He was a great man, taken from us too soon from a horrible disease. I know, because I had the honor of talking to him about his passion, Lehigh football, for his entire hall-of-fame coaching career.
Category: Lehigh
Lehigh Signs A Grand Total of 17 Through 2021 Signing Day Periods
“We landed some very good talent and some are capable of helping early,” Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore told me by email.
The 157th Meeting of “The Rivalry” (Lafayette at Lehigh) – Game Preview, Drink Of the Week, And Fearless Prediction
This Saturday, college football’s most-played Rivalry will contest its 157th meeting between the Lafayette Leopards (3-7) and Lehigh Mountain Hawks (2-8), and the hope is that it will be, well, normal.
The 157th Meeting of “The Rivalry” Means To Resume Bowl, And Party, Atmosphere
In terms of the Lehigh/Lafayette Rivalry, however, which resumes this weekend in the 157th meeting between these two schools, for Leopard and Mountain Hawk fans, I think, college football seemed to end on that day on November 23rd, 2019, and never really quite seemed to get back to the college football that fans once knew before they learned what COVID was and how it was to impact their lives.
Lehigh Catches Momentum In 23-9 Win over Georgetown Before Big Rivalry Game
It was a game that wasn’t handed to them, either by Georgetown or Mother Nature, and they fought through and won.
Lehigh Ends Long Losing Streak, Beats Pennsylvania Rival Bucknell 38-6
In the 85th meeting between Bucknell and Lehigh on the football field, the Mountain Hawks rode a friendly home-like atmosphere on the road at Christy Matthewson Stadium to end a long consecutive game losing streak by a score of 38-6.
Fiery, Emotional Battle Between Holy Cross And Lehigh Ends With Crusaders On Top, 31-12
For three quarters, it didn’t really feel like a battle between a winless team (Lehigh, 0-8, 0-3) and a team still with an eye on a conference championship and an FCS Playoff appearance (Holy Cross, 6-2, 3-0).
Lehigh Football vs. Holy Cross: Drink of the Week, Scouting Report, Fearless Prediction
“Who are these guys?”
Magic in the Air as Fordham Rallies to Defeat Lehigh 35-28
While it’s long been said that a picture is worth a thousand words, the images racked up through 59 minutes of play between Lehigh and Fordham were enough to provide an endless supply of storylines.
Lehigh Football at Fordham: Drink of the Week, Scouting Report, Fearless Prediction
Will Lehigh be able to keep this game competitive? It’s not a question that has been too very often asked about the Mountain Hawks (0-6, 0-1) over the years.
Penn Running Game Eventually Punches Lehigh Into Submission In 20-0 Victory
The Penn Quakers leveled their season record at 2-2 after outlasting Lehigh 20-0 at Franklin Field this Saturday.
Lehigh Football at Penn: Drink of the Week, Scouting Report, Fearless Prediction
a turnaround this Saturday could very well set up the remainder of a successful football season for the Mountain Hawks, and make a lot of people forget their early season struggles.
Lehigh Football at Colgate: Drink of the Week, Scouting Report, Fearless Prediction
The greatest thing about this rivalry game every year is that the stakes are always higher, and in recent years the fact that it has been earlier in the schedule has meant that there is a critical nature of this game.
QUICK RECAP: Princeton Dissects Lehigh 32-0
BETHELEHEM, PA – Lehigh’s offensive woes continued against a daunting, precise Princeton team, losing 32-0 in front of a crowd of 7,050 at Murray Goodman Stadium this afternoon.
Lehigh Football vs. Princeton: Drink of the Week, Scouting Report, Fearless Prediction
In facing nationally-ranked Villanova, nationally-ranked Richmond, the Mountain Hawks have played two teams that are loaded with 4th- and 5th- year talent that are built to make a run in the FCS Playoffs.
Princeton will be no easier.
Lehigh Football at Richmond: Drink of the Week, Scouting Report, Fearless Prediction
It took twenty-three years for Richmond to invite Lehigh back.
QUICK RECAP: Villanova Shows Out Against Lehigh, Dominate Mountain Hawks 47-3
Villanova RB Justin Covington ran 18 times for 156 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a 51 yard power run in the second quarter, as the Wildcats cruised to a 47-3 win over Lehigh at Murray Goodman Stadium.
Lehigh Football vs. Villanova: Drink of the Week, Scouting Report, Fearless Prediction for Season Opener
Lehigh will need all the home field advantage it can – Villanova is ranked 16th in the STATS FCS Top 25 and 15th in the FCS Coaches’ Poll.
