Saturday, November 2
Bethlehem, Pa.
12:30 PM
Lehigh University
4-4 , 3-1
17
vs
24
Holy Cross
5-4 , 3-0
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Holy Cross
7
10
7
0
24
Lehigh
0
7
7
3
17
Second half rally falls short as Holy Cross deals Lehigh first league loss, 24-17
11/2/2019 5:46:00 PM | Football
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – In another one-score contest whose outcome wasn't decided until late in the fourth quarter, the Lehigh football team suffered its first Patriot League loss, as Holy Cross built leads of 14-0 and 24-7 and ultimately held off the Mountain Hawks 24-17 Saturday on Salute to Service Day at Goodman Stadium.
The Mountain Hawks scored the final 10 points of the game and were driving for a potential tying score, but the Crusaders' Chris Riley picked off senior Tyler Monaco at the five yard line, allowing Holy Cross to run out the clock.
Holy Cross racked up 266 rushing yards, most of which came in the first half, to improve to 3-0 in league play and 5-4 overall. Lehigh's four-game winning streak comes to an end as the Mountain Hawks fall to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Patriot League.
Monaco set career highs for completions (26) and passing yards (282), while senior Devon Bibbens had his third 100-yard receiving game this season with 102 yards and a touchdown on six catches, while junior Jorge Portorreal added 67 yards on seven receptions. Sophomore Rashawn Allen led the Mountain Hawks on the ground with 10 rushes for 56 yards.
Lehigh's defense limited Holy Cross' Connor Degenhardt to 10-of-22 passing for 122 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, both by junior Pete Haffner. Domenic Cozier rushed 22 times for 190 yards to lead the Crusader ground attack.
"We're disappointed in the loss, but I'm really proud of the fight from our team," Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore said. "We continued to work hard and fought until the end. A lot of self-inflicted wounds today in the first half. A few chunk plays given up, while then having missed tackles in the second half.
"We did a really nice job at times, but we're too inconsistent at times," Gilmore continued. "We have a positive play and then a negative play. The lack of consistency is what really sealed our fate."
After both teams punted on their opening possessions, Cozier opened Holy Cross' second drive with an 88-yard run that took the ball down to the Lehigh nine. Three plays later, Degenhardt scored from a yard out on a quarterback sneak to put the Crusaders up 7-0.
On the first play of the second quarter Haffner picked off Degenhardt at the goal line, but Lehigh was unable to capitalize and after a penalty on a Mountain Hawk punt set Holy Cross up with a short field, Peter Oliver capped a 31-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-goal to put the Crusaders in front by 14.
Lehigh answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive to get on the board. Allen ran three times for 25 yards and then a 34-yard screen pass to sophomore tight end Alex Snyder moved the ball inside the Holy Cross 10. On 3rd-and-goal from the one, freshman Zaythan Hill plunged in for his fourth touchdown of the season to make the score 14-7.
A Derek Ng 37-yard field goal put Holy Cross in front 17-7 at halftime.
On Lehigh's first play of the third quarter, Hill was hit hard by Terrell Prince and fumbled, with Holy Cross recovering at the Lehigh 33. The Crusaders cashed in on the turnover as Degenhardt hit Tenio Ayeni for a 14-yard touchdown to extend their lead to 24-7 early in the third.
Haffner's second interception of the game set up Lehigh at the Holy Cross 34 and Monaco hit Bibbens on a deep post for a 33-yard touchdown to bring the Mountain Hawks within 24-14.
Gallery: (11/2/2019) Football vs. Holy Cross 11-2-19
The Mountain Hawks' first possession of the fourth quarter covered 55 yard in 12 plays and featured a 3rd-and-5 conversion from Monaco to Bibbens that covered 14 yards and a 23-yard pass to sophomore Austin Dambach that converted a 3rd-and-20; but the drive stalled as Austin Henning's 38-yard field goal made it a one score game at 24-17.
Holy Cross picked up one first down on its next drive before Lehigh got the ball back with 2:48 to play. Lehigh picked up three first downs, including an eight-yard completion to Snyder on fourth down, but on 1st-and-10 from the Crusader 35, Riley picked off Monaco's pass intended for Bibbens and with Lehigh having only two timeouts left, Holy Cross ran out the clock.
"We slowly chipped away there at the end, we put together the field goal drive to get us back," Gilmore said. "We didn't let our deficit bring us down, we just didn't make the plays at the end."
Haffner finished with seven tackles and a tackle for loss to go along with his two interceptions. Senior Riley O'Neil led Lehigh with eight tackles and two tackles for loss.
The Mountain Hawks are back on the road for their next two games, beginning next Saturday when they visit Bucknell. Game time is set for 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Stadium and the Patriot League Network, with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 and 94.7 FM Allentown as well as LVFoxSports.com and the TuneIn app.
EXTRA POINTS… Lehigh fell to 7-3 in its last 10 meetings with Holy Cross and lost to the Crusaders at Goodman Stadium for the first time since 2009… after totaling 19 sacks over the first three games of their four game winning streak, the Mountain Hawks were held without a sack for a second straight week… Holy Cross sacked Monaco four times… total yards favored Holy Cross by a 388-319 margin… the Mountain Hawks and Crusaders finished even in turnover margin… Haffner is the first Lehigh player to intercept two passes in one game since Quentin Jones accomplished the feat versus Holy Cross in 2015… Lehigh honored its 1979 NCAA Division I-AA runner-up squad at halftime… Lehigh posted a 10-3 overall record, including a 9-2 regular season, capped with a 24-3 victory over Lafayette. The Engineers won at Murray State in the national semifinals before falling 30-7 to Eastern Kentucky in the title game in Orlando, Fla…. Saturday's attendance was 4,545.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
The Mountain Hawks scored the final 10 points of the game and were driving for a potential tying score, but the Crusaders' Chris Riley picked off senior Tyler Monaco at the five yard line, allowing Holy Cross to run out the clock.
Holy Cross racked up 266 rushing yards, most of which came in the first half, to improve to 3-0 in league play and 5-4 overall. Lehigh's four-game winning streak comes to an end as the Mountain Hawks fall to 4-4 overall and 3-1 in the Patriot League.
Monaco set career highs for completions (26) and passing yards (282), while senior Devon Bibbens had his third 100-yard receiving game this season with 102 yards and a touchdown on six catches, while junior Jorge Portorreal added 67 yards on seven receptions. Sophomore Rashawn Allen led the Mountain Hawks on the ground with 10 rushes for 56 yards.
Lehigh's defense limited Holy Cross' Connor Degenhardt to 10-of-22 passing for 122 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, both by junior Pete Haffner. Domenic Cozier rushed 22 times for 190 yards to lead the Crusader ground attack.
"We're disappointed in the loss, but I'm really proud of the fight from our team," Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore said. "We continued to work hard and fought until the end. A lot of self-inflicted wounds today in the first half. A few chunk plays given up, while then having missed tackles in the second half.
"We did a really nice job at times, but we're too inconsistent at times," Gilmore continued. "We have a positive play and then a negative play. The lack of consistency is what really sealed our fate."
After both teams punted on their opening possessions, Cozier opened Holy Cross' second drive with an 88-yard run that took the ball down to the Lehigh nine. Three plays later, Degenhardt scored from a yard out on a quarterback sneak to put the Crusaders up 7-0.
On the first play of the second quarter Haffner picked off Degenhardt at the goal line, but Lehigh was unable to capitalize and after a penalty on a Mountain Hawk punt set Holy Cross up with a short field, Peter Oliver capped a 31-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run on 4th-and-goal to put the Crusaders in front by 14.
Lehigh answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive to get on the board. Allen ran three times for 25 yards and then a 34-yard screen pass to sophomore tight end Alex Snyder moved the ball inside the Holy Cross 10. On 3rd-and-goal from the one, freshman Zaythan Hill plunged in for his fourth touchdown of the season to make the score 14-7.
A Derek Ng 37-yard field goal put Holy Cross in front 17-7 at halftime.
On Lehigh's first play of the third quarter, Hill was hit hard by Terrell Prince and fumbled, with Holy Cross recovering at the Lehigh 33. The Crusaders cashed in on the turnover as Degenhardt hit Tenio Ayeni for a 14-yard touchdown to extend their lead to 24-7 early in the third.
