Lehigh Football Nation

Yesterday, we took a very close look at the Lehigh offense and what is hoped to be a vastly improved unit from 2009 .  Today we turn our attention to the defense: a squad that has the potential to be one of the best in the nation, if everything works out; and special teams, a squad that has seen agony and ecstasy in the past two years. And yet, the defense loses one of the best defensive linemen in recent memory at Lehigh, DT B.J. Benning , and one of players that head coach Andy Coen considered a "once in a decade" player, LB Matt Cohen .  Replacing them with good players won't be a problem. Having one or more defenders grow into the stars that Cohen and Benning were - that might be the challenge. (more)

What better way to close out the 2009 season than with my annual "Hawks of the Year" awards? Every year my "Hawks of the Year" are tallied based on my "Hawks of the Week" during the season. While there's no pretty trophies or luncheons available for the winner of my LFN awards (yet), it's still an honor that is not easily earned and should be a recognition from the fans for outstanding achievement during the football season. This years "Hawk of the Year" nomination may not come as too much of a surprise - but, perhaps, some of the other nominees may be - including many players who will be returning next year. (More)

Following the most low-key nine-sack, thirteen and a half tackle for loss season in history, senior LB Matt Cohen saw four years of hard work as a Mountain Hawk pay off as he was selected as Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year today. Cohen, a local product from Allentown, was a model of consistency on Lehigh's defense. While he only won Patriot League Defensive Player of the week once (with 6 tackles, and 4 tackles for loss including 3 sacks), in every game he was a disrupting factor, with six games where he had at least one tackle for loss. His 9 sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss led the Patriot League, and his 63 tackles were among the Lehigh leaders on a defense that doesn't favor one tackler. It's great to see the quiet supply management chain major get recognized for his four-year contribution to the Mountain Hawk program. Congratulations to Matt! While we're talking about low-key seniors on the All-Patriot Team, two more seniors got recognized on the ...

With a staff report from the Express-Times and a re-mixed report from the official school recaps on the Morning Call , my blog recap of the game was once again the only independent recap this week. The Brown & White did not file any story either and as far as I know, and no New York media outlet had a recap of the game either. Granted, it was a rainy matchup between two sub-.500 teams, but it still strikes me when I'm really the only person out there doing an independent recap from a Lehigh perspective. Happily, Keith Groller of the Morning Call still weighed in on Monday. Lehighsports.com: Campbell's career day, Lehigh D leads to road win “It wasn’t the prettiest game I’ve ever been a part of, that’s for sure, but it feels a lot better than the last two weeks,” Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said afterwards. “The kids did a great job all day. We had our moments where we weren’t taking care of the ball or committing silly penalties but the defense rose up when it neede...

Pretty? Absolutely not. But Lehigh will gleefully take this 35-28 victory at Rose Hill, a game which featured a combined seven turnovers, three missed field goals, and seventeen penalties for 143 yards by both teams. Starting out, it seemed like Lehigh was trying to give the game away as junior DB/RS John "Prez" Kennedy fumbled a punt return that was recovered by the Rams in the end zone to erase a beautiful 11-play, 66 yard drive ending with an 8 yard pass from junior QB J.B. Clark to sophomore WR Jake Drwal . It would be the first of four Lehigh turnovers that led directly to touchdowns the other way. Taken in that way, you could say that had Lehigh took care of the ball a bit better, this would have been a laugher. After a Lehigh fumble ended with a 19 yard strike to Ram sophomore WR David Moore from s enior QB John Skelton to fall behind 14-7, Lehigh took advantage of a fumble on special teams, recovered by junior FS John Venerio, to tie the game after Clark's...

The Players of the Week were pretty easy choices this time around. Offensive Hawk of the Week: Junior RB Jay Campbell (131 yards rushing on 21 carries, 18 yard TD pass) Defensive Hawks of the Week: (tie) S enior LB Troy Taylor (9 tackles, 1 1/2 tackles for loss including 1 sack, 1 key forced fumble) and junior FS John Venerio (7 tackles, 1 interception, 1 pass breakup) Special Teams Hawk of the Week: Freshman PK Jake Peery (2/2 XP, 2/3 FGs, 23 yards, 38 yards, missed a long 45 yarder) I've been remiss in reprinting the exclusive pieces that Lehighsports.Com has put out about members of the senior class. Here are two of them: Senior LB Heath Brickner : Relentless the Books and Opposing Backs Senior OL Frank Giacalone : Up for Any Challenge Also, former Lehigh WR Sekou Yansane was named a winner of the 2009 Academic Momentum Award through the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (NCAS).

