Mountain Hawks Humble Hoyas on Hawk-O-Ween, 41-0
BETHLEHEM, PA – According to senior LB Tyler Ochojski, the most exciting play of Lehigh’s dominating 41-0 victory over Georgetown came in the closing seconds of the game.
Oddly enough, it wasn’t a play where he was even on the field.
It was a fourth and goal at the 1 yard line, up 41-0, and the second unit was in the game, trying to preserve the shutout.
Georgetown’s backup quarterback went back to pass, barely avoided a flying Lehigh player, LB Nolan Coen, and hurriedly tried to rifle in a pass that was knocked incomplete.
That play would secure Lehigh’s first defensive shutout since October 10th, 2009, when the Mountain Hawks defeated Georgetown 27-0.
“That stand represents everything our program is,” Ochojski said after the game. “To have those guys roll in there with a stand like that, I couldn’t be more proud. Our standard doesn’t dip.”
“They were loudest when they were on the field, because they’re very prideful that the standard doesn’t change when those guys go on the field,” a proud Kevin Cahill said afterwards. “PK John Zipf kicked the ball puts the ball through the end zone, and our side erupted. You have PK Caanan Kimball hitting extra points, QB Derek Morgan running for a touchdown. We’ve got some guys that got reps today that we needed to get reps because we’re going to need them down the stretch here, and everything was good to see.”
It was a perfect capper to an amazing defensive performance where the Mountain Hawks didn’t allow Georgetown to run a play inside the Lehigh 20 yard line until their final drive of the game.
The theme of the game going in was “Hawk-O-Ween”, due to the game’s proximity to Halloween, but it was the Mountain Hawks that ended up with all the treats.
The defense set the tone right away after Georgetown received the opening kickoff, and they held them to a 3-and-out.
Lehigh’s offense would then take over and go on a 10 play, 58 yard drive, with RB Jaden Green pushing through the line for a 15 yard touchdown.
On the ensuing drive, Ochojski, broke up a 3rd-and-4 pass to force a punt, and on Georgetown’s next possession after Lehigh’s offense stalled, Ocho got his first of three sacks forcing the Hoyas back six yards, ultimately resulting in another punt.
That helped set up two rushing touchdowns by RB Luke Yoder on ensuing possessions – one a six yard run, and another a 41 yard burst through the line untouched which he converted to put Lehigh up 20-0.
“It’s very hard to compete at a very high level consistently,” Ochojski said afterwards. “and great teams feed off of each other, too. And there are three phases to it, too, special teams, defense, offense. When we’re able to provide a spark on a day like today, then great, the offense will be able to feed off it. They can go for it on fourth down, and know the defense is going to get in there and get the ball back if they don’t make it. And there’s going to be days when we need a spark from the offense, and they’re going to be there.”
Up 20-0 at the break, the Mountain Hawks defense continued to dominate in the second half as well.
Two turnovers set the tone for shutting down Georgetown in the second half.
CB Aidan Singleton made a move on QB Dez Thomas‘ pass and returned it untouched for a pick six touchdown. It was his second interception on the season, and just like his first, it had a great sense of occasion, really putting the game far out of reach for Georgetown.
On their ensuing drive, Georgetown drove to the Lehigh 24 yard line when Thomas found his receiver, but CB D.J. Brown held him at the 5 yard line and DB Mekhai Smith punched the ball out at the 1 yard line, recovering the ball in the end zone for a touchback.
Smith had a great day on defense, leading the team in tackles with 7 while Lehigh would also amass 7 overall sacks against the Georgetown offense as well. Until the final Georgetown drive of the game, the Hoyas wouldn’t run a single play inside the Lehigh 20 all afternoon.
“It’s a lot of fun when the defensive front gets after it, gets after the quarterback,” Mekhai said, all smiles after the game. “They’re really physical and fast. On the fumble recovery, we just needed one big play, to rally to the ball, just like we practice on Tuesday, Wednesday. Getting after it and running to the ball Is the way to make plays happen.”
Finishing off the scoring were two more touchdowns.
One was a beautiful 27 yard strike from QB Hayden Johnson to WR Geoffrey Jamiel, his 5th touchdown grab of the year. On the season he has 52 receptions for 796 yards.
The other was a rushing touchdown for QB Derek Morgan, his first as a Mountain Hawk.
The fourth quarter erupted for Lehigh for Morgan’s score and the defense’s stop on 4th down, a team very much united and having fun. In may ways the heart of the players who suffered through the a 2-9 season two years ago beat through this entire team.
“The Lehigh man is a humble man, and that doesn’t come from glory, it comes from hardship and adversity,” Ochojski said. “That’s what made this brotherhood so tight. We’ve been through it, and now we’re seeing the benefits of working really hard together.”
While not a perfect game, it was an afternoon that seemed to have the Mountain Hawks edge closer to their ultimate goals for this season, goals that are very much not achieved yet.
“We talk all the time about our standard and the way we play,” Cahill said. “The challenge all week was, ‘Can we just focus on how we play and not worry about the scoreboard?’ I’m proud of how our guys did that today. It was process-oriented football, and when we looked up at the scoreboard at the end, the scoreboard read 41-0.”
 Georgetown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
 Lehigh | 7 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 41 |
GEO: PASS – Thomas II,Dez (168); RUSH – Enyerlbe,Udechukwu (40); REC – Kibble,Jimmy (99)
LEH: PASS – Johnson, Hayden (178); RUSH – Yoder, Luke (62); REC – Jamiel, Geoffrey (72)
Scoring Summary
| 1st | LEH | 09:33 | LEH – Green,Jaden 15 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 10 plays, 58 yards, TOP 04:26 | 0 | 7 |
| 2nd | LEH | 10:46 | LEH – Yoder,Luke 6 yd run (Garrido,Nick kick), 9 plays, 75 yards, TOP 05:03 | 0 | 14 |
| 2nd | LEH | 07:01 | LEH – Yoder,Luke 41 yd run (), 1 plays, 41 yards, TOP 00:07 | 0 | 20 |
| 3rd | LEH | 10:10 | LEH – Singleton,Aidan 26 yd interception (Poole,Connor kick) | 0 | 27 |
| 4th | LEH | 12:53 | LEH – Jamiel,Geoffrey 27 yd pass from Johnson,Hayden (Poole,Connor kick) 3 plays, 47 yards, TOP 01:23 | 0 | 34 |
| 4th | LEH | 04:21 | LEH – Morgan,Derek 9 yd run (Kimball,Canaan kick), 10 plays, 67 yards, TOP 06:40 | 0 | 41 |
| 0 | 41 | |||||
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:
