Lehigh Enters Bye Week Strong With a 31-7 Win over Columbia
NEW YORK – The Lehigh Mountain Hawks turned in a dominating performance against Columbia as they beat Columbia 31-7.
The Mountain Hawks (7-0. 2-0 Patriot) limited the Lions (1-2, 0-1) to 39 net yards rushing and 228 yards of total offense, most of that coming from a 74 yard touchdown pass from QB Xander Menapace to WR Titus Evans after the Mountain Hawks had rolled up a 31-0 lead.
LB Brycen Edwards and DL Matt Spatny had two sacks apiece, representing four of Lehigh’s six sacks on the afternoon. Menapace, in his first collegiate start, completed only 11 passes under Lehigh’s fearsome defensive front.
“My sacks are a result of the whole D line,” Spatny said after the game. “It doesn’t matter who it is that gets there. Relentless mindset all day. Coming out after the first step, knocking them back, really set the tone. “
And on offense, QB Hayden Johnson racked up 68 yards rushing and went 17 of 23 passing for a 240 yards and a touchdown, most of that passing yardage going to WR Geoffrey Jamiel, who caught nine of his passes for 182 yards and that score. Both passing and receiving yardages were career highs for both players.
“I’m excited about how we controlled the line of scrimmage today,” head coach Kevin Cahill said after the game. “We’re built on running the ball and stopping the run. Shutting down the run is what we need to do.”
After a 3-and-out, Lehigh engaged on a 12 play, 77 yard drive that saw two scores overturned by Lehigh penalties, but it didn’t stop the Mountain Hawk machine from gaining ground and ending with a 2 yard touchdown run by QB Matt Machalik, one of his two rushing scores on the afternoon. In the first half and into the second, RB Luke Yoder, RB Jaden Green, Machalik and Johnson would combine for 193 yards rushing.
Until Menapace’s long touchdown pass, Johnson, Yoder and Jamiel individually had more offensive yards from scrimmage than Columbia’s offense.
“Lehigh’s a really quality football team,” Columbia head coach Jon Poppe said after the game. “That’s an awesome team that is well coached, disciplined and everything we’re trying to do here. We did some positive things in the second half, but not nearly enough in the first half.”
Lehigh has a bye week after their resounding win, while Columbia will host Penn on their homecoming. Kickoff is at 1:30 PM.
 Columbia | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
 Lehigh | 7 | 10 | 14 | 0 | 31 |
COL: PASS – Menapace,Xander (178); RUSH – Menapace,Xander (23); REC – Evans,Titus (111)
LEH: PASS – Johnson, Hayden (240); RUSH – Johnson, Hayden (68); REC – Jamiel, Geoffrey (182)
Scoring Summary
| 1st | LEH | 08:02 | LEH – Machalik,Matt 4 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 12 plays, 77 yards, TOP 05:38 | 0 | 7 |
| 2nd | LEH | 12:27 | LEH – Yoder,Luke 7 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 4 plays, 70 yards, TOP 02:21 | 0 | 14 |
| 2nd | LEH | 00:48 | LEH – Garrido,Nick 38 yd field goal 9 plays, 60 yards, TOP 02:59 | 0 | 17 |
| 3rd | LEH | 13:24 | LEH – Jamiel,Geoffrey 63 yd pass from Johnson,Hayden (Garrido,Nick kick) 3 plays, 72 yards, TOP 01:29 | 0 | 24 |
| 3rd | LEH | 07:50 | LEH – Machalik,Matt 2 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 8 plays, 48 yards, TOP 04:17 | 0 | 31 |
| 3rd | COL | 07:00 | COL – Evans,Titus 74 yd pass from Menapace,Xander (Merry,Hugo kick) 2 plays, 83 yards, TOP 00:43 | 7 | 31 |
| 7 | 31 | |||||
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.
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