Saturday, November 9
Lewisburg, Pa.
1:00 PM
Lehigh University
4-5 , 3-2
10
at
20
Bucknell
2-7 , 2-2
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
F
Lehigh
0
3
0
7
10
Bucknell
0
10
7
3
20
Mountain Hawks suffer 20-10 setback on cold Saturday at Bucknell
11/9/2019 5:42:00 PM | Football
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Lehigh's offense was never able to get going as the Mountain Hawks suffered their second straight defeat, 20-10 at Bucknell on a cold Saturday at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
Mountain Hawk linebackers Pete Haffner and Keith Woetzel combined for 27 tackles and Lehigh's first three sacks since the Fordham game, but the Bucknell defense held Lehigh to a season-low 209 yards and sacked Mountain Hawk quarterbacks seven times.
The loss drops Lehigh to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the Patriot League, while Bucknell improves to 2-7 overall and 2-2 in the league.
The Bison built leads of 10-0 and 20-3 before Lehigh put the ball in the end zone for its only touchdown of the day as sophomore Alec Beesmer connected with senior Devon Bibbens on a two-yard touchdown pass.
Bibbens established a new career high with 11 receptions, going for 92 yards and the score. Junior Jorge Portorreal added 37 yards on six catches.
After a scoreless first quarter that saw Lehigh and Bucknell combine for six punts and a turnover, the Bison converted a short field into points as Tyler Keiser capped a 13-play, 50-yard drive with a 20 yard field goal.
The next time the Bison got the ball back, they extended their lead on a 24-yard pass from Logan Bitikofer to Stefone Moore-Green.
Lehigh's defense tried to re-establish momentum on Bucknell's next possession as senior Riley O'Neil stepped in front of a Bitikofer pass and returned it into Bucknell territory. A personal foul penalty moved the ball to the Bison 20, but Lehigh was unable to put the ball in the end zone as Austin Henning kicked a 33-yard field goal to leave Lehigh behind 10-3 at halftime.
The second half began with Lehigh's defense posting a three-and-out. The offense showed signs of life as senior Tyler Monaco hit sophomore Austin Dambach for 34 yards to convert a 3rd-and-17. Lehigh eventually had first and goal from the three, but after Monaco departed with an injury, pressure from the Bison defense led to a third down sack of junior Addison Shoup and Lehigh was unable to capitalize as Henning's 31 yard field goal missed wide left.
"Obviously when your starting quarterback goes out, its not an ideal situation," Lehigh head coach Gilmore said. "He's the most able guy to run the offense. We didn't do any better with the other two guys in there. Losing Tyler hurt, but it was emblematic of what was going on during the course of the game."
The Bison capitalized on another short field as John McGuire made a one-handed grab of a Bitikofer pass for a 19-yard touchdown, capping a four-play, 30-yard drive.
Keiser's second field goal of the game put the Bison up 20-3 with 9:23 to play. Beesmer came in and led Lehigh down the field 75 yards in nine plays, capped by the touchdown pass to Bibbens.
"Alec did some good things with this being his first significant playing time," Gilmore said. "There's things that he has to work on. The quarterback shoulders all the blame and gets all the glory, so some of the things that weren't working weren't all his fault."
The next time Lehigh got the ball, Beesmer was sacked for the fifth and sixth times as the Mountain Hawks turned the ball over on downs.
Monaco finished 16-of-23 for 117 yards and an interception, while Beesmer finished 8-of-15 for 84 yards and the score. Shoup was 2-of-4 for 14 yards.
Bitikofer finished 23-of-39 for 190 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. McGuire and Connor Holmes each had six catches to lead the Bison.
Haffner finished with a career-high 16 tackles and added two sacks and three tackles for loss. Woetzel had 11 tackles and a sack late in the first half.
"We couldn't move the ball. We couldn't protect the quarterback. We couldn't run the ball," Gilmore said. "Defensively, Bucknell hurt us with the play-action pass. We couldn't get pressure on the quarterback. They completed a couple of big plays off double moves. It was an overall poor performance by us as a program – coaches and players alike."
The Mountain Hawks return to the road next Saturday to face Sacred Heart with game time set for noon from Fairfield, Conn. The game will be broadcast on NEC Front Row, with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 AM and 94.7 FM Allentown and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 11 a.m.
"This game gives us a chance to regroup and work on some things," Gilmore said. "We obviously have a lot of improvements to make. The last two weeks are the first time this season that we haven't really improved from the week before. That's hard for me to stomach. We're still doing some good things, but we have to come out and play better, earlier in games. We started slowly both this week and last week and we haven't been able to catch up."
EXTRA POINTS… Bucknell defeated Lehigh for just the third time in the last 22 seasons (2013, 2014)… The Bison finished with 305 yards of offense and out-gained Lehigh on the ground 115-minus-6… Bibbens went over 100 receptions for his career (104) and grabbed his 10th touchdown catch… senior linebacker Jon Seighman went over 100 tackles for his career… Lehigh was held to 2-of-14 on third downs… Bucknell converted 5-of-14 third downs… senior Marquis Wilson picked off his second pass of the season on the last play of the first half.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Mountain Hawk linebackers Pete Haffner and Keith Woetzel combined for 27 tackles and Lehigh's first three sacks since the Fordham game, but the Bucknell defense held Lehigh to a season-low 209 yards and sacked Mountain Hawk quarterbacks seven times.
The loss drops Lehigh to 4-5 overall and 3-2 in the Patriot League, while Bucknell improves to 2-7 overall and 2-2 in the league.
The Bison built leads of 10-0 and 20-3 before Lehigh put the ball in the end zone for its only touchdown of the day as sophomore Alec Beesmer connected with senior Devon Bibbens on a two-yard touchdown pass.
Bibbens established a new career high with 11 receptions, going for 92 yards and the score. Junior Jorge Portorreal added 37 yards on six catches.
After a scoreless first quarter that saw Lehigh and Bucknell combine for six punts and a turnover, the Bison converted a short field into points as Tyler Keiser capped a 13-play, 50-yard drive with a 20 yard field goal.
The next time the Bison got the ball back, they extended their lead on a 24-yard pass from Logan Bitikofer to Stefone Moore-Green.
Lehigh's defense tried to re-establish momentum on Bucknell's next possession as senior Riley O'Neil stepped in front of a Bitikofer pass and returned it into Bucknell territory. A personal foul penalty moved the ball to the Bison 20, but Lehigh was unable to put the ball in the end zone as Austin Henning kicked a 33-yard field goal to leave Lehigh behind 10-3 at halftime.
The second half began with Lehigh's defense posting a three-and-out. The offense showed signs of life as senior Tyler Monaco hit sophomore Austin Dambach for 34 yards to convert a 3rd-and-17. Lehigh eventually had first and goal from the three, but after Monaco departed with an injury, pressure from the Bison defense led to a third down sack of junior Addison Shoup and Lehigh was unable to capitalize as Henning's 31 yard field goal missed wide left.
"Obviously when your starting quarterback goes out, its not an ideal situation," Lehigh head coach Gilmore said. "He's the most able guy to run the offense. We didn't do any better with the other two guys in there. Losing Tyler hurt, but it was emblematic of what was going on during the course of the game."
The Bison capitalized on another short field as John McGuire made a one-handed grab of a Bitikofer pass for a 19-yard touchdown, capping a four-play, 30-yard drive.
Keiser's second field goal of the game put the Bison up 20-3 with 9:23 to play. Beesmer came in and led Lehigh down the field 75 yards in nine plays, capped by the touchdown pass to Bibbens.
"Alec did some good things with this being his first significant playing time," Gilmore said. "There's things that he has to work on. The quarterback shoulders all the blame and gets all the glory, so some of the things that weren't working weren't all his fault."
The next time Lehigh got the ball, Beesmer was sacked for the fifth and sixth times as the Mountain Hawks turned the ball over on downs.
Monaco finished 16-of-23 for 117 yards and an interception, while Beesmer finished 8-of-15 for 84 yards and the score. Shoup was 2-of-4 for 14 yards.
Bitikofer finished 23-of-39 for 190 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. McGuire and Connor Holmes each had six catches to lead the Bison.
Haffner finished with a career-high 16 tackles and added two sacks and three tackles for loss. Woetzel had 11 tackles and a sack late in the first half.
"We couldn't move the ball. We couldn't protect the quarterback. We couldn't run the ball," Gilmore said. "Defensively, Bucknell hurt us with the play-action pass. We couldn't get pressure on the quarterback. They completed a couple of big plays off double moves. It was an overall poor performance by us as a program – coaches and players alike."
The Mountain Hawks return to the road next Saturday to face Sacred Heart with game time set for noon from Fairfield, Conn. The game will be broadcast on NEC Front Row, with audio coverage on Fox Sports Radio 1230/1320 AM and 94.7 FM Allentown and LVFoxSports.com beginning at 11 a.m.
"This game gives us a chance to regroup and work on some things," Gilmore said. "We obviously have a lot of improvements to make. The last two weeks are the first time this season that we haven't really improved from the week before. That's hard for me to stomach. We're still doing some good things, but we have to come out and play better, earlier in games. We started slowly both this week and last week and we haven't been able to catch up."
EXTRA POINTS… Bucknell defeated Lehigh for just the third time in the last 22 seasons (2013, 2014)… The Bison finished with 305 yards of offense and out-gained Lehigh on the ground 115-minus-6… Bibbens went over 100 receptions for his career (104) and grabbed his 10th touchdown catch… senior linebacker Jon Seighman went over 100 tackles for his career… Lehigh was held to 2-of-14 on third downs… Bucknell converted 5-of-14 third downs… senior Marquis Wilson picked off his second pass of the season on the last play of the first half.
Like Lehigh Football on Facebook and follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive updates throughout the season.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
BUCKNELL
Total Yards
209
305
Pass Yards
215
190
Rushing Yards
-6
115
Penalty Yards
62
97
1st Downs
15
19
3rd Downs
2
5
4th Downs
0
0
TOP
27:58
32:02
2nd Quarter
LEHIGH 0, BUCKNELL 3
BUCKNELL - Keiser, Tyler 20 yd field goal 13 plays, 50 yards, TOP 4:59
LEHIGH 0, BUCKNELL 10
BUCKNELL - Moore-Green, S. 24 yd pass from Bitikofer, L. (Keiser, Tyler kick) 6 plays, 73 yards, TOP 2:12
LEHIGH 3, BUCKNELL 10
LEHIGH - Henning, Austin 33 yd field goal 4 plays, 4 yards, TOP 0:36
3rd Quarter
LEHIGH 3, BUCKNELL 17
BUCKNELL - McGuire, John 19 yd pass from Bitikofer, L. (Keiser, Tyler kick) 4 plays, 30 yards, TOP 1:35
4th Quarter
LEHIGH 3, BUCKNELL 20
BUCKNELL - Keiser, Tyler 21 yd field goal 11 plays, 47 yards, TOP 5:59
LEHIGH 10, BUCKNELL 20
LEHIGH - Bibbens, Devon 2 yd pass from Beesmer, Alec (Henning, Austin kick) 9 plays, 76 yards, TOP 2:12
Game Leaders
Passing Leaders
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
WR
/ Football
LB
/ Football
K/P
/ FootballQB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
DB/LB
/ FootballQB
/ Football
DB
/ Football
LB
/ FootballLehigh Sports Central: Football
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