(Photo Courtesy Kevin Mingora, the Morning Call)There you have it: pictorial evidence that sophomore DB/LB Colin Newton was indeed "throwing his body around" in the win against Georgetown. I really enjoy those home picture galleries by the Morning Call from home games - here's a link to those photographs.
Here's the press roundup, too. I looked around for a local writeup of the game from the Georgetown side, but I didn't find one from the print media, so I'm linking the one from Hoya Saxa instead.
Lehigh Atlhetics: Defense Dominates as Lehigh Blanks Hoyas
"Certainly very happy to get this first one under our belt," Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said afterwards. "I thought we had a great plan going in and we executed that plan well today. There were a few offensive lapses in the third quarter but it was nice to see them re-group and punch that last touchdown in down there." He continued, "Overall I thought our defense did a great job, guys were flying to the ball and we made life tough for Georgetown today."Allentown Morning Call: Lehigh Shuts Out Georgetown
"It feels good to get the monkey off our back," junior RB Jay Campbell explained in the post game press conference. "We talked about coming out today and establishing momentom not just for today's game but for the rest of the season. We still have a lot of season ahead of us and we're excited about our potential."
''I'm very happy for the kids that we won a game,'' coach Andy Coen said. ''I didn't think it would take this long for me to say that.''Express-Times: Lehigh Gets First Win of Season
The Mountain Hawks sacked Hoya freshman QB Isaiah Kempf eight times, which translated into a minus-26 total in rushing yards. The Hoyas had just 125 yards in total offense.
''Our outside linebackers coach [Matt Sanders] said it best -- he said that if we out-intensify the offense, they're going to be intimidated,'' said junior CB/RS Jarard Cribbs. ''At practice we started going to the guy who made the tackle and let him know that we had his back. We swarmed to the ball. If you're going to congratulate the guy who made the tackle, you're going to be running over there to do it.''
"It's kind of easy to return kicks when you have the (opposing) offense pinned down to their own 15 or 20," said Cribbs, who had 71 yards on six punt returns with a long of 34. "All the credit goes to guys up front. Without that, I don't get anywhere.
"Dominant 'D' all day," Cribbs said. "The goose egg is what we want every time we play. It's a nice feeling. We're trying to build on this."
Groller's Corner: Relief is the Word of the Day
The offense is going to have to get better if Lehigh is going to get what it needs and that's two more wins over Yale and Bucknell in the next two weeks to build momentum entering a key game at Colgate on Halloween and a a rugged stretch run that also includes Holy Cross and Lafayette in the final four games.(Better than my word of the day? You decide - LFN)
The good news is that the coaching staff and the players weren't fooled by this win. They were happy about it, sure. But they know they benefitted from an overmatched opponent and know plenty more work needs to be done before this becomes a good team.
...
Right now, it just seems to take so much effort for this team to string together a scoring drive -- there was really just one long march today against Geogetown.
So, five down, six left. It's a team at the crossroads. While the players turned up the music after the game, they must still face the music -- they're a 1-4 team with a tough schedule the rest of the way and lots of improvement yet to be made.
Brown & White: Lehigh Routs Georgetown 27-0
"Defensively we were very solid and kept the energy up," Coen said. "We've had that energy all season so far, but we were especially aggressive today. Overall, I thought our defense did a great job. Guys were flying to the ball and we made life tough for Georgetown."
Freshman LB Jerard Gordon noticed the intensity from the start of the game.
"It was really uplifting seeing the excitement of the players and the crowd," Gordon said.
Gordon said the score boosted the Hawks' confidence going into the second half.
"Knowing you're up by 20 points at halftime was really exciting and definitely kept our confidence up going into the second half," Gordon said.
Campbell said the win drives the team in a positive direction.
"It definitely feels good to have that first game under our belt and bring momentum into our Patriot League games," Campbell said. "As far as yards go, it was definitely a career day for me."
Morning Call: Mountain Hawks Want to Maintain Momentum
''We won a game and we want to move forward from that with some momentum and Yale presents us the chance to play another good football team,'' Coen said. ''That's what you want.''Hoya Saxa: Lehigh 27, Georgetown 0
Despite its 0-4 start, the program's worst since 1982, Lehigh has maintained a positive attitude and there has been no signs of resignation.
Finally rewarded with a victory, the Mountain Hawks should have an extra hop in their step regardless of who's next on the schedule.
''These kids have always practiced well all year,'' Coen said. ''If you stopped by our practice at any time over the past couple of weeks, you'd have never known they lost the previous game. This past week was our best week of practice of the season. They did a great job of taking ownership. Now we want to keep it going.''
Sophomore DB/LB Colin Newton came up from his corner position to make seven stops, including two sacks.
''Colin loves to fly around and make hits,'' Coen said. ''He has made a lot of tackles the last couple of weeks. He doesn't care who he is taking on, he wants to get to the ball. He's got that kind of mentality.''
The story of the game was Georgetown's running game, or lack of it. Rather than attack the a Lehigh run defense which was ranked sixth among the seven PL teams, Georgetown opted to go with the short passing attacks that have defined this season for the Hoyas. With Charlie Houghton not receiving a single carry in the game, Georgetown would go as far as its passing game would take them--which in this case was not very far.
The second half was a grim one for Georgetown. The Hoyas managed just one first down and 14 yards over six series, with Kempf being sacked five times. For its part, Lehigh also struggled through a windy second half, with four punts, a missed field goal, and a late touchdown following a Georgetown punt to its 43 yard line. A final Georgetown punt, its tenth of the game, pinned Lehigh back at its one with 6:21 to play, but the Engineers took it and rank out the clock with an 11 play drive that only reached midfield by the final whistle.
With eight sacks on Kempf, Georgetown didn't have a lot of time for drop-back passing, but its overall strategy received unusual criticism from the otherwise objective Lehigh broadcasts. "Georgetown's screens look awful", commented an analyst on WLVR-AM, while the television broadcasts attempted to mitigate the Hoyas' poor performance by explaining that it had joined the more competitive Patriot League straight from Division III, which was incorrect.
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