Halloween Exorcism: Lehigh Puts Ghosts, Two Game Losing Streak to Rest In Thrilling 31-30 Win over Bucknell

BETHLEHEM, PA. — Since the bye week, it’s felt like Lehigh’s been haunted.

Two weeks ago, it was the house of horrors at Schoellkopf Field at Cornell, where the Mountain Hawks suffered a 48-38 defeat at a venue where they hadn’t won since 2014.

Last week, it was an agonizing 24-18 defeat against Villanova, as Lehigh was stopped at the two-yard line against a team the Mountain Hawks hadn’t been able to defeat in twenty years.

And coming into this week, the Mountain Hawks saw Bucknell coming to town — a team they hadn’t beaten at home since 2019.

But on Halloween afternoon, the Mountain Hawks finally got the chance to exorcise those ghosts — and put an end to not one, but two streaks that threatened to derail their pursuit of their ultimate goal this season: a third consecutive Patriot League title.

The exorcism was anything but easy.

The Bison (1-8, 0-6 Patriot League) gave it everything they had, but with two seconds left, and Bucknell needing two yards to get the two point conversion, DB Luke Denny‘s hand knocked away the football from Bison WR Owen Garwood, finally breaking the spell and keeping Lehigh (6-2, 5-1 Patriot League) on track for the title – barely.

Brutish Bison

In the Bucknell-Lehigh series over the last seven seasons, the visiting team won each time. In fact, all three of Bucknell’s victories at Murray Goodman Stadium during that stretch were one-score games, each coming down to the final possession.

During the spring 2021 COVID-affected season, Bucknell shut out a depleted Lehigh team 6-0. In a game where both teams combined for just two third-down conversions, the Mountain Hawks had the ball with 1:45 remaining but were stopped on downs, one yard short of a first down.

In 2022, down 17–16, the Bison recovered an onside kick with 2:01 remaining and drove to the Lehigh 2-yard line. As time expired, Bucknell PK Matt Shearer connected on a 19-yard field goal to give the Bison a come-from-behind victory.

But the most painful one of all might have been 2024, RB Luke Yoder’s sophomore season.

In that game Lehigh jumped out to a 14–0 lead, but Bucknell WR TJ Cadden changed the momentum with a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

At halftime, the score was 14-14. At the end of the 3rd quarter, the score was 21-21.

The Bison would score on a 79-yard interception return, but the Mountain Hawks would respond with a 11 play, 70 yard drive that would end with – what else? – a Luke Yoder touchdown.

At the end of regulation, the score was 28-28.

Lehigh still outgained Bucknell 500–270 and Yoder rushed for 137 yards and three touchdowns, and yet, it wasn’t enough. The Mountain Hawks appeared poised to escape with a victory after scoring in the first overtime, but Bucknell answered to force a second extra period, deadlocked at 35. There, a Yoder fumble on Lehigh’s possession gave the Bison the opportunity to escape Goodman Stadium with a 38–35 victory.

Three times Bucknell had come to Goodman Stadium and found a way to break Lehigh’s heart, each defeat coming down to the final possession.

Back-And-Forth Thriller

On Halloween afternoon, the Mountain Hawks found themselves in another one-score battle with the Bison, once again haunted by the prospect of another defeat at their hands. It felt like an eerie sequel to the horror of 2024, with a plotline all too familiar after Lehigh’s losses in the previous two weeks.

For the third straight week, the Mountain Hawks started out slowly and trailed at halftime.

Bucknell WR Sam Milligan opened the scoring — not by catching a pass, but by throwing one. On a trick play, Milligan found a wide-open WR Jackson Nowitski for the touchdown and an early Bison lead.

Lehigh responded with a 13-play, 75-yard drive, capped by Yoder’s first touchdown of the afternoon. After the teams traded several punts, however, the Mountain Hawks managed just one yard on an offensive possession late in the second quarter, Bucknell took advantage, marching 71 yards in nine plays before RB Jack Sullivan scored on a two-yard run.

Going into halftime, Lehigh once again found itself trailing, with the same questions hanging over the Mountain Hawks that had followed them through the previous two weeks. The ghosts weren’t going anywhere just yet.

“We had a pretty good idea at that point what was working, what wasn’t working, what we had to fix, and what we had to change,” head coach Rich Nagy said about halftime adjustments. “When we got in, it was like, ‘Yes, relax’. I think [the team was], you know, talking to the officials a little bit, trying to get some calls, trying to do some things that — you know, we just can’t do. And we just had to stay focused on ourselves and make sure, in that second half, that we just stayed together.”

The exorcism started in the second hald with a timely turnover involving a couple of young defensemen.  DB TJ Hill deflected a pass by Bucknell QB Emmett Dowling, and first year LB Josh Lenart nabbing the ball out of the air for his first career interception, setting Lehigh up at the Bucknell 29.

“I give all the credit to TJ,” Lenart said. “He made a great play on the ball. I was just in the right place at the right time to make the play, and it was a big turnover for our offense.”

It was a big play, and the turnover gave Lehigh an opportunity to change the momentum, but the Mountain Hawks also needed something to change on offense. Nagy made the difficult decision to replace Derek Morgan with first-year QB Patrick Coan, who entered in the third quarter.

Nagy said the decision was based on several factors. Morgan had taken some hits in the previous week’s game against Villanova, and Nagy acknowledged that his health was part of the consideration. He also felt Morgan had missed some throws and that the offense needed a spark.

“Patrick’s done a great job to keep himself ready,” Nagy said. “And, again, glad he does stay ready and stay in the moment.”

Coan certainly provided that spark.

He came in and immediately made some important throws, including a third-down completion into a tight window to WR Nick Palumbo that converted a huge third down conversion to get the offense moving. The freshman said he was able to settle in because of the support he received from his teammates.

“I had a bunch of guys behind me rooting me on and supporting me, so it was kind of easy coming to that type of environment and go play football,” Coan said.

Coan wasn’t the only first-year player making an impact. RB Aidan Mayfield capped the drive with a four-yard touchdown run, tying the game at 14.

Huge. A Josh Lenart interception leads to a HUGE Aidan Mayfield TD. Tied at 14 with 6:58 left in the 3rd q. pic.twitter.com/fht8vEZ3lS

— Lehigh Football Nation (@LFN) October 31, 2026

We Haven’t Seen This Movie Before

The young Mountain Hawks had rallied to make it a game, but that only set the stage for a seccond half back-and-forth affair that had typified the last three Lehigh-Bucknell meetings at Murray Goodman Stadium — all of which ended in Mountain Hawk defeats.

A field goal by Bison PK Juan Garanton field goal gave Bucknell a 17-14 lead, but Coen and Yoder would give Lehigh their first lead of the game after a beautifully rhrown ball from Coan to WR Matt D’Avino for a 30 yard strike.

COAN!! D'AVINO!! TOUCHDOWN! 21-17 Lehigh!!!! pic.twitter.com/Z2kDWLzyzU

— Lehigh Football Nation (@LFN) October 31, 2026

The lead wouldn’t last long, as the Bison answered with a seven-play, 75-yard drive capped by a 19-yard rushing touchdown from WR Sam Milligan. Bucknell moved the ball with a couple of big plays along the way, including a 15-yard reception by Milligan and a 23-yard catch by WR JJ Gomez, before Milligan finished the drive by taking a backward toss from Dowling into the end zone.

Down by a field goal, Nagy and the Lehigh offense turned to their familiar star, Luke Yoder, to help reclaim the lead. Already well over 100 yards rushing, Yoder was working his way toward a milestone of his own: becoming Lehigh’s all-time leading rusher. Every carry on that critical drive brought the senior running back closer to a place in the Lehigh record book.

On a drive that consisted entirely of Yoder and Mayfield runs, with the drive hanging in the balance, Lehigh’s drive made it all the way to the Bucknell 14 yard line when the Bison defense stiffened to set up a 4th and 1 at the Lehigh 16 yard line. Nagy had a critical decision to make with 4:21 to play – kick a field goal to tie the game, or trust that his star running back could get him that yard they needed to keep the drive going and possibly score the touchdown.

Yoder powered ahead to move the chains on a crucual 4th and 1 – barely – to keep Lehigh’s possession alive.

“[It came down to] trusting my reads, knowing the offensive line’s gonna bust their tail to block for me, and just making the cuts that I know how to make.”

As it would turn out, Yoder would break free two plays later and make Lehigh history – and give Lehigh the lead.

He would run off the left tackle for 11 yards for the touchdown, giving him the all-time rushing record, tying the all-time rushing touchdown record and – most importantly – gave Lehigh the lead with 3:06 to go in the game.

A DRAMATIC RECORD BREAKER
YODER TIES THE RUSHING TD RECORD
AS OF RIGHT NOW YODER HAS THE RUSHING YARDS RECORD
LEHIGH 28, BUCKNELL 24 3:05 TO PLAY pic.twitter.com/YCUh1XHtkB

— Lehigh Football Nation (@LFN) October 31, 2026

For Yoder, the accomplishment was the culmination of a journey that began when he first took the field as a freshman.

“It’s just a crazy feeling being here. Obviously coming from a freshman, playing as a freshman, not everyone gets to experience it like these boys do,” Yoder said, pointng over to first-years Coan and Lenart in the press conference. “But just building upon that every single year, and just getting to this point. I give all the credit to my offensive line and everyone out there who blocks for me. And it was just a great job getting it done, and really cool accomplishment.”

In fact, Yoder said he hadn’t been thinking about the record as he approached the milestone. He knew he was close, but didn’t even realize he’d broken it until his father told him after the game.

“I knew I was within range, but that wasn’t my thought. I wasn’t like, ‘Yeah, I need to break this record right now.’ Ended up coming over to my dad, said hi to him after the game, and he ended up telling me that I broke it, so it was a cool thing.”

One Final Exorcism

If Mountain Hawks fans thought they had finally put their Bucknell ghosts to rest, the Bison had other ideas.

With time still on the clock and their freshman quarterback slinging the ball confidently, Lehigh would need to keep making plays to ensure that another late Bucknell heartbreak didn’t rise from the grave.

On Bucknell’s next possession, the Lehigh defense stiffened. Facing fourth-and-eight, DL Jadin Nelson surged through the line to sack Dowling and give Lehigh the ball back with 2:17 to play.

Yoder the carried the ball three times on Lehigh’s ensuing possession, but managed to get only as far as the Bucknell 17. Bucknell head coach Jeff Behrman used his remaining timeouts to preserve the clock, but PK Connor Poole‘s 33-yard field goal gave Lehigh a seven-point lead with 1:47 remaining.

Behrman may be a first-year Division I head coach, but using his timeouts gave Bucknell a ghost of a chance — which was all the Bison had needed to beat Lehigh in their previous three visits to Goodman Stadium. And once again, Bucknell would find a way to score late, setting up one final play that would decide the game.

Dowling would orchestrate a 12-play, 75-yard drive, converting two fourth-down passes to JJ Gomez to keep the possession alive. With seven seconds remaining, Dowling found an outstretched Milligan in the right corner of the end zone to make it a 31–30 game.

With that catch, Milligan became the first player in Bucknell history to record a rushing touchdown, a passing touchdown and a receiving touchdown in the same game.

Behrman then decided to go for the win on the road, sending his offense out for a two-point conversion from the two-yard line. For Lehigh, the situation was an unsettling mirror of the previous week’s game against Villanova: an opponent lining up at the two-yard line with fewer than 10 seconds remaining, with the chance to win the game on a single play. Last week, at the Villanova 2 yard line, Lehigh had been unable to find the end zone. This time, the Mountain Hawks had one last chance to keep history from repeating itself.

And then Luke Denny made the play that finally sealed the victory.

Bucknell’s receiver had a moment of separation, but Denny got a hand in at just the right time to knock away the two-point conversion attempt and preserve Lehigh’s one-point lead. Even then, the game wasn’t quite over. The Mountain Hawks still had to recover Bucknell’s ensuing onside kick and watch Patrick Coan take a knee in victory formation before they could finally celebrate.

“Denny is a great athlete,” Lenart said after the game. “He was in the right spot at the right time. But our defense, like Coach Nagy said earlier in the week, we just focused on strength and finishing it ’cause we kinda lacked that last two weeks. But we really focused on that and we made a big play when we needed to at the end of the game.”

With that, Lehigh had put both its two-game losing streak and its home losing streak against Bucknell to rest.

“We could look back the last couple weeks and say, ‘Great second half, great comebacks,’,” Nagy said, “and all these different things, but we didn’t win. The one thing I think that hopefully people will see throughout the season is our guys will fight and they’re gonna fight to the end, no matter what the circumstances with the score. We’ll celebrate this, and get back to work.”

“When you look at all three phases, we came up big in critical situations,” Nagy added. “We know it’s there. We know we’ve got the capabilities. We just gotta do it on a more consistent basis.”