This picture, courtesy of the Morning Call, not surprisingly, shows us one of the recipients of this week's game balls.Junior RB Marques Thompson got 127 all-purpose yards and did everything but get into the end zone. With a 40 yard and 30 yard scamper, he was a huge force in the running game this week. On the same note, I'm also going to give a big game ball to - who else - senior RB Eric "TNT" Rath for his 106 all-purpose yards and 1 TD. No pic of "TNT" this week, but he will get a game ball. Congratulations to all!
On defense, it was tough choosing players in what I considered a very solid team effort on defense. Ultimately, I felt senior FS Kaloma Cardwell and senior LB Matt Purdy deserved the nod with the big stops on 3rd down that spelled doom for the Hoyas offensively. The stat sheet may not reflect it - 12 tackles combined between the two of them - but when the game was on the line, it was them leading the way to a great defensive day. Congratulations!
Special teams game balls are going to be going to two freshmen. One won't be a surprise to regular readers of this blog: freshman P/K John Leo. 3 punts with a 44.3 average - all inside the 20- would probably be more than enough most weeks, but when you add a 43 yard FG, and a 47 yard FG that misses by about a foot - wow. The other freshman you may not have heard of, but I think you will in future years - freshman DB Brendan VanAckeren. The stat sheet says 2 special-teams tackles against Georgetown, but every week he is becoming an enforcer on special teams, including 3 versus Colgate 2 weeks ago. He's a big reason why our special teams unit is the best in the Patriot League. Congratulations!
Not much of a press roundup this week. We get the usual thorough coverage from the Morning Call (who have a very nice site update recently, by the way), but a lack of good coverage from the Hoya or the Washington Post leaves me with a much smaller press list than usual.
Allentown Morning Call:
Lehigh Downs Hoyas, Regains Share Of First
Lembo Won't Let Lehigh Relax Against Fordham
Easton Express-Times:
Thompson Gets His Chance
Brown & White:
Hawks Fly Past Hoyas Into First Place
Hoyasaxa.com:
Lehigh 46, Georgetown 14
Comments
--Ngineer
The Offense runs for 332, shuts down Ononibaku,a 1-AA 1st Team All-American, does the same to Buzbee and the O-line doesn't get a game ball? I don't care how many tackles Ono had. Most of them were from persuit, chasing the play. Same with the Buzbee. Those 2 could have taken over the game and caused a very long day for Sedale.