Lehigh Fans Hope Healthy O Line Will Help Re-Establish Offensive Success
Lehigh’s offensive struggles don’t have one single source, but what is clear is that any success the Mountain Hawks have in 2021 will have to come from vast improvements across the board.
Lehigh Mountain Hawks Looking To Draw Crowds This Fall With Defense
The success of the 2021 Mountain Hawks will start with the defense – a unit that was, quietly, outstanding last spring and will be the rock on which Lehigh leans as the offense tries to get back to the teams of its offensive-minded past.
Mountain Hawks Hope Return to (Semi-)Normalcy Leads To Winning Ways This Fall
At Lehigh there is the hope that less restrictive practices and a return to a normal fall practice will mean a return to more familiar winning ways.
QUICK RECAP: Hard Fought 156th Meeting Goes Lafayette’s Way, Prevail 20-13 over Lehigh
No matter when the game is played, when Lafayette and Lehigh get together on the gridiron, it almost always seems to be close and come down to a few plays.
History To Be Made By Lafayette and Lehigh’s Football Teams In 156th Meeting Between Rivals
This April, the same weekend as The Masters, Lehigh and Lafayette will be playing the first-ever Rivalry football game in the spring, a most atypical 156th meeting in the most-played college football game that’s simply called “The Rivalry”.
In 6-0 Spring Loss to Bucknell, Some Surprising Optimism As Focus Shifts to Lafayette
When you look at it in terms of the development of this team – and how this leads into next fall – there’s a lot more positives to draw than a normal fall season when the team is 0-2.
QUICK RECAP: Bucknell Wins The Patriot League South With a 6-0 Slugfest Victory over Lehigh
Two Ethan Torres FGs, one 26 yards, and one 24 yards, were enough to put the Bucknell Bison atop the Patriot League South Division, shutting out Lehigh at Murray Goodman Stadium 6-0.
New-Look Lehigh Shows Inexperience In 20-3 Defeat to Holy Cross
In a way, the opening drive which ended with zero Lehigh points summed up the entire afternoon.
QUICK RECAP: Defensive Slugfest Sees Holy Cross Over Lehigh 20-3
BETHLEHEM, PA – The Holy Cross Crusaders beat the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 20-3 at Murray Goodman Stadium in the first college football game contested by both schools in over 450 days.
GAME PREVIEW: Holy Cross at Lehigh, 3/13/2021
It is uncharted waters for both teams, with plenty of questions to answer playing an unprecedented Patriot League spring football season. But many of the principal contributors in that 24-17 game more than a year ago in Bethlehem will be suiting up tomorrow.
For Lehigh, The Sacrifices Are All Worth It For the Chance to Play Spring Football
For this Lehigh team, who has gone through this unique journey back to playing games that count, it feels like this weekend is almost as much a celebration of what football means to them as much as it is a Patriot League conference game against Holy Cross at Murray Goodman Stadium at noon this Saturday.
2021 CSJ Patriot League Spring Football Preview
It’s been a very, very long wait, but this weekend, finally, we have a weekend of Patriot League football to look forward to.
LEHIGH FOOTBALL: Excitement Is In The Air for an Historic Spring Football Season
“I’ve been very impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude across the board,” Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore told me. “Getting the opportunity to be on the field and to be working towards competitive opportunities has really motivated everyone. It just feels different out there this semester. There’s an excitement in the air whenever we’re on the field.”
Lehigh Football Welcomes 11 New Recruits In An Early Signing Period Like No Other
The signing day celebrations sometimes came with masks, but that didn’t make them any less important or meaningful to a group of athletes that have had a senior year like no other.
OPINION: Lafayette And Lehigh’s Rivalry Put On Hold, As Athletes And Fans Wait in Agonizing Limbo
At the campuses at Lehigh and Lafayette, and the communities that surround them, there is a void in the third week in November, that most are trying to fill with virtual Rivalry activities and hope for a spring football season, making it not a cancelling of The Rivalry, but merely a delay to contest the game when it’s safer to have a more normal gameday experience.
Lehigh Pausing Practices And Training For Athletics Due To Concerns About Positive COVID Tests
On Tuesday, Lehigh University temporarily suspended training and practices for all sports programs after several Lehigh students tested positive for the coronavirus.
Lehigh Football: In Fall Like No Other, Head Coach Tom Gilmore And Staff Use Time To “Fuel The Desire To Play”
For months, fans, players, and Lehigh football head coach Tom Gilmore knew that this game wasn’t going to happen on this day. But Gilmore is trying to make the best of a difficult situation.