(Photo courtesy Denise Sanchez, the Morning Call) Here are the press links for this weekend's heroic effort versus Holy Cross, but before I get to that I just wanted to reiterate how great it was to see Murray Goodman come to life this weekend. Have I become a sudden fan of moral victories? No; but I still feel like this effort was a step in the right direction. There were lessons in this game for the underclassmen, and I'm hoping those lessons will pay dividends next year. Morning Call: Late TD Allows Holy Cross to Escape Lehigh As he tried to come to grips with another agonizingly close loss for his Lehigh football team, coach Andy Coen scanned the stat sheet late Saturday afternoon in a tiny media room at Goodman Stadium and noted the similarities of the final numbers. Both Lehigh and Holy Cross had run the same number of plays (70), had the same number of penalties (9) and had nearly the same total yards (375-372 Lehigh). The difference wasn't on the sheet, but rathe...

I was there to see what was almost the biggest Lehigh upset in two decades. The No. 13 team in the country. The Mountain Hawks written off by pretty much everyone, including me. And Lehigh didn't just put forth a great effort, they very nearly shocked the world, pressuring Holy Cross senior QB Dominic Randolph intensely and making the superhuman Crusader QB look a lot more like a regular human being. You got the feeling this one would be different from the opening drive. Lehigh got the ball first and junior QB J.B. Clark led the offense right down the field, punctuated by big runs by junior RB Jay Campbell and a 14 yard TD pass to junior TE Alex Wojdowski . When the Lehigh defense would stop Holy Cross' initial drive at the 7 yard line, forcing the Crusaders to settle for a short FG, you got the feeling that this was going to be a game. It would never be beyond one score all afternoon, with two ties and four lead changes. Against a team that had scored over 30 points ...

Last week's valiant effort versus the Raiders results in these players getting nominations for LFN's "Players of the Week": Offensive Hawk: Junior QB J.B. Clark (54 yards rushing, 151 yards passing, 2 TDs, 0 INTs, 0 turnovers) Defensive Hawk: Senior LB Troy Taylor (8 tackles, 3 tackles for loss) Special Teams Hawk: Freshman PK Jake Peery , who went 2-2 on field goals (25, 35 yards) and extra points - no mean feat in 20-30 mph winds. Something to think about, with Holy Cross coming to town: the 1969 Lehigh football season. Forty years ago, the Engineers started at 2-5-1 (including losses to The Citadel, Delaware, Wittenburg and Gattysburg). But Lehigh would win their last two games versus Bucknell and Lafayette to become "Middle Three" Champions and would get votes for the Lambert Cup. (Matter of fact, Lehigh's 36-19 victory would come two days before I was born.) That season, R B Jack Rizzo would debut, and soon thereafter Lehigh was playing in th...

Boy, does this one feel good. Lehigh put up 35 points for the first time this year as the Mountain Hawks overcame some early mistakes to coast to a 35-16 victory over the Bison, continuing their twelve year winning streak over Bucknell and keeping their title hopes alive for another week. After the offense was shut out last weekend, seeing the offense put up five honest touchdowns - and junior QB J.B. Clark going the distance and putting up numbers like 24 for 37, 327 yards, 1 passing TD, 1 rushing TD, and only one INT - gives this Lehigh fan some hope that maybe, just maybe, little ol' Lehigh may still have a chance in this Patriot League race thing. Other highlights include freshman QB/RB Michael Colvin getting his first career TD, and freshman RB Zach Barket getting his first TD as well to go with his career-best 77 yard effort. And add freshman WR James Flynn getting three big catches - including one to convert an early fourth down conversion - three greenhorns were asked ...

Some quick notes before we enter the preview of the Georgetown game. First of all, here are this week's LFN "Players of the Week": Offensive Hawk: Freshman QB Michael Colvin (career-high 74 yards rushing vs. Harvard, including a 55 yard scamper that set up Lehigh's first TD) Defensive Hawk (tie): Senior LB Al Pierce (10 tackles, 1 sacks, 2 QB hurries) and sophomore DB/LB Colin Newton (10 tackles, 1/2 sack, 2 pass break-ups) Special Teams Hawk: Sophomore P Alex Smith (6 punts, 39.8 yard average) This week, some more bad news came down the pike in a season filled with it: news from the Express-Times that senior DT Phil Winett and senior LB Heath Brickner are officially done for the year with their injuries , and senior LB Troy Taylor is questionable as well. It seems like eons ago that we were worrying whether Lehigh could play all their senior talent at linebacker; now we're wondering which underclassmen will be suiting up on Saturday. With the notable e...