(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 about every game from here on out because they're all championship games,'' said junior CB Jarard Cribbs. ''We need to come back fired up and playing with enthusiasm.''
Express-Times: Hawks Fall to Yale Thanks to Fake Punt
Sports Network: Yale Hands Lehigh Monumental Shutout"Defense had another great effort," Coen said. "I don't think we've given up a touchdown in nine quarters now. We found a way to shut somebody out and lose the football game -- it's embarrassing to me.
"Not for the kids, for me. I don't think it can get any worse than that."
"If you don't put both sides of the ball together, you won't win games," said cornerback Jarard Cribbs, who tallied three pass breakups and an interception against the Bulldogs. "We need to play with enthusiasm and our emotions on our sleeves."
"It's difficult as a unit for us to not close out games.," said Cribbs. "I'm frustrated because we didn't win the game."
Coen knows his players are warriors and knows his enthusiastic defense can motivate the rest of his squad.
"I always feel the defense sets the tone for a football team. I credit our kids. They work hard every day and they compete."
Brown & White: Football Shut Out in Loss
"Next week's game is league play and it's basically do or die, because everyone knows how important these games are," junior OL Ricky Clerge said, "You have to have a short memory in football and try not to let any bad play affect the next play, and not to let one game, whether it be a win or loss, affect how you play in the next game."
Yale Daily News: A Win is a Win
“It’s hard to win, period, but to be able to keep someone from scoring, that even adds more to winning,” Williams said. “Shutouts are precious.”
“We’re just excited about the win,” he said. “It wasn’t necessarily the way you draw ’em up, but that’s the way of football is.”“We knew when they were in shotgun that they were going to be throwing downfield, and I think our D-line was licking their chops because they wanted to get sacks,” senior LB Paul Rice said. “They came up big in a few crucial points.”
"After having noticed a weakness in the Lehigh special teams while studying the Mountain Hawks on tape during the week, Williams called for a fake punt.The play worked flawlessly, as senior P Tom Mante pretended to catch the snap, which had actually gone to Rice, running behind two blockers, emerged from the scuffle and was able to run along the right sideline, untouched for the final 30 yards of his 40-yard touchdown run.
“I let [my teammates’] blocks develop and then at some point — I think I cut back a little bit — I saw a bunch of daylight on the sideline,” Rice said. “I was a running back in high school, so I knew to run to daylight.”
Williams believed that the earlier false start penalty had caused the Lehigh defense to let its guard down, but Mountain Hawk head coach Andy Coen said that the team was expecting the fake punt.
“We know going in that it was going to be a fake but [Rice] made a great individual effort,” Coen said.
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