Lehigh’s Nick Garrido is as reliable as any placekicker in the Patriot League.
In fact, the senior from Notre Dame-Green Pond had a career-high 11 points in last week’s win at Bucknell and made three field goals and an extra point in the first half of Saturday’s game against Penn at Goodman Stadium.
But Mountain Hawks coach Kevin Cahill, who has extensive experience against Ivy League opponents from his time as an assistant at Yale, said: “You’re not going to win games against really good teams like Penn by kicking field goals. It’s not going to happen. We scored on every possession we had in the first half except one, but we were kicking field goals, and that’s not good enough to pull away. They were doing a good job keeping us out of the end zone.”
So with his team trailing Penn 20-16 midway through the third quarter, Cahill went into his bag of tricks and used a play Lehigh has been waiting to use for three seasons.
With a fourth-and-8 at the Penn 20, Garrido lined up for a 37-yard field goal out of the hold of star receiver Geoffrey Jamiel. Except this time, Garrido’s foot never got to the ball.
Jamiel grabbed the snap and scooted through a hole on the left side and sped past the Quakers’ defense on a 20-yard touchdown run that gave Lehigh a lead it never lost in a 44-30 nonleague game before a Parents Weekend crowd of 8.435.
The win gave the Mountain Hawks, ranked No. 9 in one national FCS poll and No. 10 in another, a 5-0 start to a season for the first time since 2012 when they started 9-0 and finished 10-1.
Jamiel would add a more conventional touchdown on a 35-yard pass reception from Hayden Johnson, and Luke Yoder would run for two scores in a 21-point fourth quarter as Lehigh began a three-game stretch against Ivy League foes — Yale and Columbia are next — on the right foot.
As for the game-changing play, Cahill said: “We’ve been practicing that play for probably three years. We had it and had it and had it. We just needed the right athlete at the holder to make it work. We thought we might have a chance with this formation against them.”
Garrido, who took off with Jamiel and was in position to take a lateral, said he was excited.
“I’ve always wanted to run that play, and the fact that we got it was just amazing,” he said.
Jamiel said of his touchdown catch, “We always talk about competing for balls in the air and winning your one-on-one battle and making a play. It’s kind of like ‘see the ball, catch the ball.’ Hayden gave me a shot. He made a big-time throw. He just put it right where it needed to be. All the credit goes to Hayden. And [tight end] Joseph Marranca came across and made a great block one-on-one to give Hayden time to throw.”
Johnson was 15-fo-31 for 240 yards. He also had a TD pass to Matt D’Avino.
But as has been the case for much of the last two seasons, the key to Lehigh’s success was its ground game. The Mountain Hawks rushed for 299 yards on 45 carries, with Yoder’s 173 yards leading the way. Lehigh averaged 6.6 yards per carry.
Their success on the ground produced a more than 12-minute advantage in time of possession (36:07 to 23:53). The Mountain Hawks 20 more plays (76 to 56).
Jamiel had eight catches for 132 yards, and he didn’t mind not getting the ball more often with the running game clicking.
“Obviously, we have a great offensive line that opens up holes, and those running backs are great,” he said. “So, it’s a matter of protecting the ball and stacking plays. Before you know it, the clock is running down.”
A few years ago, a back-and-forth battle like Saturday’s was the type of Lehigh would lose. Now, the Mountain Hawks find a way to win.
“Playing on Saturday is just 1% of what we do,” Jamiel said. “We work at it 24/7, 365 days a year. We compete in the spring, in the summer and everything with us is a competition. And we learn how to win. It starts with Coach Cahill, and he instills that mindset in us. So, we’re lucky enough to win today, but really we try to do it every day of the year.”
Despite losing, Penn scored the most points it has scored against a top-10 team since 1945, when it beat Columbia 32-7 in a top-10 battle.
The Quakers threw for 316 yards and had 345 yards overall, but a key interception by Mekhai Smith set up a 20-yard drive for one of Lehigh’s fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Bethlehem Catholic product Jared Richardson had a spectacular return to the Lehigh Valley. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound senior wide receiver caught 12 passes for 141 yards and two scores.
“He is one of the best receivers I’ve seen at this level,” Cahill said. “I’m looking forward to him graduating and moving on to the NFL or wherever. He’s really tough to defend.”
Scoring summary
Penn 7 – 7 – 6 – 10 — 30
Lehigh 13 – 3 – 7 – 21 – 44
FIRST QUARTER
L: Nick Garrido 35 field goal, 2:45
L: Matt D’Avino 22 pass from Hayden Johnson, 6:00
P: Bisi Owens 48 pass from Liam O’Brien (Sam Smith kick), 4:15
L: Garrido 33 field goal, 0:42
SECOND QUARTER
L: Garrido 25 field goal, 9:29
P: O’Brien 4 run (Smith kick), 4:09
THIRD QUARTER
P: Richardson 6 pass from O’Brien (kick failed), 14:05
L: Geoffrey Jamiel 20 run (Garrido kick), 8:59
FOURTH QUARTER
L: Jamiel 35 pass from Johnson (Garrido kick), 14:52
P: Richardson 18 pass from O’Brien (Walters kick), 12:48
L: Yoder 1 run (Garrido kick), 7:22
P: Walters 32 field goal, 4:50
L: Yoder 25 run (Garrido kick), 0:58
