Lehigh Leaps Into Bye Week After Second Quarter Explosion, Dominate Defensively in 34-0 win over Fordham
BETHLEHEM, PA – At the end of the first quarter on a warm, fall afternoon at MurrayGoodman Stadium, Fordham and Lehigh were deadlocked at 0-0 in a defensive struggle. Punts, hard defensive play, and special teams dominated the box score.
One quarter later, Lehigh was up by more than four touchdowns.
The Lehigh Mountain Hawks (6-0, 4-0 Patriot League) got 31 consecutive points in the second quarter, including 24 straight points in a three minute stretch, as they dominated the Fordham Rams (1-5, 1-2) 34-0.
It was Lehigh’s 23rd consecutive regular season win dating back to October 26th, 2024, when they beat Fordham at Murray Goodman Stadium 33-19. It was also their first shutout since a 41-0 win over Georgetown on November 1st, 2025, and the Mountain Hawks’ first shutout of Fordham since blanking the Rams 17-0 back on November 1st, 1995.
Sparkling Second Quarter
It didn’t seem at first like this was going to be a high scoring game, after three offensive drives by both teams in the first quarter resulted in puints, one of which was downed by Fordham at the Lehigh two yard line by DB Drew Minich.
But after that great special teams play, then the Lehigh offense started to take over.
First came the name all Lehigh fans might expect, RB Luke Yoder, who ran on four straight plays of 5, 18, 15, and 13 yards, including one with a spectacular hurdle of a Fordham defender, totalling 51 yards and to get the Mountain Hawks offense past midfield.
Then, electing to go for it on a 4th and 4, QB Derek Morgan would find first year WR Bryce Werner to keep the drive alive, and then eventually find WR Anthony Feaster for a beautiful 30 yard touchdown strike.
“This week in practice, we knew the game plan and we just started building that chemistry, me and Derek, in practice, hitting shots that we knew were going to work,” Feaster said. “And thank God it happened, you know, it was long overdue, but it was a combination of everyone doing their job.”
Then it was the Lehigh defense’s turn.
Behind pressure on QB Gunnar Smith, they’d stop the Rams after a short drive to the Rams’ 38, then on their next drive LB William Parton would help squash a first down run play, then on second down after a tipped ball, very nearly got an interception, but he just couldn’t control it as he went to the ground and it bounced away. One play later after the Mountain Hawks collapsed the pocket around Smith, he ran a few yards to avoid a sack, that they were forced to punt again, where DB Nick Peltekian returned the ball 11 yards to the Lehigh 45.
In an extraordinary three minutes of play, Lehigh would score three touchdowns and a field goal to essentially put the game away.
The offense took the baton from Peltekian and marched down the field, first by another Morgan to Feaster connection, a 34 yard run by Yoder, and after Morgan got away from pressure, put a perfect pass to TE Aiden Schomp to go up 14-0 with 2:50 to play.
“It definitely meant a lot that my brothers trusted me to be the captain today, and I think that definitely helped my performance just knowing I had the trust of my team,” Morgan said. “I was able to go into this game feeling loose, ready to go and just ready to have fun.”
Then PK John Zipf kicked a spinning pooch kick to the up man on the return team, and it spun out of his hands where Lehigh DL Silas Day came up with the ball.
After Day handed the baton to the Lehigh offense, it would take them six plays for Luke Yoder to find the end zone – untouched – to make it 21-0 Lehigh with 44 seconds left in the half.
Yoder now has 42 career rushing touchdowns for the Brown and White, and his score tied RB Rod Gardner for second on Lehigh’s career rushing touchdowns list. The school record is 46, currently held by RB Dom Bragalone.
Fordham got the ball back and tried to score, but CB Ignatious Willliams intercepted the ball and went across the field to the Fordham 30 yard line, with Will Parton giving him a block for those last five yards, with 24 seconds left.
Ignatious Williams passed the baton to Derek Morgan and the offense, who one play later dropped a perfect ball into the hands of Anthony Feaster again to make it 28-0 Lehigh.
Instead of kneeling to end the half, Fordham decided to try one more time to advance the ball. Smith went back to pass, and DL Jadin Nelson either hit him as he threw or got a piece of the ball. Either way, the ball flew off course straight into the air, and fell into the arms of Peltekian, who returned the ball to the 10 yard line with six seconds left.
Peltekian passed the baton to the offense, who passed the baton to PK Connor Poole, who kicked the 26 yard field goal to cap off – amazingly – a 31 point quarter.
“Our defense got some turnovers and created some short fields,” coach Nagy said. “The offense came in and capitalized and they kept their focus throughout, that’s the thing. We were able to do a great job capitalizing on some situations that came up during a portion of that second quarter,” Lehigh head coach Rich Nagy said. “It’s always like each group wants to top the other group. The defense gets an interception, well, the offense they want to score on the first play. And then vice versa. It all goes back to how they are a brotherhood, and it sounds cliché, but that’s what they are. The love they have for each other shows all the time.”
Defensive Dominance
Lehigh would score 34 points, although as it turned out only PK Connor Poole‘s first field goal was all Lehigh would actually need after their defense’s most comprehensive performance of the season.
“I can’t say enough great things about coach Mike Kashurba has done, and our staff, and our players buying into what we’re doing,” Nagy said. “It’s fun to see the results they are getting right now, and I’m looking forward to more growth down the road here.”
The stat sheet tells most of that story.
Six sacks, with six different players registering sacks.
Five turnovers forced – three interceptions and two fumble recoveries – all by different players.
LB Will Parton led the defense with 5 tackles, and nabbed one of the interceptions – and nearly had another. But he stood out in the center of the action, sometimes blitzing and causing havoc, and other times hanging back in coverage, and causing havoc.
“All we did was fly around with the boys, all we did was have fun,” Parton said afterwards. “We expect to do that, that’s the standard, us being able to capitalize off the offense when they go down and score, and when Connor Poole punts and flips the field like that, pins then within the five yard line, that just sets us up for success. All we’ve got to do is play ball and get eleven hats to the ball. That’s what we’ve done every single week this year.”
“It’s a combination of everyone doing their job,” Feaster added. “Defense setting us up to get 17 points in 40 seconds or whatever. Like, we can’t do that without them doing their job. At the end of the day, that’s the expectation.”
On defense, the Mountain Hawks allowed a total of 42 rushing yards on 21 attempts.
Fordham crossed midfield twice all game, and only got to Lehigh’s red zone once, late in the game when the outcome was not in doubt, where the defense forced a turnover on downs.
“Going into games, we know that offenses aren’t going to be able to run the ball on us. It’s not an option,” Parton said. “They haven’t in the past four years. That’s just the tone that we set,. That comes down to D line, linebackers, and the backline guys doing their job every play, which we do and do consistently – and we do it Monday through Friday, not just Saturdays. Teams are going to have to pass the ball, and that’s not going to work either. Our defensive backs are getting better every single week. It’s all about getting better every play.”
And all that synergy led to Morgan’s three touchdown performance and sixth victory of the season.
“We’re going go get better,” Nagy said. “We’re going to go into the bye week as we do every week, that we need to get better every day.”
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fordham | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lehigh | 0 | 31 | 3 | 0 | 34 |
Statistical Leaders
Fordham Rams
Lehigh Mountain Hawks
Scoring Summary
| Qtr | Time | Team | Scoring Play | FOR | LEH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd | 12:10 | LEH | A. Feaster 30 yd pass from D. Morgan (C. Poole kick) | 0 | 7 |
| 2nd | 06:15 | LEH | A. Schomp 10 yd pass from D. Morgan (C. Poole kick) | 0 | 14 |
| 2nd | 00:44 | LEH | L. Yoder 10 yd run (C. Poole kick) | 0 | 21 |
| 2nd | 00:19 | LEH | A. Feaster 29 yd pass from D. Morgan (C. Poole kick) | 0 | 28 |
| 2nd | 00:00 | LEH | C. Poole 26 yd field goal | 0 | 31 |
| 3rd | 02:44 | LEH | C. Poole 29 yd field goal | 0 | 34 |
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:
