Offensive woes continue in loss
Lehigh has yet to score a touchdown in 2 spring games, while Bucknell does enough to win Patriot League South
Over the years Dave Cecchini enjoyed many outstanding offensive performances as both a player and an assistant coach at Lehigh.
On Saturday, however, the former
Mountain Hawks All-America wide receiver and offensive coordinator found success in Bethlehem thanks to an outstanding defensive effort.
Cecchini’s Bucknell Bison clinched the Patriot League’s South Division title and a berth in the league title game on April 17 by shutting down Lehigh 6-0 at Goodman
Stadium.
The win gave Bucknell a sweep of Lehigh Valley Division I programs and South Division honors while spoiling another outstanding effort by Lehigh’s defense.
Two short field goals by Ethan Torres — a 26-yarder in the second quarter and a 24-yard kick in the third quarter — represented the game’s only points.
Bucknell is scheduled to host Fordham and then will play the North Division champ at a site to be determined for the Patriot League title. The league champ advances to the FCS playoffs as part of a rare spring opportunity to make up for the loss of the 2020 season.
“It’s a different time, it’s a different atmosphere and we have regulations during the pandemic, but it’s still football,” Cecchini said. “The field is still the same and you’re still playing with the same rules, [but] there’s a lot of extra stuff going on and a lot more to worry about. There’s a lot more challenges, a lot more hurdles to overcome, which makes the victory a little more sweeter.”
Bucknell held Lehigh a net 23 yards rushing and 190 yards in total offense.
The Mountain Hawks’ best scoring chance came on their first possession, when they moved 67 yards on 12 plays to the Bison 10, but they then missed a field goal.
Later in the first half, Lehigh moved to the Bucknell 25 but had a pass broken up on fourthand-2. None of the home team’s four possessions produced more than 25 yards.
Lehigh had two late chances to register a come-from-behind win, but those two drives in the final three minutes failed to produce a first down. It was the first time the Brown and White was shut out at home since being blanked by Villanova on Sept. 11, 2010.
Despite the struggles, Mountain Hawks coach Tom Gilmore saw improvement and talked about the adversity his team faced.
“We had some really nice, impressive drives today … we just have to finish them off,” the second-year coach said. “There
were a couple that were really close, but we weren’t able to execute quite well enough to make some plays to extend those drives. But the bottom line is from an offensive standpoint, you have to score points and we’re not doing that right now. I do see some progress.”
Gilmore said there was a point on Wednesday night and Thursday morning that he didn’t know if the team would have enough bodies to play the game.
“There was some extreme adversity this week that affected the production as well,” he said. “I thought our coaches did a good job of making adjustments to the situation, and the players on the field played their hearts out.
“The story behind the game was that there was just six available offensive linemen, and two of them were freshmen. That really put us in a difficult position and that’s why I am so proud of what the guys did.”
The Mountain Hawks offense has now registered just three points in two games, with one
more chance to get things clicking. That will come next weekend in the 156th edition of college football’s most-played rivalry at Lafayette.
Lehigh was supposed to play at Lafayette on Saturday, but the game was postponed by a COVID-19 case within the Leopards program. Bucknell and Lehigh rearranged their schedules at midweek and played a game originally scheduled for March 27 and then April 10.
Bucknell scored 38 points in its opener against Lafayette but managed just 239 yards on offense and was just 1-for-14 on third-down conversion tries. The Bison were 3-for-5 on fourth down.
Cecchini’s team had the ball for 36 minutes, 43 seconds, 13 minutes more than Lehigh, but couldn’t put the home team away offensively and needed the defense to come through repeatedly.
“It was an unbelievable game by our defense,” said Cecchini, in his second season at Bucknell. “I also have to give a ton of credit to Lehigh because they did a great job. They played physical football and got after us, and they made more plays than we did when it counted. At the end when we just needed a first down and the game was over, they came up huge.
“As proud I am of our defense and how deep they dug, I have to give credit to Lehigh for the performance they gave today. They really made this game a lot closer than it could have been.”
Linebacker Pete Haffner, who was one of 11 seniors honored before the game, made 11 tackles. He has 19 tackles in two games.
“I am pretty disappointed with the outcome, but I am pretty excited about how the defense played,” Haffner said. “We still gave up six points and that wasn’t enough to get it done. So I’m disappointed with that, but it was still fun.
“Really, any opportunity to play is just a fantastic feeling. We’ve been in limbo for the past couple of weeks.”
Lehigh has one more chance to generate some momentum entering the fall 2021 season.
Counting the final month of the 2019 season, the Mountain Hawks have lost six straight and haven’t won since a 27-24 victory over Georgetown on Oct. 26, 2019.
“Everybody’s going to be excited to get back to work,” Haffner said of preparation for Lafayette. “Any opportunity to play football is enormous and we’re going to be excited about that opportunity to play in the rivalry.
“It’s a one-game season, as [former Lehigh] coach [Andy] Coen used to say. We’re going to play that game and we’re going to play that game hard. We don’t need to make any public speeches to get the boys going,”