Lehigh beats Northern Iowa, 14-7, first playoff win since 2001

FROM KEITH GROLLER

The second-half magic continued for Lehigh on Saturday in the FCS playoffs.

For the third consecutive week, the Mountain Hawks trailed at halftime but found a way to revive themselves after intermission.

This time, .Lehigh struck for a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter and relied on a stout, resilient effort by its defense to post a 14-7 win over Northern Iowa here at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

It is Lehigh’s first playoff win since 2001.

The Mountain Hawks won their eighth straight game, improved to 10-2 and will advance to the round-of-16 next week at No. 3 seed Delaware.

That will be a noon start at Tubby Raymond Field in Newark, Del.

Lehigh’s offense came to life in the third quarter after scuffling throughout the first half.

Chris Lum shook off a first half interception that led to UNI’s lone score and threw two touchdown passes.

The first was a 62-yard strike from Chris Lum to Jake Drwal. Drwal got the ball near the sideline and the UNI defender appeared to think Drwal went out of bounds.

He stayed in bounds and kept going for a tying touchdown.

The second TD pass came one play after a John Kennedy interception.

Lum found Ryan Spadola on a deep crossing route for a 28-yard TD pass and the lead with 2:07 left in the third quarter.

The first half didn’t go nearly as well for the Patriot League champs, who sputtered continually on offense.

Lehigh trailed 7-0 after a Lum interception set the stage for a 50-yard scoring drive by UNI.

Rennie scored on a 17-yard run to cap a nine-play drive with 4:32 left in the first quarter.

It stayed 7-0 through halftime as the defenses dominated and the offenses stumbled.

In the second period, three Alex Smith punts pinned UNI in its own territory as the Panthers began possessions at their 9, 11 and 8 and Lehigh held them without a first down each time.

But the offense couldn’t take advantage of favorable field position.

Lehigh kept it at 7-0 thanks to a pair of late second-quarter interceptions. John Veniero got one and Casey Eldemire got the other.

The defense again had to rise to the occasion early in the third period when Spadola fumbled the ball away and UNI took over at the Lehigh 36. Again, the Mountain Hawks didn’t allow a first down and UNI missed a 44-yard field goal attempt.

In all, Lehigh’s defense had three interceptions and took advantage of three missed UNI field goals, one that was blocked by Jarard Cribbs.

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/