GAME TWO, LEHIGH AT GEORGETOWN – Hawkus Resumptus Versus Hoyus Interruptus
BETHLEHEM, PA – The movie Coyote vs. Acme is a twist on the classic Warner Brothers cartoon, the Coyote versus the Raoadrunner.
The premise of the cartoon is pretty simple – the roadrunner wants to keep running, continuing its momentum towards its goal, and the coyote, frequently thwarted by cicumstances out of its control, keeps trying to catch it.
In a strange way Coyote vs. the Roadrunner summarizes the opening of the football season for both Lehigh (1-0, 1-0 Patriot) and Georgetown (0-0, 0-0 Patriot).
For Lehigh – call them “Hawkus Resumptus” – they started the 2026 season basically resuming where they left off in what was ultimately a dominant 35-10 win over Holy Cross.
After an undefeated regular season in 2025, and a narrow playoff defeat to Villanova to end last season, the Mountain Hawks ran up to Worcester, ran over the Crusaders, and kept running.
And Georgetown – call them “Hoyus Interruptus” – also created a great momentum to start the year.
Picked 10th of of 10 teams in the new-look Patriot League, the Hoyas seemed to catch Lafayette flat-footed on several occasions, most notably when WR Hassan Mahasin caught a low kickoff, dropped the ball, recovered, surged through the center of the blocking wedge from his teammates, seeing three or four Leopards pushed out of the way, and his speed did the rest on a 95 yard kickoff return to put the Hoyas up 13-7.
Overall Georgetown played a disciplined, gritty half of football, relying on effectinve running by RB Clay Ash, a transfer from FBS West Virginia, getting effective running lanes against Lafayette’s defense and a short passing game executed by QB Jacob Holtschlag, who went 11-of-12 passing, but for a grand total of 50 yards.
Two turnovers amid solid pressure really seemed to get under Lafayette’s skin as DE Ryan Hussey slid right past the lineman and pounded Lafayette’s QB to secure one of two Lafayette turnovers. Though Lafayette racked up 202 yards on offense, they only had 7 points to show for it, and were trailing thanks to two Hoya FGs by PK Thomas Anderson.
The first half was a really nice display of football by Georgetown, and they were in a position to really put pressure on an upset of Lafayette, as they were poised to get the ball first after halftime.
But then…
Like an Acme dynamite switch misfiring for Wile E. Coyote, what seemed like a great opportunity for acheiving their goal was taken from from through no fault of their own.
At the end of the first half, there were flashes of lightining in the area, but curiously, no rain.
At 8:21 PM, Georgetown football’s Twitter account announced that Georgetown was leading at halftime 13-7. Sometime over the next twenty minutes a weather delay was called, because at 8:40 PM, an announcement was made by the same account that “Due to lightning in the area, play is currently delayed. Updates on the status of the game will be provided as they become available.”
At field level there seemed like there was some confusion about the resumption of the game. Somewhere word had leaked that the second half was going to kick off at 9:06 PM specifically, but somewhere else a call seemed to be made which stopped the game from resuming at that time, becuase at 9:15 PM, the Georgetown football account tweeted, “Lightning remains in the area. Play is still delayed at Cooper Field.”
By now the exciting first half atmosphere with sttudents and fans had all but disappeared, confusion reigning. By 9:00PM only hardcores and media members were left.
At 10:48PM, the Patriot League’s account tweeted out:
No details were offered by the league as to the reasoning for calling the game a no contest. This wasn’t like calling an out-of-conference game a no contest – this game’s outcome could conceivable help determine who is Patriot League Champions at the conclusion of the season.
“The decision regarding Thursday’s Lafayette at Georgetown football game was made by the Patriot League in consultation with the head official, as well as representatives from both Georgetown and Lafayette,” GU Athletics wrote to Georgetown’s student paper, The Hoya in an official release. “All options that may arise over the next 13 weeks are being considered to conclude the game.”
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like there are many options are available. At best it would involve inconveniencing one or maybe two opponents, as Lafayette and Georgetown don’t share bye weeks.
Where does that leave Georgetown? The short answer is that it leaves the Hoyas with a very long wait to play football after looking pretty good in that first half vs. Lafayette. But they won’t have the element of surprise.
*****
“I’m so happy for the players,” Lehigh head football coach Rich Nagy said, when asked about how it felt to get his first win as Lehigh football head coach. “With the offseason, change, different things, they never wandered, never wavered. They just kept working, and I was glad to see them have results that they worked for.”
Lehigh’s momentum was evident from the very first moments of their 35-10 win over Holy Cross, the familiar faces of RB Luke Yoder and QB Hayden Johnson picking up where they left off, surging to a 21-0 lead thanks to three rushing touchdowns, one by Johnson and two by Yoder.
Despite the 281 yards rushing and impressive red zone stops – four trips in the red zone for Holy Cross only resulted in 10 points, the touchown coming only after Lehigh was already up 28-3 – head coach Rich Nagy saw plenty of things to work on.
“Coming out and scoring the first three series and getting stops on defense, it was great to see,” Nagy said this week. “There’s some things defensively, offensively and special teams that we have to clean up and we gotta learn to play for the full 60 minutes.”
“At the end of the day, we want to focus on the process,” CB DJ Brown said. “We’re going to do what it takes to go back to work and focus on the things where we fell short, and focus on how we can limit that.”
This week there was a feeling of Roadrunner-like momentum, coming back from Worcester and getting back to work.
“We’re gonna come out with fire and we just have to match that intensity,” junior OL Jacob Messina added. “We did a good job in Holy Cross and coming out strong. We just have to keep our foot on the pedal and not let off the gas. We just have to have that fire underneath us throughout the whole game.”
A strong start seems to be a point of emphasis this week.
“They’re good up front. They’ve got good skill and their quarterback makes good decisions,” said Nagy. “So, we gotta do a great job with what we’re doing. And defensively, they’re well coached. They’re very sound. They’re very stout upfront. They’ve got good players and we’re gonna have to do a great job on our execution.”
LEHIGH MOUNTAIN HAWKS (1-0. 1-0 Patriot) AT GEORGETOWN HOYAS (0-0, 0-0 Patriot)
WHERE: Cooper Field/Washington, DC, Saturday, September 5th, 12:30 PM
STREAMING: ESPN+ PxP – Jeremy Huber; Analyst –Christian Taylor
RADIO: BROADCAST (Fox Sports Lehigh Valley 94.7 FM/1230 AM; LVFoxSports.com):
RADIO CREW: PxP – Matt Kerr; Analyst – Steve Lomangino; Sideline – Connor Brown
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:
