Fordham throws its way to a victory over Lehigh
Princeton stifles Lafayette
The good news is that Lehigh held Fordham to its lowest point total of the season Saturday at Goodman Stadium.
The bad news is that the Rams still scored 40 points and got enough big offensive plays to offset two Mountain Hawks scores on returns and posted a 40-28 win in a meeting of Patriot League teams that entered the game unbeaten in league play.
Lehigh got an 89-yard kickoff return by Jalen Burbage on the opening kickoff and scored a few minutes later on Dean Colton’s fumble return to take a 14-0 less than four minutes after the opening whistle.
But the Mountain Hawks were able to score just 14 points the rest of the way while the Rams, who are ranked 16th nationally in one FCS poll and have the top-ranked offense at the FCS level, got 499 yards passing and four TD tosses from Tim DeMorat in improving to 5-1 while dropping Lehigh to 1-5.
“I thought our guys came out and played hard,” Lehigh coach Tom Gilmore said. “We had some really exciting plays at the beginning of the game on special teams and defense. We were doing good things on both sides of the ball. We weren’t consistent enough and we gave up some big plays on defense, which allowed them to get back in the game.”
DeMorat, a Walter Payton Award candidate as the top player in FCS football, completed 26 of 37 passes and shook off an interception and three sacks.
MJ Wright caught four passes for 226 yards and two touchdowns, including a 79-yard score that closed the scoring with 9:56 left after Lehigh had kept it to a one-score game. In fact, the Mountain Hawks had the ball with 11:34 remaining and trailing by just six, but went three-and-out and its next possession resulted in an interception.
“We had 24 first downs today, which was a far cry from where we were last week,” Gilmore said. “We made a huge improvement and we actually converted a few fourth downs and we had a chance to win it in the fourth quarter. We weren’t able to close the loop and obviously we have a result we’re not happy with but I thought the kids played with a lot of heart and energy. We did a lot of good things against a really good football team. There’s a lot we can build on moving forward.”
Lehigh got a solid performance from quarterback Dante Perri, who completed 19 of 46 passes with an interception for 185 yards. He was sacked just once, but pressured out of the pocket numerous times and there were several dropped passes.
“We took the right step as an offense,” Perri said. “We kind of got rid of the self-inflicted wounds. I had the one pick and I’ve got to clean that up, but for the most part we tried to cut down on the turnovers, the penalties and the missed assignments and for the most part, I think we did. Now it comes down to taking that next step. It’s a process.”
After Lehigh scored the game’s first 14 points, Fordham back with 17 to go up 17-14. But the Mountain Hawks grabbed the lead with 4:16 left in the first half and had a chance to add on when Fordham fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Gaige Garcia recovered for Lehigh.
But after taking over at the Fordham 28, Lehigh gained just three yards. Another possession produced little.
Those missed opportunities became more crucial when Fordham scored 17 points on its first three possessions of the second half.
“Obviously we expected them to come out strong in the second half and we have to do a better job defensively coming out of the box in the second half,” Gilmore said. “We gave up a big play and they took the lead right off the bat. But on the flip side, we came back. We shut them down on defense and the offense moved the ball and got
back in the game. There’s a lot of resilience in our team and they’re going to keep battling and give us a chance to win games.”
Freshman Geoffrey Jamiel caught five passes for 57 yards and Eric Johnson and Connor Kennedy hauled in TD passes. Nate Norris led the Lehigh defense with nine stops while Mike DeNucci had eight tackles including three for losses and two sacks. Donovan Thomas had an interception for the Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh is on the road at Cornell next week while Fordham hosts Stony Brook.
Princeton 23, Lafayette 2: The visiting Tigers controlled the ball and ultimately controlled the scoreboard Saturday at Fisher Stadium and dropped Lafayette to 2-4 with a 23-2 nonleague victory.
Princeton outgained Lafayette 364-206 and had the ball 39:35 compared to 20:25 for the Leopards.
Lafayette has its bye week before beginning the stretch run of its season with five games — all in the Patriot League. The Leopards return home Oct. 22 against Holy Cross.
“We’ve never had a kid quit on us,” Leopards coach John Troxell told the Lafayette TV crew after the game. “The kids tend to play hard every week and we just have to get better. We’re young. We can’t put ourselves behind the sticks because that kills us. We had a bunch of mistakes in the first half where we had penalties or dropped balls. We have to put a more complete game together and be more consistent. Especially when you’re playing a good team like Princeton.”
Lafayette’s lone points came on Byron Johnson’s 98-yard return of a blocked PAT attempt by Princeton.
The Tigers got two TD runs by Ryan Butler and another rushing score from Nik Vangarelli. The lone score of the second was a 23-yard field goal by Princeton’s Jeffrey Sexton.
Lafayette’s Rent Montie went 15-for-28 for 111 yards and suffered an interception while Ah-Shaun Davis came on late and completed all four of his passes for 39 yards. The Leopards managed just 56 yards rushing on 20 attempts.
Marco Olivas led the defense with 12 tackles, while Malik Hamm had two sacks among his five stops.