Lehigh snaps their 7-game losing streak
Both offense and defense put up numbers from start to finish
The sun came out literally and figuratively Saturday afternoon at Goodman Stadium.
A Lehigh football season that was as stormy as Friday night’s horrible weather was vanquished, at least for a couple of hours, on a picturesque, windswept day along South Mountain.
For one day, the Mountain Hawks were back.
Making all the plays that hadn’t been made during a wretched seven-game losing streak, Lehigh put together its best effort of the season and enjoyed a 45-17 Patriot League win over Bucknell that restored hope for the rest of a seemingly lost season.
Brad Mayes ran for a touchdown and threw for 332 yards and two TDs to Jorge Portorreal, who caught nine passes overall for 216 yards.
Dom Bragalone rushed for 177 yards and a score and freshman Rashawn Allen mixed in a 17yard TD run.
Even the much-maligned defense stood up by limiting the Bison to 81 rushing yards, got a sack from sophomore and Phillipsburg product Zac Troxell, got five pass breakups and a 65-yard interception return for a score by Marquis Wilson.
So many negatives that defined a disappointing season were stripped away as Lehigh won for the first time since beating St. Francis 21-19 on Sept.
1.
After scoring at most 21 points in a game this season, Lehigh had 21 by halftime.
The Mountain Hawks (2-7 overall, 1-3 Patriot League) enjoyed their first lead since the second quarter of the Penn game on Sept. 22 and after scoring just seven points in the third quarter all season, they had 10 against Bucknell in the first stanza after halftime.
A lot of things that hadn’t happened all season, happened.
“I’m very happy for my football team,” Lehigh coach Andy Coen said after getting his 84th career win which is one shy of the school’s all-time record set by Bill Leckobny.
“The kids have really been working hard without having a lot of success,” Coen added. “What I love about these guys is that they kept working and I knew at some point in time, it would come our way.”
Bragalone, a South Williamsport product who always has big games against his “hometown” school, Bucknell, became the school’s all-time rushing touchdown leader with his 43rd career score on the ground.
Eddie Mish set the school’s scoring record for a kicker with nine points giving him 226 in his career.
“We just went out there and had fun,” Bragalone said. “Everyone was jumping even after the captains shook hands. Everyone was pumped and that’s the biggest thing we’ve lacked the last couple of weeks. It’s not fun to lose, but we have an opportunity to play and just that is fun. That’s the emphasis I made this week in talking to the team.”
Lehigh never trailed but had some adversity.
A personal foul for a late hit on third down on the first series of the game gave Bucknell (1-8, 1-3) a first down. The Bison also took advantage of a short field set up by an unsportsmanlike penalty on a Lehigh touchdown celebration.
Mayes threw an interception on Lehigh’s first series of the second half. But unlike other games where one mistake led to another, the Mountain Hawks fought back from their miscues each time.
The offensive line, a source of inconsistency and weakness all season, had its best game. Bucknell didn’t register a quarterback hurry or hit, much less a sack. The holes were also there for the running game
“This is the ultimate team game,” Lehigh offensive coordinator Scott Brisson said. “Brad and Dom can’t have success without the five guys in front of them performing at a high level and those guys don’t get enough credit when they do. Brad and I talk all the time and I said you know it’s been the same since you were 10 years old — you get too much credit as a quarterback when things go well and too much blame when things go poorly. So I would hope everyone can build off a performance like this one.”
Can it carry over to runaway Patriot League leader and nationally ranked Colgate (8-0, 5-0) next week?
Coen will continue to challenge his players.
“We’ve talked a lot about what we needed to do to get better throughout the whole season,” Coen said. “But what was really important for me to impart to the players is that they have enough talent to be here, but it’s the heart and the toughness and those things that are going to make you a winner. We had those things today.”
kgroller@mcall.com Twitter @KeithGroller 610-820-6740