Lehigh Makes a Mess of Colgate In Timely 33-7 Win

BETHLEHEM, PA – DL Jadin Nelson had a lot to say in the post game press conference about the Lehigh defense.

“It’s hard not to block out the outside noise,” the senior defensive lineman from Rosenberg, Texas said. “but there was a lot going into this game. Like, you can see the Patriot League standings. It’s all close. And I know, as a team, we weren’t playing up to our standard [in the past few weeks], and we knew that Colgate was gonna be a good team.”

Going into the game, Lehigh was 5-1 in Patriot League play, in control of its own destiny for the Patriot League title and autobid to the FCS Playoffs. But Colgate was one of several teams just one game back from the Mountain Hawks, and Jadin said that the team knows it’s going to “get everyone’s best shots every week, every game.”

Nelson said the defense spent more time in meetings and walkthroughs during the week, working to simplify things and get back to the style of play that had defined the unit earlier in the season.

“Like, let’s go out there and beat the mess out of teams. That’s what we’re trying to get back to. Going out and dominating the day, beating the mess out of people instead of just winning by six points, five points, and all that.”

Almost from the opening kickoff, Nelson and the Lehigh defense backed up those words.

The Mountain Hawks smothered Colgate for nearly the entire afternoon, holding the Raiders scoreless until the final minutes of a dominant 33-7 victory over their longtime rival.

Beat ‘Em Up

The Lehigh defense stopped Colgate on their first two drives, before first year QB Patrick Coan guided the offense on a 8 play, 61 yard drive that resulted in a 22 yard field goal by PK Connor Poole.

Then, DB D.J. Brown nabbed an interception from Colgate QB Jake Stearney, handing the ball back to Lehigh’s offense once again.

That’s when OL Colby Reph and the rest of the Lehigh offensive line really got to work. They saw Colgate’s Patriot League-leading rushing defense as a challenge.

“We knew Colgate got a lot of talk for being a good run defense, but for us, it didn’t matter,” he said. “It doesn’t matter who we play. Same mentality every week. Just come out there and beat ’em up. We knew that we didn’t really have to do anything different. We just had to play at our best and play to up to our standard and not down to anyone else’s standard.”

After a big 39 yard pass from Coan to WR Jamaire Harden on 3rd down, Reph and the offensive line cleared a path for Luke Yoder on the next play, and after running through some contact, the senior running back found his way into the end zone and set another program milestone. A week after breaking Lehigh’s all-time rushing yardage mark, Yoder then broke the all-time rushing touchdown record with a score that helped Lehigh go up 10-0.

“I’m just grateful to go ahead and set that record,” Yoder said after the game. “I know I was tied with it last week, so just putting me ahead this week, it’s just an awesome feeling, you know, holding two records now. But obviously all the credit still goes back to O-line, everyone blocks for me, so I appreciate them and just help getting the job done and getting the win today. That’s the most important thing.”

Yoder ended with another tremendous day, 181 yards and 2 touchdowns to add to his ever-growing record tally and growing résumé as a Walter Payton Award candidate. He had no negative plays.

“They’re a special group,” head coach Rich Nagy said of the men up front offensively, the offensive linemen and the tight ends.. “Those guys just love playing football. They love playing together, you know, and they work together and they spend a lot of time together. I don’t think they needed external motivation, but there is a little bit of you that’s like, ‘Okay, let’s see who we are. We know who we are. Let’s see who you are.’ And our guys came out with intent today to be really successful, and I think that showed in the play.”

Complementary Football

All three phases of the game continued to click for the Mountain Hawks and Lehigh’s lead kept climbing though the first half and beyond.

“During practice this week, we said let’s not just try to be a conservative defense, but go out there and be dominant like we were today,” Jadin Nelson said after the game. “Like what you seen out there, that’s who we are, and that’s how we play.”

The defense kept giving the offense opportunities to build on Yoder’s touchdown.

An interception by CB Ignatious Williams kept the positive Mountain Hawk momentum going, resulting in an offensive drive into Colgate territory to set up Poole’s second field goal on the afternoon, a 36 yarder.

PK Connor Poole with his second FG of the afternoon, a 36 yarder. It's Lehigh 13, Colgate 0. 10 points a result of Lehigh takeaways. pic.twitter.com/IBVYD6FebI

— Lehigh Football Nation (@LFN) November 7, 2026

On Colgate’s next drive, a third-and-10 at the Lehigh 31 ended in a big sack by DE Lucas Manderbach — Lehigh’s first of the game, and one that came at exactly the right time. Set up by Nelson’s pressure up the middle, the sack forced Colgate head coach Curt Fitzpatrick to make a difficult decision. Rather than attempt a long field goal, Fitzpatrick elected to punt, giving Lehigh the ball back at its own 20 after the touchback.

