Lehigh suffers 5th straight loss
Only second win for Hoyas in 23 meetings with Mountain Hawks
Through much of his first season in charge of the Lehigh football program Kevin Cahill has maintained an upbeat, positive outlook knowing that it’s going to take time for the Mountain Hawks to get things turned around.
But after a 17-7 Patriot League loss to Georgetown in the rain Saturday at Goodman Stadium dropped the Mountain Hawks to 1-6 and assured them of a sixth straight losing season — seven if you count the abbreviated spring schedule in 2021 — Cahill expressed frustration.
“It’s getting frustrating the way we find ways to just end up on a lower half of the scoreboard,” Cahill said. “I don’t think we played particularly well overall. Way too many penalties offensively, way too many penalties defensively. All in all, it’s just not a good feel; not a good feel at all.”
It marked just the second time in 23 meetings since Georgetown joined the Patriot League in 2001 that the Hoyas were able to beat Lehigh and the first time at Goodman Stadium.
It was a dreary day that grew worse for the Mountain Hawks and their fans.
Lehigh had seven penalties for 60 yards and several came at the worst possible times in stalling offensive drives or an illegal substitution infraction that extended a Hoyas possession.
After a big offensive outburst a week earlier when the Mountain Hawks scored 35 points, they were limited to one touchdown, a 13-yard pass from Brayten Silbor to Eric Johnson that, along with a PAT kick by Nick Garrido, tied the game at 7 with 11:16 left in the third quarter. That 10-play, 75-yard drive was followed by drives that ended in an interception, a pair of punts and on four downs.
Silbor was 11-for-34 in the air for 205 yards and two interceptions. Mason Humphrey, a first-year player from Georgia, had three catches for 70 yards and Connor Kennedy and Dylan McFadden combined for five catches for 68 yards.
Luke Yoder, coming off being named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week, rushed for 81 yards on 15 carries.
But Lehigh had the ball for just 19 minutes and 39 seconds and were more than doubled in time of possession by Georgetown.
Despite a steady rain that fell throughout the game, the field conditions never deteriorated to the point where it was a factor.
“We can build a billion of excuses for why we didn’t play well, but it had nothing to do with the field or the weather,” Cahill said. “The field was great. And it wasn’t the weather either because they had to play in it, too. They made the throws and we didn’t.”
While the Lehigh defense held Georgetown to less than 3 yards per carry, quarterback Tyler Knoop completed 26 of 32 passes for 332 yards.
The Hoyas’ go-ahead field goal came after an interception and a 27-yard pass from Knoop to Joshua Stakely.
Lehigh threatened with a drive to midfield and had what would have been a 15-yard completion to the Hoyas 35 negative by a holding penalty.
On Georgetown’s game-clinching touchdown drive, the Hoyas got a boost from a 15-yard facemask penalty and then converted on fourth-and-9 with a 26-yard completion to the Lehigh 4 on a fade pattern. Stakely’s 4-yard TD run with 3:44 left put it away.
“Finish is a word that comes up multiples times a game for us,” Cahill said. “We have to finish drives. We have to finish games. We’re just not there right now.”
Nick Peltekian led the defense with 13 tackles, including three for negative yards. He said the team isn’t going to stop competing.
“We’re going to come in tomorrow ready to work,” Peltekian, a sophomore free safety said. “Coach said to us that if you don’t want to be here, don’t come. But I am sure everybody’s going to be here ready to work and I’m sure we’re going to get it done next week.”
What’s next
Lehigh travels to Bucknell and then has its bye week before returning home on Nov. 4 against Holy Cross. Georgetown hosts Colgate next week and Lafayette on Oct. 28.