12 Rings, 12 Weeks: “The Catch” cemented championship legacy for 1995 team that kept working, improving
11/23/2020 2:53:00 PM | Football
With the cancellation of the fall 2020 football season, Lehigh Athletics is taking a look back at Lehigh football's 12 Patriot League championship teams with the 12 Rings, 12 Weeks series, presented by Lehigh Valley Health Network and Coordinated Health. Three of those championship teams are celebrating noteworthy anniversaries in 2020. Our series concludes with a look back at the 1995 Patriot League champions, who are celebrating their silver anniversary.
By Eli Fraerman '21
November, 18, 1995: Down 23-14 against Lafayette with over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Lehigh's football team needed a defensive stop to preserve its chances of winning a Patriot League Championship.
With Lafayette backed up at its own 18-yard line, a stop seemed imminent. Instead — in a flash — the Leopards' lead grew to 16.
Covering wide receiver Quincy Miller on a 20-yard pass from Lafayette quarterback Joe Clair, Lehigh cornerback Tahir Rivers '97, inadvertently tipped the football upward, allowing Miller to run underneath the ball and coast to the end zone for an 82-yard touchdown to extend Lafayette's lead.
The Lafayette sideline at Goodman Stadium erupted. The west grandstand, holding thousands of Mountain Hawk fans, fell silent.
"I was heartbroken because I felt I had let my whole team down," Rivers said.
Despite being down by 16 points, needing not only two touchdowns but a pair of two-point conversions just to tie the game, Lehigh, led by senior quarterback Bob Aylsworth '96, never thought it would lose the game.
What happened next would cap off one of, if not the greatest game in Lehigh football history.
"We just looked at each other in the huddle and said we've just got to pull this off, we're not giving up, and sure enough we did," Aylsworth said. "We had a couple games that year where we came from behind and stuck together and pulled them out. That's what championship teams do."
On the ensuing drive, tight end Dave Meurer '97, rumbled into the end zone on a 37-yard catch and run with over eight minutes left to cut the deficit to 30-22. With less than four minutes remaining, after a muffed punt and a Lehigh recovery, star running back and future Super Bowl winner Rabih Abdullah '97, punched in a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game.
At the end of regulation, the score stood at 30-30 and the game went into overtime, the first year of overtime in the Patriot League.
In the second overtime, star receiver Brian Klingerman '96, put Lehigh on top with a one-handed catch. Simply known as "the catch," Klingerman's play stands as one of the most memorable in Lehigh football history.
Lehigh stopped Lafayette on the next possession to come away with its second Patriot League title as sky around the lightless Goodman Stadium began to darken.
"The second overtime, obviously you get the catch by Klingerman, and we're sitting on the sidelines and we're like 'Did he catch it? Did he catch it?' And back then there's no instant replay, the referee makes the call on the field, it's a touchdown, and the crowd goes wild," Rivers said.
Rivers said he still thinks about the play that he let up to this day, but does not regret forcing the team to engineer what is arguably the greatest comeback in school history.
While the 1995 Lehigh-Lafayette game may have capped off a championship season, where the Mountain Hawks were undefeated in Patriot League play, the roots for the success experienced in the 1995 began long before that game.
After winning the Patriot League championship in 1993 under head coach Hank Small, Lehigh underwent a transition in 1994. Kevin Higgins moved from defensive coordinator to head coach, Dave Clawson took over as the offensive coordinator and Andy Coen took over as the offensive line coach, among several other changes.
The revamped coaching staff, coupled with it being Aylsworth's first year as Lehigh's starting quarterback, resulted in a regression during the 1994 season. The Mountain Hawks finished 5-5-1 and failed to make another Patriot League championship push.
The foundation set in 1994, however, helped propel Lehigh in 1995. Aylsworth said he gives a lot of credit to Lehigh Athletic Director Joe Sterrett for involving him in the coaching search process after the 1993 season.
Aylsworth, who started his career at Tulane before transferring to Lehigh, said he had already undergone a head coaching change at Tulane, which contributed to his initial transfer. When he found out Hank Small was leaving after the 1993 season, Aylsworth was nervous about the future.
"(Joe Sterrett) actually called me into his office and asked me what I thought and I just thought Kevin Higgins was a great leader as a coach and he really was, he was the one that really had that leadership for our team as the head coach," Aylsworth said. "Dave Clawson was the running backs coach before that, they asked me who should be the offensive coordinator and Dave Clawson at the time was very young, but I just thought he had a brilliant football mind so I actually endorsed him as well."
