Lehigh Football Nation

Players of the Week, Holy Cross vs. Lehigh

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:09:00 +0000

The Players of the Week were pretty easy choices this time around. Offensive Hawk of the Week: Junior RB Jay Campbell (131 yards rushing on 21 carries, 18 yard TD pass) Defensive Hawks of the Week: (tie) Senior LB Troy Taylor (9 tackles, 1 1/2 tackles for loss including 1 sack, 1 key forced fumble) and junior FS John Venerio (7 tackles, 1 interception, 1 pass breakup) Special Teams Hawk of the Week: Freshman PK Jake Peery (2/2 XP, 2/3 FGs, 23 yards, 38 yards, missed a long 45 yarder) I've been remiss in reprinting the exclusive pieces that Lehighsports.Com has put out about members of the senior class. Here are two of them: Senior LB Heath Brickner: Relentless the Books and Opposing BacksSenior OL Frank Giacalone: Up for Any Challenge Also, former Lehigh WR Sekou Yansane was named a...

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Press Roundup: Holy Cross 24, Lehigh 20

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 02:48:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy Denise Sanchez, the Morning Call) Here are the press links for this weekend's heroic effort versus Holy Cross, but before I get to that I just wanted to reiterate how great it was to see Murray Goodman come to life this weekend. Have I become a sudden fan of moral victories? No; but I still feel like this effort was a step in the right direction. There were lessons in this game for the underclassmen, and I'm hoping those lessons will pay dividends next year. Morning Call: Late TD Allows Holy Cross to Escape Lehigh As he tried to come to grips with another agonizingly close loss for his Lehigh football team, coach Andy Coen scanned the stat sheet late Saturday afternoon in a tiny media room at Goodman Stadium and noted the similarities of the final numbers. Both...

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Sunday's Word: Horus

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 02:36:00 +0000

Yes, I've resorted to Egyptian gods for my "Sunday Word" now. It's a byproduct of following a 2-7 team, I think - the more tough losses I endure, the more creative I have to be. In ancient Egyptian mythology, "Horus" is the son of gods Isis and Osis. He's the Egyptian god of the sky, the sun god, the god of life and the god of war. (Those Egyptian gods seemed pretty malleable, depending on how you felt that week, it seems.) Furthermore, while most translations depict "Horus" having a head of a falcon, the alternative spelling of his name, Nehkeny, means literally "one from Nehken", known as the "city of the Hawk". So for the sake of my belief (and this "Word"), "Horus" is an Egyptian god, with the head of a hawk. (And contrary to popular belief, I do not have a life-sized statue of...

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Lehigh 20, Holy Cross 24, Final

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:47:00 +0000

I was there to see what was almost the biggest Lehigh upset in two decades. The No. 13 team in the country. The Mountain Hawks written off by pretty much everyone, including me. And Lehigh didn't just put forth a great effort, they very nearly shocked the world, pressuring Holy Cross senior QB Dominic Randolph intensely and making the superhuman Crusader QB look a lot more like a regular human being. You got the feeling this one would be different from the opening drive. Lehigh got the ball first and junior QB J.B. Clark led the offense right down the field, punctuated by big runs by junior RB Jay Campbell and a 14 yard TD pass to junior TE Alex Wojdowski. When the Lehigh defense would stop Holy Cross' initial drive at the 7 yard line, forcing the Crusaders to settle for a short...

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Game Preview: Holy Cross at Lehigh

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 04:52:00 +0000

It's three weeks until the end of the regular season. At 2-6, the Mountain Hawks don't really deserve to have any hope - however infinitesimal - for competing for the Patriot League title. If your record says what you are, Lehigh is an under-.500 team. The record says that Mountain Hawks are a team that beat Georgetown and Bucknell and nobody else. They are a team that didn't score a single point in their last appearance at home three weeks ago. They are a team that played better last week, but still lost a tough game to Colgate 27-20. 2-6. The record tells you what you are, and it's not pretty. This isn't the world of Shallow Hal, where we can be hypnotized like Jack Black into thinking that 2-6 is actually 6-2. And yet, the tiniest hope still exists that Colgate loses this...

