Being from upstate New York, Lehigh football coach Kevin Cahill had his team prepared for the cold and snow usually associated with that part of the country in mid-November.
What neither he nor anyone else could have expected on the Mountain Hawks’ trip to Colgate on Saturday was an extended period of lightning that first delayed the game for an hour, and then, ultimately, brought it to an early end..
The game was halted with 3:54 left, but Lehigh was officially credited with a 27-7 victory that gives the Mountain Hawks their first 11-0 start since 2001.
They are also 6-0 in the league and will play at Lafayette at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday with the Patriot League championship and FCS playoff berth on the line. The Leopards, 8-3 overall, are also 6-0 in the league after a 35-28 win at Richmond.
Lehigh, the fourth-ranked team in the nation, led 20-0 in the second quarter thanks to a big day by sophomore quarterback Hayden Johnson, who completed 17 of 25 passes for 259 yards and a touchdown. Nine of his completions were to senior Geoffrey Jamiel for 138 yards, including a 64-yard TD pass with 4:20 left in the first half.
Overall, the offense registered 393 yards, including 134 on the ground. Jaden Green ran for 54 yards and a touchdown on nine carries, and Luke Yoder had 51 yards on 17 attempts.
The Mountain Hawks’ defense, ranked among the best in FCS football, allowed just 222 yards. Senior Jackson Dowd had an interception, and seniors Matt Spatny and Tyler Ochojski notched sacks. The sack by Spatney gave him 24.5 in his career, setting a new school record that was previously held by 1999 graduate Nick Martucci.
Lehigh allowed just 12 yards on nine Colgate plays in the first quarter, and the Raiders had just 60 yards on the ground overall. The Mountain Hawks’ defense has held its last five opponents — Columbia, Fordham, Georgetown, Holy Cross, and Colgate to single-digit point totals. Those five have combined for just 23 points.
“Coming up here to Hamilton, New York, and playing Colgate and getting a win is huge,” Cahill said to Fox Sports Radio of the Lehigh Valley after the game. “I don’t care what we are or what their record is, it’s a great rivalry, and we found a way to win. The kids still have a lot of stuff to clean up, but it’s still a good win.”
Cahill, who has constantly preached about the need to get better, will see a lot of things on film with his offense that he will address with his players.
“I don’t think we executed at a high level,” he said. “Maybe some of the scheme stuff we need to give our kids a better chance with certain things. We will look at everything and how we can get better. Things like who’s getting the ball, where the blocks are, where the angles are, all of that stuff. Our coaching staff does a very good job with that stuff. But give Colgate a ton of credit. They gave up a lot of rushing yards last week [to Lafayette], and they came in here today and said you’re not going to run the ball. We found a way to get the ball to get the ball in the end zone a couple of times, even though we have to do a better job with the penalties we had in the red zone.”
As for the defense, Cahill said, “They’re playing hard and believing in each other and trusting each other. The more we play, the better we get with the reps we get, and some younger guys are stepping up and playing well. Colgate came at us, and we know we’re going to get everybody’s best shot. So, we still have to clean things up.”
Scoring summary
Lehigh 10 – 10 – 0 – 7 — 27
Colgate 0 – 7 – 0 – 0 — 7
FIRST QUARTER
L: Aaron Crossley 2 run (John Zipf kick), 8:05
L: Connor Poole 32 field goal, 3:33
SECOND QUARTER
L: Connor Poole 30 field goal
L: Geoffrey Jamiel 64 pass from Hayden Johnson (Zipf kick), 4:20
C: Matt Fogler 28 pass from John Stearney (Luke Vogeler kick), 0:06
FOURTH QUARTER
L: Jaden Green 28 run (Zipf kick), 10:04
