Lehigh Football Nation

While Lehigh's men's basketball's 77-64 loss to St. Joe's yesterday was no moral victory , it does bring back into focus the big victory from before Thanksgiving: Lehigh's win in the 144th meeting between Lehigh and Lafayette. And you, the readers of the blog, have spoken. According to you, the MVP of the 144th is none other than senior DL Brian Jackson . In the biggest game of the year, he came up with his best day as a Mountain Hawk: 8 tackles with 3 1/2 sacks for 19 yards lost. His pass rush - against, mind you, a powerful Leopard "O" line - was a key reason that Lafayette's offense never got on track against us. His final game as a Mountain Hawk is one that definitely deserves the honors bestowed upon him by you, the readers. Game balls for the 144th: Reader's Choice: Senior DL Brian Jackson Offense: (tie) Sophomore QB J.B. Clark (12/22 passing, 201 yards, 2 TDs), senior WR Sekou Yansane (3 catches, 56 yards, including one ESPN SportsCen...

In the closest voting in Player of the week history, junior LB Matt Cohen barely won LFN Readers' "Player of the Week". The quiet local defender from Allentown Central Catholic doesn't always get the press and attention he deserves, but with 7 tackles last week, including 3 tackles for loss and 2 sacks he was a monster out there. All three tackles for loss were in key spots: one on a fourth down gave possession to Lehigh; another knocked Princeton out of field goal range; and the third pushed the Tigers back from a 1st and goal on the 2 yard line, and set up the blocked field goal attempt that set up our only score. This week, game balls go to: Readers' Choice: Junior LB Matt Cohen Offense: Senior WR Mike Fitzgerald (5 receptions, 70 yards, 1 TD) Defense: Senior DB Brendan VanAckeren (10 tackles, 4 solo tackles) Special Teams: Junior LB Heath Brickner and Junior LB Al Pierce for the blocked field goal attempt (Brickner) and runback (Pierce). Congratulation...

We start out the blog with my interviews of the Lehigh football players at Media Day this past week. First up: senior DB Brendan VanAckeren , senior leader on the defense - and someone who loves to hit. LFN: Tell me a little bit about your high school career. You're from this area, right? BVA: I went to Liberty High School here in Bethlehem, and I've been here all my life. I was always a Lehigh guy growing up - I was always kind of around the program, seeing it in the paper and all that, so it was good how it all turned out. I had some close family friends that played for Lehigh, so they took me to games over there and I had a good idea of what it was about. I had been to the Lehigh/Lafayette game a couple of years before I came here, which was also a big draw. When I got into my junior and senior year of high school, when I got into the recruiting process, I got over to Lehigh, loved the coaches, loved the players, and the whole academic/athletic [balance]. It was defi...