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Players of the Week, Lehigh vs. Colgate

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 04:23:00 +0000

Last week's valiant effort versus the Raiders results in these players getting nominations for LFN's "Players of the Week": Offensive Hawk: Junior QB J.B. Clark (54 yards rushing, 151 yards passing, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 0 turnovers) Defensive Hawk: Senior LB Troy Taylor (8 tackles, 3 tackles for loss) Special Teams Hawk: Freshman PK Jake Peery, who went 2-2 on field goals (25, 35 yards) and extra points - no mean feat in 20-30 mph winds. Something to think about, with Holy Cross coming to town: the 1969 Lehigh football season. Forty years ago, the Engineers started at 2-5-1 (including losses to The Citadel, Delaware, Wittenburg and Gattysburg). But Lehigh would win their last two games versus Bucknell and Lafayette to become "Middle Three" Champions and would get votes for the Lambert Cup. ...

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FCS East Wrapup: Minute Hens Fall, Clarify CAA Playoff Bids

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 04:30:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy Fred Comegys/The Delaware News Journal) Going into last weekend, the specter of five CAA teams in the playoffs loomed large. But with James Madison's 20-8 upset of Delaware and Maine's 19-9 upset of UMass made it that much more likely that the CAA only puts three at-large teams into the playoffs. If there was any thought that Mickey Matthews' James Madison team was going to roll over the rest of the year, that was dispelled this past weekend on the road against the Blue Hens. Trailing 3-0 at halftime, the Dukes' long-dormant offense finally came alive, with freshman QB Justin Thorpe breaking a ten quarter touchdown-less streak with a 12 yard run. Add to that a smothering defensive performance - forcing Hen junior QB Pat Devlin into a 19-for-42, 2 interception day, and...

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Press Roundup: Colgate 27, Lehigh 20

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 04:03:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy Colgate Athletics) There was precious little coverage in the papers this weekend on the game, especially in the upstate New York area where all we have is the AP mentions that a game was played in Hamilton and that the 7-1 Raiders still are very much in the hunt for a spot in the playoffs and maybe the Patriot League autobid. The local papers also mostly ran modified versions of the official Lehigh recap, though to their credit the Morning Call did do a follow-up piece today as well. Even the student-run Brown and White didn't mention the game at Colgate this weekend, which leaves my recap as the only independent record of the game this Saturday. Lehigh Athletics: Lehigh Can't Hold Early Lead, Falls to Colgate 27-20 "I thought the kids fought hard, they competed right...

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Sunday's Word: Stars

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 04:43:00 +0000

Seeing as my "Word" last week - "Lidge" - did way worse than Lehigh did this weekend against Colgate, it's probably time to go to another topic that is probably worth discussing. (Um, guys? Don't think about "Lidge" any more. Please.) I try to watch as many Patriot League games as I can during the year (as long as it fits into my, um, Lehigh viewing/attending schedule). I knew Colgate had some really good athletes, but the couple times I saw them during the year were not their best days. On ESPNU a few weeks ago, Colgate escaped Princeton in a game that probably won't make anyone's highlight reel, and the Fordham game wasn't one for the ages, either. The artists formerly known as the Red Raiders did, however, win those games. And they beat Lehigh with some players that are...

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Lehigh 20, Colgate 27, Final

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 23:01:00 +0000

Another disappointment in a season of disappointments. What makes this one even more frustrating is that Lehigh had real chances to make this a game but were unable to pull it out in the end. You couldn't have scripted a better start for Lehigh: after the defense held the Raiders to a 3-and-out, junior QB J.B. Clark led a drive to the Colgate 7, and freshman K Jake Peery nailed a 35 yard FG to give Lehigh the lead. Then, a rarity: a fumble by Colgate junior QB Greg Sullivan gave Lehigh excellent field position after a rare fumble, recovered by sophomore DE David Brown, and Clark would find junior WR Craig "Braveheart" Zurn on a nice left end zone fade to give Lehigh a 10-0 lead. Momentum was squarely on Lehigh's side, but Sullivan and the Colgate offense grabbed it right back. After a...

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Friday Water Cooler: Homecoming

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:08:00 +0000

When folks in the future look back around college football in 2009, they're going to see a banner year in attendance. Folks complain about their being so many distractions for college students these days - including those outmoded concepts "homework" and "study" - to explain a decline in attendance, not to mention the availability of college football games on TV. In some ways, it's easier to follow games at home than at the stadium itself. The average attendance of FCS games in 2009 shows the usual suspects at the top of the list - notably Montana, Appalachian State, Delaware and South Carolina State averaging more than 20,000 fans per game - what's striking is that many of the big "Rivalry Week" games that have yet to be played will probably skew these numbers even higher for schools...

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Game Preview: Lehigh at Colgate

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 01:34:00 +0000

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've probably figured out that the Yankees and Phillies will be facing off at Citizen Bank Park for a double dip this weekend (Series tied at 1), and the hated Giants come to the Linc to face the Eagles for first place in the NFC East. While the composition of the Lehigh student population is most likely split down the middle when it comes to fan allegiences in these two series (I have an annoying number of fellow Lehigh alums that are also Yankee fans), there's another Pennsylvania/New York grudge match happening as well this weekend. This one is happening in Hamilton, New York, as the Mountain Hawks and Raiders will face off for the 48th time in their history. It may not involve the same level of hatred as the Giants and the Eagles, but it's...

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Players of the Week, Lehigh vs. Bucknell

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:57:00 +0000

The fantastic work on offense in Lehigh's 35-16 win over Bucknell deserves plenty of "Player of the Week" nominees. Eight, in fact. Offensive Hawks of the Week: Junior OL William Rackley, sophomore OL Troy McKenna, sophomore OL Jim Liebler, junior OL Ricky Clerge, and senior OL Frank Giacalone (0 sacks, 461 yards of offense) and junior QB J.B. Clark (24 for 37 passing, 327 yardsm 2 TDs, 1 INT). Defensive Hawk of the Week: Junior DB/RS Jon "Prez" Kennedy (65 return yards on 2 kickoff returns, 3 tackles, 1 INT) Special Teams Hawk of the Week: Freshman TE Jamel Haggins (grabbing a blocked XP and returning it for the 2-point conversion) Congratulations to all the winners - and here's hoping that the momentum from this win will carry all the way north to Hamilton.. The third ECAC Lambert...

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FCS East Wrapup: Revenge Wears (Crusader) Purple

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 03:15:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy Holy Cross Athletics) Jenifer Toland of The Worcester Telegram-Gazette helpfully reminded her readership last Friday that it had been 343 days since Colgate knocked off Holy Cross in Hamilton 28-27. Not only did that game mean that the Crusaders would come up just short for the Patriot League title for the third straight year (and a shot at a national championship in the FCS playoffs, too), it would be a driving factor for senior QB Dominic Randolph's return to Worcester for his final year of eligibility. “Every game’s a big game, but now that we’re back in the Patriot League, this is the biggest game of our season,” Randolph told her, “and it’s the biggest game we’ve had in a while because we came up short against them last year for the championship. I still have a...

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Press Roundup: Lehigh 35, Bucknell 16

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 02:37:00 +0000

(Photo Credit: The Sunbury Daily Item) As we watch freshman RB Zach Barket grind out some yards against the Bucknell defense, it's time to look over some of the press that comes out of this weekend. While there isn't a photo gallery of the game from the Morning Call this week, the Sunbury Daily Item did have a couple good pictures in their writeup. Allentown Morning Call: Lehigh Wins Big over Bucknell ''It felt great and hats off to the offensive line first,'' junior QB J.B. Clark said after completing 24 of 37 passes. ''They gave me five or six seconds to throw the ball and the receivers made some great catches. We came out confident.'' ''That was big [for freshman QB Michael Colvin] to score on the first series,'' Clark said. ''It set the tone for the game, and hopefully, the rest...