Five Burning Questions I Have About A Spring Football Season For the Patriot League
I have five burning questions on the issue that might help to give clarity on what a spring season for the Patriot League might look like.
OPINION: Patriot League Fall Sports Cancellation The Right Thing to Do, But A Terrible (Rivalry) Loss For the Community
Hope is not a strategy, and the truth is any form of national strategy has failed in an effort to have college football this fall. In a community like the Lehigh Valley, it’s a crushing loss to the coronavirus.
ANALYSIS: As Ivy League Contemplates Moving to Spring, NCAA Needs to Clarify Whether An FCS Championship Will Happen
The Patriot League’s dilemmas, whether the rest of FCS admits it or not, is the FCS’ dilemmas. And as we inch closer to an alleged 2020 college football season, the NCAA needs to make some things very clear before a huge mess happens.
Patriot League Council of Presidents Announces Guidance On Fall Competition, Including Travel, Preseason Camp Restrictions
The Patriot League Office announced on Monday guidance regarding the 2020 fall competition, a list of principles to “guide the development of a Patriot League 2020 Athletics Plan.”
Lehigh Football: Technology Allows Team Navigate Unique Stay-At-Home Spring Season
Lehigh head coach Tom Gilmore will be the first person to tell you that he’d prefer to have a regular spring assessment season for his football team.
Lehigh Football: Tom Gilmore: “These decisions are unprecedented in response to unprecedented circumstances.”
It was an historic week that nobody could have foreseen.
CSJ’s Ranking of the Patriot League’s 2020 Football Recruiting Classes: The Patsy Ratings
I’m proud to unveil this year’s edition of the Patsy Ratings.
CSJ Patriot League Women’s Hoops Preview Week Ending 1/12/2020: Crusaders Perfect 3-0 Week Has Holy Cross Atop Standings
Patriot League Women’s Basketball conference play continues this week with five games on Wednesday, January 8, four on Saturday, Jan. 11 and one on Sunday, January 12. This week features 10 women’s basketball games around the Patriot League with all 10 on the Patriot League Network (PLN).
QUICK RECAP: Jeffrey Kordenbrock Boots Game-Winner for Lafayette To Win #Rivalry155 17-16
It is rare that the MVP of the Lehigh/Lafayette game is a kicker, but that’s exactly what happened this afternoon at Murray Goodman Stadium as the Leopards beat their bitter Mountain Hawk rivals for the first time in five years in a 17-16 win.
For #Rivalry155, Two Young Teams At Lehigh And Lafayette Get Their First Taste Of Competition In The Historic Series
This season, though, there isn’t the same feeling of continuity that permeated many of these other games. Part of that comes from the fact that, unusually for The Rivalry, both teams are packed with young underclassmen, many of them playing in their first Rivalry ever. Normally, The Rivalry is filled with narratives. This season, it feels like the master narrative is waiting to be written with two teams that, even at this late date, have unknowns.
Sacred Heart’s Julius Chestnut Roasts Lehigh For Two Late TDs In 13-6 Win Over Mountain Hawks
Going into this game, Lehigh’s defense had a serious challenge on their hands – to stop, or a least slow down, the leading rusher in FCS, Sacred Heart RB Julius Chestnut. For three quarters, they did just that, but in the fourth quarter Chestnut would score a pair of rushing touchdowns to lifted Sacred Heart to a 13-6 victory.
A Winning Season For Two Teams On The Line As Lehigh Travels To Sacred Heart
It’s highly unusual for Lehigh (4-5, 3-2) and Sacred Heart (6-4, 4-2)to be playing a non-conference game this late in the season, but for both teams, important milestones remain.
Bucknell Bottles, Bludgeons Lehigh Offense, Which Leads To A 20-10 Bison Victory
It was, depending on your perspective, either the roughest Lehigh offensive performance of the season, or the greatest Bucknell defensive performance of the year.
A “Family Reunion”, Of Sorts, As Lehigh Faces Off Against Bucknell
Most games between head coaches in their first years at a school are ones where the opponents need to feel themselves out, thanks to unfamiliarity. That will not be the case this weekend, as Cecchini and Gilmore have more than two decades of awareness of one another and their tendencies. It should have the feel of a brotherly fight.
Holy Cross Wins Battle For First Place In Patriot Over Lehigh, 24-17, A Year After It Was A Battle Of 1-6 Teams
For the players of both programs, it was more about demonstrating how much they had improved over that battle of 1-6 teams on a wet, rainy, homecoming game a year ago in Worcester. Both teams showed exactly how much more they were than those teams with losing records last year, and in the end, Holy Cross showed that they were one play better than the Mountain Hawks on this afternoon.