In hindsight, Aylsworth said it was positive that he, Clawson and Higgins all had transitions together, with the two coaches being in the first year of their new roles and he starting at quarterback for the first time.
While there were some changes heading into the 1995 season as well, such as Lehigh hiring a new defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, the increased stability on the team and rapport developed by Aylsworth with the offense helped elevate the Mountain Hawks.
After giving up nearly 29 points a game in 1994, Lehigh's defense, which was led by senior safety and captain Roman McDonald '96, improved in 1995, shaving off almost four points allowed per game, including a 17-0 shutout over Fordham on Nov. 4.
While Rivers said having three different defensive backs coaches in his first three years was a challenge, he appreciates the defensive changes that were made prior to 1995.
"We had a whole new defensive scheme that got put in in 1994," Rivers said. "It was not a good fit for us. I give credit to coach (Kevin) Higgins for recognizing that and for us to be able to move on, to find a new defensive coordinator."
The combination of a well-rounded offense and an improved defense helped push Lehigh to a championship. With an offense that could run as effectively as it could pass, Meurer remembers the offensive side of the ball being especially exciting in the 1995 season.
A tight end, Meurer said he enjoyed not having to block all the time and being able to run routes. Meurer, who caught the first touchdown to spearhead Lehigh's comeback against Lafayette, said the involvement he had in the passing game in 1995 was relatively unheard of for a tight end in the Patriot League at the time.
"Before (1995) too, Lehigh was kind of a passing team anyway, but to have the combo of passing and running with Rabih (Abdullah) was pretty special," Meurer said.
Three of Lehigh's offensive assistants in 1995 would later go on to become college football head coaches. Clawson is currently the coach at Wake Forest, Coen coached Lehigh from 2006-2018 and assistant Dave Cecchini, who was in his first year on Lehigh's staff in 1995, is currently the head coach at Bucknell.
While the coaching staff may have helped push the Mountain Hawks to their potential, it was ultimately the players who cemented their legacy as champions.
Aylsworth said an unusually high number of upperclassmen stayed on campus the summer prior to the season to work on getting better and building a rapport with each other. Aylsworth said he remembers working out with Klingerman every day and meeting up with Clawson to discuss the offense.
Rivers said even before that summer, offseason workouts were especially grueling.
"We went right into offseason workouts, and during the winter, we would run up and down South Mountain at 6:30 in the morning," Rivers said. "It was very intense, from Taylor Gym up to Mountaintop Campus and then back down to Taylor gym. It was cold, it was tough."
It was experiences like that, Rivers said, that helped motivate the team when they faced challenges in 1995, such as being down a touchdown or field goal in the fourth quarter. Rivers said, while the 1994 team was also talented, Lehigh was extra motivated to improve in 1995.
With another year of experience, Rivers said the team could start to see the little mistakes that determined wins and losses.
"I think that team was probably one of our closer teams," Rivers said. "We were coming off of a hard season before, and really just wanted to get back to winning ways in the 1995 season."
The Mountain Hawks started off 2-2, getting blown out by Army at West Point and falling to New Hampshire in Bethlehem. Despite the rocky start, Aylsworth said the team stayed confident in the talent they had to achieve success during the remainder of the season.
Rivers stressed that although the start was not ideal, the goal is always to prepare and improve in the beginning of the season and do well in Patriot League play down the stretch.
Despite remaining confident after that start, Aylsworth knew the team needed to recover, fast.
"We just knew (Yale) was a must win game for us and came out and had a good game," Aylsworth said. "And then every game after that just got better and better. We all stuck together during that time, but we also knew the two losses were to good teams."
Lehigh would go on to win six of its last seven games, clinching the championship with the win over Lafayette. The team's only other setback came against Massachusetts, losing 44-36 in a game Rivers, Meurer and Aylsworth all felt Lehigh should've won.
"It was so tough to run on that field," Meurer said. "It seemed like they spray painted the mud green because when we showed up it was green but by the end of the day it was all mud and it was really hard to do much offensively. But we made it close."
With a come-from-behind victory over Columbia, a handful of Aylsworth to Klingerman third-down conversions against Bucknell and "the catch" against Lafayette, Lehigh was able to learn from some of the mistakes they made in 1994 and win close games.
In 1995, Aylsworth and Klingerman connected on 77 passes, including the one most famous for locking up the Patriot League title for Lehigh.
