Redemption for Henning
8 weeks after missing game-winner, his FG takes down Hoyas
In the season opener Aug. 31, Lehigh’s Austin Henning had a 40-yard field-goal try on the last play of the game that went wide right and the Mountain Hawks lost to St. Francis 14-13.
Eight weeks later, kicking toward the same south end of Goodman Stadium, Henning made sure he didn’t miss another game-winner. He was solid on a 27-yarder as time expired to give Lehigh a 27-24 win over Georgetown before a Family Weekend crowd of 7,031.
Henning’s comeback is similar to his team’s. The Mountain Hawks have won four straight after starting 0-3 and are 3-0 in the Patriot League, with each win coming on the last play of the game.
“Don’t leave a Lehigh game until after the final whistle because you don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Mountain Hawks coach Tom Gilmore. “Our guys have found a way to win four straight games, and the last three have come down to the very last play. It speaks highly of our players’ resolve. They keep fighting to the end.”
Lehigh had to battle to beat Georgetown (5-3, 1-2 Patriot
League).
The Mountain Hawks had a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Hoyas scored 16 straight points and took the lead on a 35-yard TD pass from Gunther Johnson to Cameron Crayton with 4 minutes, 23 seconds left in the third quarter.
Lehigh’s offense took over from there with two long scoring drives, the second covering 73 yards and 15 plays while taking 9:14 off the clock.
Freshman Nate Hope scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, the second giving the Mountain Hawks a 24-16 lead with 2:55 left.
The game appeared over when Lehigh had Georgetown in a fourth-and-4 situation at its own 28. But Johnson hit a streaking Michael Dareus for a 72-yard TD and then found Joshua Stakely for the two-point conversion to tie it.
The key play: Lehigh took over at its own 31 with 1:16 left. After two incompletions, Tyler Monaco (23-for-36 for 271 yards) found Devon Bibbens for a 12-yard completion and a first down.
After another incompletion, Monaco connected with Bibbens for the biggest play of the game, a 48-yard catch-andgo to the Georgetown 9.
“Scott Brisson, our offensive coordinator, talked me into that one,” Gilmore said. “That’s a real tough situation because you don’t want to give Georgetown the ball back.
“Do you run it and try to force them to use a timeout and run some time off the clock? What do you do? We decided to go ahead and throw it.”
Gilmore said Monaco showed patience in waiting for Bibbens to come clear.
“It wasn’t just converting the first down; [Bibbens] took it all the way down to the red zone and the game was in our control,” Gilmore said. “It was a huge play, obviously. It equaled the play they made against us.”
After two runs to center the ball and a flurry of timeouts, Henning trotted on to the field.
Cool and calm: “Getting the ball back with a minute and 20 seconds left, I just focused on staying cool and calm,” Henning said. “Props to our offense for getting it down there that quickly. It was basically a PAT.
“Great snap from Jack [Dean], a good hold by [Addison Shoup] and the rest of the guys did a good job of blocking.”
Henning said when the game comes down to the fourth quarter, it’s important to be ready mentally and focus on execution.
“You try to stay consistent and treat it like it’s another kick,” he said.
Stat stuff: While Lehigh’s defense, which had 19 sacks in the previous three games, didn’t get to the quarterback, it did have six stops for a loss and allowed just two third-down conversions on 12 attempts.
Georgetown was successful three times on four fourth-down tries.
The Mountain Hawks had possession of the ball for 11:26 of the fourth quarter thanks to the running of Hope and Zaythan Hill, a pair of freshman backs. Hill finished the game with 77 yards on 11 carries and Hope added 30.
Jorge Portorreal was Lehigh’s top receiver with eight catches for 103 yards.
What’s next: Lehigh hosts Holy Cross on Saturday at Goodman Stadium in a game that could decide the league title since the Crusaders and Mountain Hawks are the only two teams without a league loss.
It’s also Gilmore’s first game against the program he led for 14 seasons.
“It’s important that we treat it like it’s another game,” Gilmore said. “There is a part of the extracurricular stuff that’s in there for me, for other people in our program at Lehigh and for the people at Holy Cross.
“But the only thing that matters is what happens between the first and last whistle.”