Coan then kept the party going with a 10 play, 80 yard drive, which started with three straight Yoder runs but was extended by a perfect completion to WR Nick Palumbo on 3rd and 17 and ended with a 31 yard strike to WR Bryce Werner for a touchdown.

“Jadin’s an unbelievable leader,” Nagy said afterwards. “I give him a ton of credit for where we’ve come because, you know, being coached is one thing, but when the players are driving certain things and certain standards that we’ve set, that makes it a little clearer picture to the guys. We know [the defense is] capable of playing better, and that was a big focus this week. Defensive football comes down to not trying to do too much, just doing your job. To come out the way they did was just so much fun to watch and see.”

The defense then stopped the Raiders on three straight plays, yielding only one yard, resulting in a punt.

“Getting three-and-outs that fast, knowing our offense gonna go down there and score, that’s what we want all game,” Nelson said. “That’s complementary football.”

With two minutes left to go in the first half, Coan then dropped a perfect pass into the midsection of WR Anthony Feaster for a 41 yard strike, which set up a 23 yard field goal by Poole – his third right on the money.

By halftime, Lehigh had done just about everything it wanted to do. The Mountain Hawks had scored on five of their seven possessions, while the defense had held Colgate to 90 total yards and no points. Yoder already had 117 rushing yards and a touchdown, and Coan had thrown for 165 yards and another score. Lehigh had a 23-0 lead, and there was little reason to think the afternoon was going to get any easier for the Raiders.

Locked ‘em up for 60 minutes yesterday 🔒#TheNest | #GoLehigh pic.twitter.com/9FbSqrjx8O

— Lehigh Football (@LehighFootball) November 8, 2026

Wear Em Out, Wear Em Out

Lehigh received the second-half kickoff and picked up right where it left off, grinding out a 15-play, 82-yard drive that consumed 9:33 of game time and took away much of the oxygen for a possible Colgate comeback.

Behind huge holes from Lehigh’s offensive line, Coan, Yoder, RB Aidan Mayfield, RB Aaron Crossley and RB Trey Tremba helped grind out six first downs, including an 11-yard run by Coan on fourth down and a 32-yard scramble that took the Mountain Hawks to the Colgate 3.

“ I think Patrick does a great job stepping in, making his presence known,” Yoder said, “especially as a first-year guy. You don’t really see that a whole lot. Just going in there and making big plays, making an impact on the game is just huge for the offense.”

The drive stalled, but the Mountain Hawks still extended their lead with Poole’s fourth field goal of the afternoon, a 32 yarder.

Colgate then mounted one of its better drives of the afternoon, advancing to the Lehigh 20 before the Mountain Hawks’ defensive front took over. DL Preston Davis made several big stops, DB Davis Rice helped bring down a Colgate ball carrier, and DE Andrew Sharga forced a hurried throw on third down to set up fourth-and-five.

CB Ignatious Williams then stopped Colgate WR PJ Holmes a half-yard short of the first-down marker, shoving him out of bounds behind the line to gain to force the turnover on downs.

That set up Lehigh’s 12 play, 89 yard drive to seal the deal, ending appropriately enough with Yoder’s second touchdown on the afternoon.

”I try to stay steady each week, prepare the same way,” Yoder said. “Obviously, we’ve had a good recipe working and just keeping things going the way they’ve been going and just keeping my foot on the gas pedal.”

Here go two more for y’all 😮‍💨

Luke Yoder leads the nation with 1️⃣9️⃣ rushing touchdowns‼️#TheNest | #GoLehigh pic.twitter.com/butMmDbRmz

— Lehigh Football (@LehighFootball) November 8, 2026

When the dust had settled, Lehigh had outgained Colgate 526-230, with much of the Raiders’ production coming after the outcome was all but decided. The Mountain Hawks held the ball for more than 38 minutes and scored on all six of their trips to the red zone.

It was exactly the type of comprehensive win Lehigh needed to stay in the driver’s seat for the Patriot League title and autobid.

“It kind of hit me coming out to practice yesterday, realizing that this was our last promised home game,” Yoder said. “I talked to some of the other running backs, and we were like, ‘Damn, this stuff goes by fast.’ Taking everything in, coming out here, being grateful for what we have, our fans today, the home atmosphere, and just putting on a show for everyone that came out to watch.”

“Same thing with me,” Nelson added. “I was talking to our D line this week, and – we was not going out with no loss in Goodman. That was number one. And number two, enjoy our last time playing in Goodman, whether it’s now or whenever, but enjoying the moment and having fun.

“Like, we’ve been here for four years. We’ve lost some here, we’ve won some, but we know we wanted to go out with a bang. We ended up undefeated again at Goodman.”

The win clinched a second consecutive regular season in which Lehigh went undefeated at Goodman Stadium, an appropriate sendoff for a senior class that has helped restore the Mountain Hawks’ standing in the Patriot League. But as the Mountain Hawks made clear after the game, they have no intention of stopping here.

Full Box Score