Hawks fall to 1-2 with the loss.
"We knew coming into this game it was going to be a very challenging game for us," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said. "Our kids were super excited for this opportunity.
"The defense did a really good job" Coen continued, "It's so hard to contain that option and they hit us for some big plays. The second half we started to do better throwing the football and that opened up some windows for us. Turnovers killed us. If we didn't have all the turnovers, this game could have been a little closer. We got the one turnover late that led to the last score, so there was a lot of positive things."
The Midshipmen took the opening kickoff and marched 67 yards in seven plays capped by a five-yard Perry run, but the Mountain Hawks answered immediately as Allen bounced outside to his left and outran the Navy defense on Lehigh's first play.
"We knew he was a good player, but I didn't expect him to take his first handoff for 100 yards, or however many yards, for a touchdown, and that was great coming off the score Navy had before," Coen said of Allen's first run. "It kept us in the game from the beginning. There are a lot of positive things, but it's tough, in a lot of situations they were the stronger, faster guys."
Lehigh's defense came up with a stop on Navy's next possession but on the first play of the Mountain Hawks' second drive senior quarterback Brad Mayes' first pass attempt was tipped and intercepted by Jacob Springer.
Navy cashed in, taking the lead on a 24-yard touchdown run by Perry, the start of 41 unanswered points scored by the Mids.
Lehigh turned the ball over two more times in the opening half, with Navy adding two touchdowns and a pair of Bennett Moehring field goals to go up 34-7 at halftime.
Another tipped pass resulted in a Navy interception on Lehigh's first play of the third quarter but the Mountain Hawks dug in and stopped the Mids on downs.
Perry's third touchdown of the game, a 30-yard run on 4th-and-2, gave Navy a 41-7 lead.
The Mountain Hawks put together a strong 10-play, 75-yard drive spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters. Allen broke out of a pile and sprinted for a 26-yard score to bring Lehigh within 48-14. Lehigh's second team offense added a late touchdown as junior Tyler Monaco hit senior Cam Richardson in the back of the end zone for a two-yard touchdown.
"We jumped on the kids a bit going into the second half," Coen said. "The kids changed their mindset. They came out and played hard in the second half and that was really important.
"At a certain point it was obvious we were not going to win the game but we pride ourselves on what we do in the fourth quarter," Coen continued. "Our guys did a great job. They kept competing and stayed together as a team. I saw those things even through a tough day and I was really pleased to see that."
Mayes finished 19-of-31 for 158 yards passing. Sophomore Jorge Portorreal caught seven passes for 41 yards, while senior Conner Bianchini added five for 36 yards and senior Sasha Kelsey contributed four for 42.
The Mountain Hawks will be back on the road next Saturday when they travel to Penn. Game time is set for 3 p.m. from Franklin Field in Philadelphia. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 1230 and 1320.
EXTRA POINTS… Navy now leads the series against Lehigh 15-6-1 and are 4-1 versus the Brown and White since 1983… Lehigh is now 3-6-1 against FBS opponents since Division I split in 1978… the late touchdown marked the first touchdown pass for Monaco and first touchdown reception for Richardson… freshman Austin Dambach made the first two catches of his career… senior Ed Mish averaged 51.0 yards on five punts and placed four inside the opponents' 20-yard line… junior Riley O'Neil had the lone Lehigh takeaway, an interception late in the second quarter… following the threat of inclement weather based on the path of Hurricane Florence earlier in the week, temperature at kickoff was 82 degrees under cloudy skies… Saturday's attendance was 30,011.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
NAVY
Total Yards
336
629
Pass Yards
174
145
Rushing Yards
162
484
Penalty Yards
25
63
1st Downs
16
26
3rd Downs
6
6
4th Downs
2
2
TOP
22:19
37:41
1st Quarter
LEHIGH 0, NAVY 7
NAVY - PERRY, Malcolm 5 yd run (MOEHRING, B kick), 7 plays, 67 yards, TOP 3:37
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 7
LEHIGH - Allen, Rashawn 75 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 1 plays, 75 yards, TOP 0:13
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 14
NAVY - PERRY, Malcolm 24 yd run (MOEHRING, B kick), 2 plays, 28 yards, TOP 0:46
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 21
NAVY - ABEY, Zach 1 yd run (MOEHRING, B kick), 4 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:02
2nd Quarter
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 28
NAVY - FELLS, Myles 52 yd run (MOEHRING, B kick), 7 plays, 83 yards, TOP 4:11
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 31
NAVY - MOEHRING, B 29 yd field goal 8 plays, 32 yards, TOP 4:13
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 34
NAVY - MOEHRING, B 37 yd field goal 3 plays, 24 yards, TOP 0:17
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 41
NAVY - PERRY, Malcolm 30 yd run (MOEHRING, B kick), 10 plays, 85 yards, TOP 4:09
LEHIGH 7, NAVY 48
NAVY - LEWIS, Garret 4 yd run (MOEHRING, B kick), 4 plays, 52 yards, TOP 1:54
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 14, NAVY 48
LEHIGH - Allen, Rashawn 26 yd run (Mish, Ed kick), 10 plays, 75 yards, TOP 3:18
LEHIGH 14, NAVY 51
NAVY - MOEHRING, B 45 yd field goal 9 plays, 50 yards, TOP 4:50
LEHIGH 21, NAVY 51
LEHIGH - Richardson, Cam 2 yd pass from Monaco, Tyler (Mish, Ed kick) 9 plays, 32 yards, TOP 3:07
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
19
TD
0
YDS
158
INT
3
CMP
3
TD
1
YDS
16
INT
0
Players Mentioned
RB
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WR
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WR
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WR
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DB
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QB
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DB
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WR
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WR
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LB
/ FootballLehigh Sports Central: Football
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