Haffner's second interception of the game set up Lehigh at the Holy Cross 34 and Monaco hit Bibbens on a deep post for a 33-yard touchdown to bring the Mountain Hawks within 24-14.
The Mountain Hawks' first possession of the fourth quarter covered 55 yard in 12 plays and featured a 3rd-and-5 conversion from Monaco to Bibbens that covered 14 yards and a 23-yard pass to sophomore Austin Dambach that converted a 3rd-and-20; but the drive stalled as Austin Henning's 38-yard field goal made it a one score game at 24-17.
Holy Cross picked up one first down on its next drive before Lehigh got the ball back with 2:48 to play. Lehigh picked up three first downs, including an eight-yard completion to Snyder on fourth down, but on 1st-and-10 from the Crusader 35, Riley picked off Monaco's pass intended for Bibbens and with Lehigh having only two timeouts left, Holy Cross ran out the clock.
"We slowly chipped away there at the end, we put together the field goal drive to get us back," Gilmore said. "We didn't let our deficit bring us down, we just didn't make the plays at the end."
Haffner finished with seven tackles and a tackle for loss to go along with his two interceptions. Senior Riley O'Neil led Lehigh with eight tackles and two tackles for loss.
The Mountain Hawks are back on the road for their next two games, beginning next Saturday when they visit Bucknell. Game time is set for 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Stadium and the Patriot League Network, with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 and 94.7 FM Allentown as well as LVFoxSports.com and the TuneIn app.
EXTRA POINTS… Lehigh fell to 7-3 in its last 10 meetings with Holy Cross and lost to the Crusaders at Goodman Stadium for the first time since 2009… after totaling 19 sacks over the first three games of their four game winning streak, the Mountain Hawks were held without a sack for a second straight week… Holy Cross sacked Monaco four times… total yards favored Holy Cross by a 388-319 margin… the Mountain Hawks and Crusaders finished even in turnover margin… Haffner is the first Lehigh player to intercept two passes in one game since Quentin Jones accomplished the feat versus Holy Cross in 2015… Lehigh honored its 1979 NCAA Division I-AA runner-up squad at halftime… Lehigh posted a 10-3 overall record, including a 9-2 regular season, capped with a 24-3 victory over Lafayette. The Engineers won at Murray State in the national semifinals before falling 30-7 to Eastern Kentucky in the title game in Orlando, Fla…. Saturday's attendance was 4,545.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Team Stats
HC
LEHIGH
Total Yards
388
319
Pass Yards
122
282
Rushing Yards
266
37
Penalty Yards
43
55
1st Downs
18
16
3rd Downs
7
6
4th Downs
1
1
TOP
31:36
28:24
1st Quarter
HC 7, LEHIGH 0
HC - Degenhardt,Con. 1 yd run (Ng,Derek kick), 4 plays, 91 yards, TOP 1:28
2nd Quarter
HC 14, LEHIGH 0
HC - Oliver,Peter 1 yd run (Ng,Derek kick), 6 plays, 31 yards, TOP 3:07
HC 14, LEHIGH 7
LEHIGH - Hill, Zaythan 1 yd run (Henning, Austin kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 4:32
HC 17, LEHIGH 7
HC - Ng,Derek 37 yd field goal 8 plays, 57 yards, TOP 3:47
3rd Quarter
HC 24, LEHIGH 7
HC - Ayeni,Tenio 14 yd pass from Degenhardt,Con. (Ng,Derek kick) 6 plays, 33 yards, TOP 2:58
HC 24, LEHIGH 14
LEHIGH - Bibbens, Devon 33 yd pass from Monaco, Tyler (Henning, Austin kick) 2 plays, 34 yards, TOP 0:29
4th Quarter
HC 24, LEHIGH 17
LEHIGH - Henning, Austin 38 yd field goal 12 plays, 55 yards, TOP 6:00
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
CMP
26
TD
1
YDS
282
INT
1
Players Mentioned
RB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
K/P
/ Football
RB
/ Football
DB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
TE
/ FootballLehigh Sports Central: Football
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