Defense Dominates As Mountain Hawks Drill Fordham, 27-6
BRONX, NY – The Lehigh Mountain Hawks surged to 8-0 (8-0, 3-0 Patriot) as they defeated the Fordham Rams (1-7, 1-3 Patriot) 27-6, on a sunny afternoon at Moglia Field in the Bronx.
The performance of the Lehigh defense stood out as they held the Rams to 74 yards on the ground and only 6 points. This Saturday the Mountain Hawks held an opponent to single digit scoring for the third time this season, and after this weekend are currently 10th in the nation in scoring defense, as well as 2nd in the nation in rushing defense.
Coming off the bye week, the Lehigh offense started out the game a little slow, but the defense didn’t.
They stopped Fordham’s first drive on a 3 and out, then stalled Rams next drive on the Lehigh 28. where a 51 yard FG attempt fell just short.
Meanwhile, one long Lehigh drive would conclude with a 36 yard field foal by PK NIck Garrido to give Lehigh the lead, and QB Hayden Johnson would finish off a drive with a 1 yard TD run to give Lehigh a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.
The defense would stuff Fordham on two consecutive drives on 4th and 1 plays.
The first was a run play that was stuffed by DL Jasuah Philemon and LB Tyler Ochojski, easily stopping RB Ricky Parks for no gain and turning the ball over on downs.
On the very next Fordham drive, on a similar 4th and 1, Fordham instead tried to pass, where a swarming DL TJ Burke and DL Jadin Nelson got to QB Gunnar Smith, sacking him for a 7 yard loss and handing the ball back to the Lehigh offense yet again.
Up 10-0 to start the third quarter, Fordham would receive the second half kickoff, and on a 3rd and 5 on the Fordham 40, LB Brycen Edwards would burst through the line to deliver an 8 yard sack, forcing a punt.
That would set up a grinding 8 play, 80 yard touchdown drive ending with a 7 yard touchdown by RB Luke Yoder, and after another 3 and out defensive stop, it would be RB Jaden Green‘s turn, converting a 1 yard touchdown run after a 19 yard scamper was stopped just short of the goal line at the 1.
Lehigh would give up a touchdown to make the score 24-6, but TJ Burke and the defense were probably most pleased with their fourth quarter stop of the Rams at the Lehigh 2 yard line.
“Our biggest thing is we’re disciplined and we’ll play harder than everyone else,” Burke said afterwards, “but sometimes we lose our edge, that’s when teams start driving the ball on us. We know we need to bring it back in, lock it back in.”
Fordham WR Jack Betten slipped past the defensive backfield and caught a pass from Smith and ran 72 yards with the reception, Fordham’s longest play from scrimmage and a good chunk of their overall yardage total of the game.
On the runback, DB Mason Moore tracked him down at the Lehigh 10 before he could score, and the defense took over, with a run stuff, sack, pass for a short gain, and a forced incompletion on 4th and 2 that resulted in no points.
“That Mason tackle and turnover on downs represents all of our core values,” Burke said. “72 yard catch, tackle them short, turnover on downs. Relentless.”
The Lehigh defense held the Rams to 74 yards rushing on the afternoon and sacked Smith five times, while Johnson would have a career day going 17 for 26 passing for 267 yards and adding a rushing touchdown. As a team Lehigh racked up 158 yards rushing and scored all their touchdowns on the ground.
“Winning in this league is tough to do,” head coach Kevin Cahill said afterwards. “We played energetically today on defense. We did some things today that we haven’t done all year, which is a good thing, but we also did some things that we did that have to be cleaned up. From here on out, we have to go 1-0 each week. We haven’t done anything yet. We have won three Patriot League games, and we have to find a way to win the next one. We’re happy to get back to Goodman Stadium. If you’re playing meaningful games in November, you’re doing something right. We have a bunch of games in November that we hope to continue to make meaningful.”
The undefeated Mountain Hawks return home to face Georgetown, while the Rams will travel to Richmond for their first-ever Patriot League conference game against the Spiders.
 Fordham | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
 Lehigh | 3 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 27 |
FOR: PASS – Smith, Gunnar (203); RUSH – Parks, Ricky (37); REC – Betten, Jack (87)
LEH: PASS – Johnson, Hayden (267); RUSH – Yoder, Luke (79); REC – Jamiel, Geoffrey (85)
Scoring Summary
| 1st | LEH | 10:57 | LEH – Garrido,Nick 36 yd field goal 8 plays, 49 yards, TOP 03:55 | 0 | 3 |
| 2nd | LEH | 04:21 | LEH – Johnson,Hayden 1 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 14 plays, 79 yards, TOP 07:36 | 0 | 10 |
| 3rd | LEH | 08:21 | LEH – Yoder,Luke 7 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 8 plays, 80 yards, TOP 03:57 | 0 | 17 |
| 3rd | LEH | 04:44 | LEH – Green,Jaden 1 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 6 plays, 45 yards, TOP 02:40 | 0 | 24 |
| 3rd | FOR | 00:15 | FOR – Smith,Gunnar 1 yd run (), 13 plays, 65 yards, TOP 04:29 | 6 | 24 |
| 4th | LEH | 01:50 | LEH – Garrido,Nick 22 yd field goal 13 plays, 93 yards, TOP 07:31 | 6 | 27 |
| 6 | 27 | |||||
Chuck has been writing about Lehigh football since the dawn of the internet, or perhaps it only seems like it. He’s executive editor of the College Sports Journal and has also written a book, The Rivalry: How Two Schools Started the Most Played College Football Series.
Reach him at: this email or click below:
