Once again, Lehigh showed some good fight.
Once again, Lehigh in effect spotted a team points in the first half - not on turnovers this time, but by allowing Holy Cross to march down the field on three straight possessions to go ahead 21-0.
Once again, Lehigh came back to tie the game at 21, mostly on the back of senior RB Matt McGowan's incredible performance: 244 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns, and senior DB Quadir Carter's two big interceptions in the red zone.
Tied in the 4th quarter, it felt like anybody's game. Just like the Harvard game. Or the Princeton game. Or the Cornell game.
But Holy Cross proved why they're a potential Patriot League championship team, and Lehigh isn't.
Payton Award candidate Dominic Randolph promptly led Holy Cross on a 11 play, 71 yard drive, avoiding a near-certain sack on 3rd and 1 at the 2 yard line and finally picking WR Jon Brock to go ahead 28-21.
Lehigh gets the ball back, and suffers a weak 3-and-out. A 3rd-and-4 screen pass, on the bad footing at Fitton Field, went nowhere, and senior P/K Jason Leo trotted out to punt.
In some years, I'd see Leo trot out and I'd feel like Lehigh had just yet begun to fight. But not this time. After that 3-and-out, I felt the game was probably over. Maybe it's a function of being in this position four times already, I'm not sure. But I didn't have that feeling that we could defnitely make this happen.
One drive later, it was over. Randolph shredded the defense on a 13-play, 77 yard drive, including two huge third down conversions. This time, he found WR Brett McDermott in the end zone to make the score 35-21 with just about 4 minutes to play.
Sophomore QB J.B. Clark kept battling - but two interceptions later, those hopes were dashed. Lehigh falls to 2-5, and faces an extremely uphill battle the rest of the way to avoid a losing record for the second consecutive season.
Once again, Lehigh battled, and Lehigh lost.
Once again, Lehigh in effect spotted a team points in the first half - not on turnovers this time, but by allowing Holy Cross to march down the field on three straight possessions to go ahead 21-0.
Once again, Lehigh came back to tie the game at 21, mostly on the back of senior RB Matt McGowan's incredible performance: 244 all-purpose yards and 2 touchdowns, and senior DB Quadir Carter's two big interceptions in the red zone.
Tied in the 4th quarter, it felt like anybody's game. Just like the Harvard game. Or the Princeton game. Or the Cornell game.
But Holy Cross proved why they're a potential Patriot League championship team, and Lehigh isn't.
Payton Award candidate Dominic Randolph promptly led Holy Cross on a 11 play, 71 yard drive, avoiding a near-certain sack on 3rd and 1 at the 2 yard line and finally picking WR Jon Brock to go ahead 28-21.
Lehigh gets the ball back, and suffers a weak 3-and-out. A 3rd-and-4 screen pass, on the bad footing at Fitton Field, went nowhere, and senior P/K Jason Leo trotted out to punt.
In some years, I'd see Leo trot out and I'd feel like Lehigh had just yet begun to fight. But not this time. After that 3-and-out, I felt the game was probably over. Maybe it's a function of being in this position four times already, I'm not sure. But I didn't have that feeling that we could defnitely make this happen.
One drive later, it was over. Randolph shredded the defense on a 13-play, 77 yard drive, including two huge third down conversions. This time, he found WR Brett McDermott in the end zone to make the score 35-21 with just about 4 minutes to play.
Sophomore QB J.B. Clark kept battling - but two interceptions later, those hopes were dashed. Lehigh falls to 2-5, and faces an extremely uphill battle the rest of the way to avoid a losing record for the second consecutive season.
Once again, Lehigh battled, and Lehigh lost.
Comments
The arguement that these aren't Coen's recruits is gone, the injury excuse is gone, and the scholarship excuse was always a joke.
It's always good to be the optomist and say we are playing better, we see improvement, etc. etc.
But if you realy want to be realistic, it is scary to see that most, if not all of this years play makers are Seniors, which doesn't make me feel any better about next year.
I think the only saving grace for Coen is if he finds a way to be the school down the road!
I think the more appropriste response should be, no realistic Lehigh fan exepects to keep loosing! rather than to exepect to loose.
Thank godness everyone will have a week to feel better about this program next week after a win against the "powerhouse" Georgetown.
Oh, the game... frustrating.