That play, and game, will always stand out in Lehigh football history.
"It was pretty special just obviously to see your team get that win and come back and it being a phenomenal game, but to see your best friends contribute to making that happen, it was really cool," Meurer said.
By Eli Fraerman '21
November, 18, 1995: Down 23-14 against Lafayette with over 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Lehigh's football team needed a defensive stop to preserve its chances of winning a Patriot League Championship.
With Lafayette backed up at its own 18-yard line, a stop seemed imminent. Instead — in a flash — the Leopards' lead grew to 16.
Covering wide receiver Quincy Miller on a 20-yard pass from Lafayette quarterback Joe Clair, Lehigh cornerback Tahir Rivers '97, inadvertently tipped the football upward, allowing Miller to run underneath the ball and coast to the end zone for an 82-yard touchdown to extend Lafayette's lead.
The Lafayette sideline at Goodman Stadium erupted. The west grandstand, holding thousands of Mountain Hawk fans, fell silent.
"I was heartbroken because I felt I had let my whole team down," Rivers said.
Despite being down by 16 points, needing not only two touchdowns but a pair of two-point conversions just to tie the game, Lehigh, led by senior quarterback Bob Aylsworth '96, never thought it would lose the game.
What happened next would cap off one of, if not the greatest game in Lehigh football history.
"We just looked at each other in the huddle and said we've just got to pull this off, we're not giving up, and sure enough we did," Aylsworth said. "We had a couple games that year where we came from behind and stuck together and pulled them out. That's what championship teams do."
On the ensuing drive, tight end Dave Meurer '97, rumbled into the end zone on a 37-yard catch and run with over eight minutes left to cut the deficit to 30-22. With less than four minutes remaining, after a muffed punt and a Lehigh recovery, star running back and future Super Bowl winner Rabih Abdullah '97, punched in a touchdown and two-point conversion to tie the game.
At the end of regulation, the score stood at 30-30 and the game went into overtime, the first year of overtime in the Patriot League.
In the second overtime, star receiver Brian Klingerman '96, put Lehigh on top with a one-handed catch. Simply known as "the catch," Klingerman's play stands as one of the most memorable in Lehigh football history.
Lehigh stopped Lafayette on the next possession to come away with its second Patriot League title as sky around the lightless Goodman Stadium began to darken.
"The second overtime, obviously you get the catch by Klingerman, and we're sitting on the sidelines and we're like 'Did he catch it? Did he catch it?' And back then there's no instant replay, the referee makes the call on the field, it's a touchdown, and the crowd goes wild," Rivers said.
Rivers said he still thinks about the play that he let up to this day, but does not regret forcing the team to engineer what is arguably the greatest comeback in school history.
While the 1995 Lehigh-Lafayette game may have capped off a championship season, where the Mountain Hawks were undefeated in Patriot League play, the roots for the success experienced in the 1995 began long before that game.
After winning the Patriot League championship in 1993 under head coach Hank Small, Lehigh underwent a transition in 1994. Kevin Higgins moved from defensive coordinator to head coach, Dave Clawson took over as the offensive coordinator and Andy Coen took over as the offensive line coach, among several other changes.
The revamped coaching staff, coupled with it being Aylsworth's first year as Lehigh's starting quarterback, resulted in a regression during the 1994 season. The Mountain Hawks finished 5-5-1 and failed to make another Patriot League championship push.
The foundation set in 1994, however, helped propel Lehigh in 1995. Aylsworth said he gives a lot of credit to Lehigh Athletic Director Joe Sterrett for involving him in the coaching search process after the 1993 season.
Aylsworth, who started his career at Tulane before transferring to Lehigh, said he had already undergone a head coaching change at Tulane, which contributed to his initial transfer. When he found out Hank Small was leaving after the 1993 season, Aylsworth was nervous about the future.
"(Joe Sterrett) actually called me into his office and asked me what I thought and I just thought Kevin Higgins was a great leader as a coach and he really was, he was the one that really had that leadership for our team as the head coach," Aylsworth said. "Dave Clawson was the running backs coach before that, they asked me who should be the offensive coordinator and Dave Clawson at the time was very young, but I just thought he had a brilliant football mind so I actually endorsed him as well."
In hindsight, Aylsworth said it was positive that he, Clawson and Higgins all had transitions together, with the two coaches being in the first year of their new roles and he starting at quarterback for the first time.
While there were some changes heading into the 1995 season as well, such as Lehigh hiring a new defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach, the increased stability on the team and rapport developed by Aylsworth with the offense helped elevate the Mountain Hawks.
After giving up nearly 29 points a game in 1994, Lehigh's defense, which was led by senior safety and captain Roman McDonald '96, improved in 1995, shaving off almost four points allowed per game, including a 17-0 shutout over Fordham on Nov. 4.
While Rivers said having three different defensive backs coaches in his first three years was a challenge, he appreciates the defensive changes that were made prior to 1995.
"We had a whole new defensive scheme that got put in in 1994," Rivers said. "It was not a good fit for us. I give credit to coach (Kevin) Higgins for recognizing that and for us to be able to move on, to find a new defensive coordinator."
The combination of a well-rounded offense and an improved defense helped push Lehigh to a championship. With an offense that could run as effectively as it could pass, Meurer remembers the offensive side of the ball being especially exciting in the 1995 season.
A tight end, Meurer said he enjoyed not having to block all the time and being able to run routes. Meurer, who caught the first touchdown to spearhead Lehigh's comeback against Lafayette, said the involvement he had in the passing game in 1995 was relatively unheard of for a tight end in the Patriot League at the time.
"Before (1995) too, Lehigh was kind of a passing team anyway, but to have the combo of passing and running with Rabih (Abdullah) was pretty special," Meurer said.
Three of Lehigh's offensive assistants in 1995 would later go on to become college football head coaches. Clawson is currently the coach at Wake Forest, Coen coached Lehigh from 2006-2018 and assistant Dave Cecchini, who was in his first year on Lehigh's staff in 1995, is currently the head coach at Bucknell.
While the coaching staff may have helped push the Mountain Hawks to their potential, it was ultimately the players who cemented their legacy as champions.
Aylsworth said an unusually high number of upperclassmen stayed on campus the summer prior to the season to work on getting better and building a rapport with each other. Aylsworth said he remembers working out with Klingerman every day and meeting up with Clawson to discuss the offense.
Rivers said even before that summer, offseason workouts were especially grueling.
"We went right into offseason workouts, and during the winter, we would run up and down South Mountain at 6:30 in the morning," Rivers said. "It was very intense, from Taylor Gym up to Mountaintop Campus and then back down to Taylor gym. It was cold, it was tough."
It was experiences like that, Rivers said, that helped motivate the team when they faced challenges in 1995, such as being down a touchdown or field goal in the fourth quarter. Rivers said, while the 1994 team was also talented, Lehigh was extra motivated to improve in 1995.
With another year of experience, Rivers said the team could start to see the little mistakes that determined wins and losses.
"I think that team was probably one of our closer teams," Rivers said. "We were coming off of a hard season before, and really just wanted to get back to winning ways in the 1995 season."
The Mountain Hawks started off 2-2, getting blown out by Army at West Point and falling to New Hampshire in Bethlehem. Despite the rocky start, Aylsworth said the team stayed confident in the talent they had to achieve success during the remainder of the season.
Rivers stressed that although the start was not ideal, the goal is always to prepare and improve in the beginning of the season and do well in Patriot League play down the stretch.
Despite remaining confident after that start, Aylsworth knew the team needed to recover, fast.
"We just knew (Yale) was a must win game for us and came out and had a good game," Aylsworth said. "And then every game after that just got better and better. We all stuck together during that time, but we also knew the two losses were to good teams."
Lehigh would go on to win six of its last seven games, clinching the championship with the win over Lafayette. The team's only other setback came against Massachusetts, losing 44-36 in a game Rivers, Meurer and Aylsworth all felt Lehigh should've won.
"It was so tough to run on that field," Meurer said. "It seemed like they spray painted the mud green because when we showed up it was green but by the end of the day it was all mud and it was really hard to do much offensively. But we made it close."
With a come-from-behind victory over Columbia, a handful of Aylsworth to Klingerman third-down conversions against Bucknell and "the catch" against Lafayette, Lehigh was able to learn from some of the mistakes they made in 1994 and win close games.
In 1995, Aylsworth and Klingerman connected on 77 passes, including the one most famous for locking up the Patriot League title for Lehigh.
That play, and game, will always stand out in Lehigh football history.
"It was pretty special just obviously to see your team get that win and come back and it being a phenomenal game, but to see your best friends contribute to making that happen, it was really cool," Meurer said.
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