Lehigh Takes Control Of Colgate In 45-17 Victory, Then Finds Out They Are In Control Of Their FCS Playoff Destiny

BETHLEHEM, PA – Casually, at the end of the Lehigh Mountain Hawks decisive 45-17 win over Colgate, I asked the student-athletes in the post game press conference whether they still considered the Lehigh/Colgate series a rivalry.

DL Matt Spatny looked at his coach and teammates, and leaned forward. “I’ll take this one,” he volunteered.

“Yes, it was a huge one,” he said, clearly enthused. “From what they did to us last year, how they completely punked us at their house, we wanted to return the favor for them.”

That’s exactly what the Mountain Hawks (7-3, 4-1 Patriot League did to the Raiders (2-9, 1-4 Patriot) today in a decisive 45-17 win – returned the favor, reminding Lehigh Nation that yes, there still is a rivalry with Colgate that is very much alive.

It had seemed a bit like the rivalry with Colgate had taken a back seat over the years.

It had been a while since Lehigh had a winning record and both the Mountain Hawks and Raiders seemed to be battling for the Patriot League title every year.

From the opening kickoff, though, it was clear that the Lehigh team was on a mission to take charge early and return the favor of last season’s lopsided loss in Hamilton.

“We just focused on ourselves and tried to play the best brand of football we can,” head coach Kevin Cahill said in his opening statement. “I think we continued to improve today and show that we could play in all three phases. But I’m just excited. Excited for the players, mostly, that they’re having the success when they put the work in all week long and then showing to have success on Saturday. It was a great step forward for us and moving forward overall.”

It took only four plays for the Mountain Hawks to move 60 yards after the opening kickoff to open the scoring and take charge of the game.

Starting with a QB Hayden Johnson completion to WR Geoffrey Jamiel for a 36 yard gain, RB Luke Yoder took over with three straight rushes leading to a one-yard TD run to give Mountain Hawks to an early 7-0 lead.

After a swift first quarter and an exchange of field goals after long drives, Colgate was driving towards another score when the defense held firm on a 4th and 3 as Spatny made a critical sack to force a turnover on downs, the first of his two sacks on the afternoon.

“I think it’s our preparation that’s really been stepping up this week,” Spatny said. “I think what you don’t see behind the scenes is that everybody, from the youngest freshman to our old seniors, they’ve really been preparing really well and stepping up, and that’s what’s given us the opportunity to really perform like that.”

The Mountain Hawk offense went from there as Johnson would later find Jamiel again for a 7 yard touchdown pass to put Lehigh up 17-3 as the rout was on.

Lehigh would roll up 271 rushing yards, with Yoder (83 yards, 1 TD), RB Jaden Green (103 yards, 1 TD), and RB Aaron Crossley adding an 84 yard touchdown scamper to close out the scoring.

Johnson, in his first career start, was efficient and effective, going 16-for-21 passing with 3 TDs. Two of those went to Jamiel, who had 7 of those catches for 125 yards.

“I think the preparation this whole week helped,” Johnson said. “We just stayed strong, just stuck to the game plan. The whole line was obviously getting a big push up from our receivers getting open. The coaches just help me every day, just doing little things right. It was obviously a big jump from high school to Division I football, but I feel like everyone around me is supporting me.”

“We were able to get some coverages that we were talking about during the week, and we just capitalized on them,” Jamiel said. “That’s just a credit to the work we’re putting in during the week. Hayden’s always texting me, always calling me, always sending me clips and video clips saying, ‘hey, if we see this coverage, do this.’ I mean, it’s just really that It’s that extra work that Hayden puts in to build with the receivers and things like that.”

On Jamiel’s second touchdown, it was a quick pass to the left, Jamiel made a couple defenders miss, and he was off to the races.

“Yards after catch has been big for us this week,” Jamiel said. “It’s something we’ve been struggling with a little bit this year at times. So every time, whether it’s routes on there, whether it’s a team period in practice, every time we catch, we’ve been working on getting a good burst, protecting the football, and trying to make guys miss. And that’s really all that was going through my mind, just making a guy miss and get as many yards as I can.”

*****

After the result of the Colgate game, Lehigh got a gift in the Patriot League playoff race and FCS Playoffs autobid in the form of Holy Cross.

In a wild game in Worcester, the Crusaders would rally from two double-digit deficits, force three turnovers, block a punt and return it for a touchdown to beat Bucknell 40-38.

The Crusaders’ win over the Bison now allows Lehigh to control their own destiny in the race for the Patriot League autobid. As if there wasn’t enough at stake next weekend in their game against Lafayette, the 160th meeting in college football’s most-played Rivalry, the Mountain Hawks have a simple task – win, and they’re in.

“We’ve got to enjoy our victories,” Cahill said afterwards. “You put a lot of work in all week long to have the result of today. Tell the kids, ‘Go enjoy it and celebrate your victory in every way you want to, and then let’s get back to work tomorrow’ . We’ve got some great leaders in this program, some guys are really hungry, and they’re getting a taste of what this program should be about. Every year, we should have this type of success. This is what it has been in the past. The focus is always on Lehigh. We’ll always focus on what we can do and what we can control. There’ll just be more people here next week, and the expectations are a little bit higher.”

Full Box Score

COL: Stearney,Jake (263), Gee,Chris (39), Swanson,Reed (81)
LEH: Johnson,Hayden (204), Green,Jaden (103), Jamiel,Geoffrey (125)
Attendance: 3321

Chuck Burton

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: