Lehigh Football Nation

It has been a most unusual season for Lehigh. Starting the year off at 0-5 and getting swept in their out-of-conference schedule, the Mountain Hawks were in danger of having their season go off the rails. But two things have come together over the last five football games that have put Lehigh on the brink of back-to-back championships. The first is the late blooming of the Lehigh defense, which kept battling every week since the low point of the September 30th loss to Wagner to do the job in four of their five Patriot League conference games.  The second is the development of junior RB Dominick Bragalone into a bellcow running back, a back who has to be in the conversation for Patriot League offensive player of the year. In five Patriot League games, Bragalone has run for 863 yards in 5 games, rushing for 11 touchdowns and adding two more receiving touchdowns as well.  The South Williamsport, PA native certainly wasn't unknown before this week - after all, as a ...

(Photo Credit: Monmouth Athletics) Football is a physical game, and it requires a tremendous amount of strength to line up, play after play, to push people around down after down. As a result football games sometimes can evolve into contests where the teams push each other around, and such games can end up where one team gets worn down and the other pulls away for a big victory. That's what happened this weekend at Monmouth. The Hawks started out behind the eight-ball early, falling behind by two scores, and then rallying to take a 27-21 lead relatively early in the third quarter.  But the physical beating, slowly and surely, took its toll, eventually knocking the offense out of kilter and the pushing the defense out of the way for their powerful running game.  In the end, Lehigh only could be punched in the mouth so many times, and fell, 46-27. It was an especially hard loss to take because this isn't how the 2017 season was supposed to happen. "The tougher ...

(Photo Credit: Jay Anderson/Worcester Telegram) It was a day where even when things went wrong they went right for the Mountain Hawks. It was early in the second quarter, deadlocked at 7.   Sophomore QB Brad Mayes , picked the starter as senior QB Nick Shanfisky would be the backup to let his injured leg continue to heal, would get a drive going with an 18 yard pass to junior WR Troy Pelletier .  Two plays later, sophomore RB Dominick Bragalone would run a counter play left, escape a few tackles, and surge for a 28 yard run into Holy Cross territory. You could feel some momentum building as Mayes would connect on a 4th and 7 to Pelletier to get into the Holy Cross red zone, and again when he would rifle a ball to junior WR Gatlin Casey over the middle.  There was even more when sophomore RB Micco Brisker would keep his legs moving - and his offensive line, pushing - until he reached the end zone. Up 13-7, on the extra point Shafnisky, who holds during...

The 38-17 defeat was not a surprise to a lot of people, but it was striking to see the Mountain Hawks line up against what we want to be someday. Lehigh got to look up close at a team that could very well win the national championship in FCS this year. The Wildcats didn't play the cleanest game in the world, but it was more than enough to put away the Mountain Hawks who fall to 0-2. Villanova never trailed, but the complexion of the game changed in the second quarter when, down 17-7, junior RB Jaren Walker appeared to be down before hurting his left ankle and dropping the football. But the play wasn't whistled dead - and Villanova freshman DE Marlon Johnson picked up the loose ball and returned it for a crushing touchdown to go up 24-7. It was eerily similar to the play last year against Villanova when, up 13-7, senior LB Osayi Osunde stripped the ball from junior QB J.B. Clark to be returned for a TD and take a 20-7 lead they would never relinquish. (Replays appear to...

At the time, I didn't think this picture I took would be the story of the game. Unfortunately it was. Tied at 21 after an ugly first half, Lehigh had only their second red zone opportunity of the game. Second and goal at the CCSU 4 yard line. Junior TE Alex Wojdowski starts the play and is wide open. Junior QB J.B. Clark hesitates, and then tries to fire it in - but CCSU DB Nick Delgado stepped in front of the outstretched arms of Wojdowski and stuffed the drive. It would have given Lehigh their first lead of the day. It also would have negated what was an extremely sloppy first half, with an anemic offensive performance by the Mountain Hawks which was only mitigated by the fact that the Blue Devils turned over the ball twice in the red zone, and that junior DB John "Fear Itself" Kennedy turned a kickoff into a 93 yard touchdown. Also, on Lehigh's only sustained drive of the day (and I mean that), Clark found Wojdowski on a 7 yard TD strike to tie the game at 14....