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Sunday's Word: Lidge

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 03:46:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy nj.com) With the Phillies making it once again to the World series (and, for good measure, facing the hated Yankees in the first-ever Turnpike Series), it's unsurprising that my thoughts on Lehigh football might also turn to baseball. But in Philly closer Brad "Lidge" there's perhaps something that the Mountain Hawk football team can look to for inspiration as they take on Colgate, Holy Cross, Fordham and "that school in Easton". Even with a feel-good win this weekend over Bucknell, it feels like Lehigh may as well be taking on the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. And with word that freshman QB Michael Colvin being done for the year with a fractured leg - Lehigh's second-leading rusher - and junior RB Jay Campbell sitting out the Bucknell game as well, it will not be...

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Lehigh 35, Bucknell 16, Final

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Boy, does this one feel good. Lehigh put up 35 points for the first time this year as the Mountain Hawks overcame some early mistakes to coast to a 35-16 victory over the Bison, continuing their twelve year winning streak over Bucknell and keeping their title hopes alive for another week. After the offense was shut out last weekend, seeing the offense put up five honest touchdowns - and junior QB J.B. Clark going the distance and putting up numbers like 24 for 37, 327 yards, 1 passing TD, 1 rushing TD, and only one INT - gives this Lehigh fan some hope that maybe, just maybe, little ol' Lehigh may still have a chance in this Patriot League race thing. Other highlights include freshman QB/RB Michael Colvin getting his first career TD, and freshman RB Zach Barket getting his first TD as...

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Friday Water Cooler: Computers

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:36:00 +0000

So there I was, minding my own business yesterday, when I started up our relatively-new quad-core computer. And that's when the agony began. The computer would not come up - it would not recognize the drive. I pretty much tried everything to make it come up - including, tonight, the dreaded last-ditch "put it in the freezer for twenty minutes" trick - and it didn't work. I have some other tricks up my sleeve to try to get at the data - but now I have to face the probability that a year's worth of photos - irreplaceable - are gone forever. Four Lehigh games, gone. My son's first day of school, gone. God knows what important documents on the computer - gone. Gone! I could have taken backups, or performed some sort of RAID backup for my hard drive. I even could have kept all me...

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Game Preview: Lehigh at Bucknell

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 03:14:00 +0000

(Photo Credit: Bucknell Athletics) It's been hashed and rehashed. At the midpoint of the season, Lehigh has played like champs on offense but like chumps on offense. The defense shut out two straight opponents, but the team went 1-1. First it was junior QB J.B. Clark, then sophomore QB Chris Lum, and then Clark again starting on offense, and the running back trio of junior RB Jay Campbell, junior RB Jaren Walker and freshman RB Zach Barket haven't been healthy all at the same time since the first game of the year. The record is ugly: 1-5. And the entire Patriot League schedule looms in front of them. With a home backdrop like that, the squad had to be loving the fact that they're heading out of the frosty Lehigh Valley to play a game on the road. If you're a Lehigh fan, you have...

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Players of the Week, Yale vs. Lehigh

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 03:03:00 +0000

I thought long and hard about not giving any awards this week, but after further review I thought it wasn't fair to the defense if I stiffed them out of their shutout performance. So I'm giving out three awards this week. The go to: Defensive Hawk of the Week: Sophomore LB Devin Greene (13 tackles, 2 1/2 tackles for loss, 1 interception in relief of injured senior LB Al Pierce) Special Teams Hawks: Junior DB John "Pres" Kennedy (2 kickoff returns, 32 yards, 3 tackles, 1 INT, 1 pass break up, 1 blocked FG attempt, and 1 forced fumble on the last play of the game) and junior DB/RS Jarard "Fearless" Cribbs (2 punt returns, 28 yards, 3 tackles, 1 INT, 71 yards in punt returns including a 34 yard return) There was som shifting in the ECAC Lambert Poll, which ranking the top teams in the...

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FCS East Wrapup: UMass Needs A Big Win, And Gets It

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:38:00 +0000

(Photo Credit: The UMass Daily Collegian) Elsewhere in the world of FCS, the big thriller of the weekend came at McGuirk Stadium in Amherst, MA where the Minutemen - fresh off a 43-27 loss on the road at Delaware - desperately needed a win to stay relevant in the FCS playoff hunt. A win over undefeated New Hampshire wasn't only needed. It was crucial, with the defending national champions Richmond on the horizon. And in thrilling fashion, UMass freshman DB Kumar Davis' end-zone interception of UNH senior QB R.J. Toman with seconds left formalized the Minuteman 23-17 victory. It didn't come easy, either. Both senior RB Tony Nelson and senior FS Jeromy Miles went down with injuries in the first half, sophomore RB Jonathan Hernandez picked up his game to the tune of 166 yards and a...

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Press Roundup: Lehigh 0, Yale 7

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:20:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy Denise Sanchez, The Morning Call) Looking around the press writeups (and the Morning Call's photo gallery of the game,) we see the press praise Lehigh's heroic defense who has now gone nine straight shutout quarters. One interesting thing that I didn't realize watching the coverage of the game was that junior DB John Kennedy actually caused a fumble on the last play of the game when Yale was trying to run out the clock. It didn't win the game - but it did show exactly what type of player the "Prez" is. Morning Call: Hawks Fall to Yale 7-0 ''I can't say enough about the defense and how they came up with stops time and time again,'' Coen said. ''Right to the end when they caused a fumble on a kneel-down, our defense played their hearts out.'' ''We need to be excited...

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Sunday's Word: Zero

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:58:00 +0000

I got up in the middle of the night last night. I couldn't sleep, and it was all due to a game I didn't even see in person this weekend. It was a game that - in every way - was a "zero". **** My wife, son and I had a party to go to that started at 3pm on Saturday. I watched the Lehigh game online with the commentary of Mike Zambelli and Mike Yadush - long enough to see the quarrterback change at halftime, the "zero" to "zero" halftime score, and eventually I'd also see only score of the game. At about 2:45 pm, I had to leave with my family. Even at that point it was a long, torturous game with punt after turnover after punt, and yet it was only the end of the third quarter. I didn't feel great about leaving at that time, even though I felt pretty sick watching the game, too. I...

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Lehigh 0, Yale 7, Final

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 01:33:00 +0000

I'm sitting here in front of my laptop, struggling to think of what to say. All I can really say is that anyone who sat through this game, online or - Heaven forbid - in person, deserves a medal. There is such a thing as a defensive struggle. And Lehigh's defense certainly battled bravely. But every time Lehigh's defense set the table, the offense and special teams could not score a single friggin' point. That's something that hasn't happened against a Lehigh team since 1986. And Lehigh, before this afternoon, had only been shut out twice since moving from from Division II in 1979, both times by Navy. That means that Lehigh, for the first time ever, was shut out by an FCS team as an FCS team. You could glorify a Lehigh defense that didn't quit - a defense that kept trying to set...

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Game Preview: Yale at Lehigh

noreply@blogger.com (Chuck B '92) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 03:34:00 +0000

(Photo courtesy the New Haven Register) Forget, for a moment, that Lehigh is 1-3 going into this game. Forget, too, that the Mountain Hawks' only win so far is against Georgetown. Also, forget that 2-2 Yale is very similar to Lehigh in a lot of ways - they've beaten a common opponent (the Hoyas) and struggled against decent Patriot League and Ivy competition. There's a key bit of pride that Lehigh needs to play for. It's something you're probably not even aware of: a trophy. In 2006, the Lehigh/Yale series got a trophy. Called the "Yank Townsend Trophy", named after the only Yankee (i.e., student from Connecticut) who was in the Lehigh class of 1895. After graduating, he would relocate to New Haven to be close to the rest of his family, where he would design many buildings and...

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