Lehigh defense silences the dome and Panthers

FROM THE MORNING CALL

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — After nearly a week of hearing about how loud it was inside Northern Iowa's UNI Dome, Lehigh's players and fans were the only ones making noise at the end.

Immediately after the final whistle of the Mountain Hawks' 14-7 FCS playoff win over Northern Iowa, Lehigh players sprinted to the southwest corner of the indoor stadium and celebrated the program's first playoff victory since 2001 with their fans.

"L-E-H-I-G-H!" they chanted loudly enough to be heard in all parts of the 16,000-seat arena.

"Probably half of that crowd was there for me," said Lehigh junior and Omaha, Neb., native Jake Drwal, whose 62-yard touchdown reception tied the game early in third quarter. "I had about 30 people there for me, family and friends, and it was good for me to give them a good showing."


It was good for everyone who bleeds brown and white.

This is now a 10-2 football team that has won eight straight games and no matter what happens from here, they deserve some cheers, not to mention some respect.

The Mountain Hawks are not the most dominant or awe-inspiring team you'll ever see, but they are resilient and keep plugging away even when the tide seems ready to flood against them.

For three straight weeks they have trailed at halftime after miserable offensive showings over the first 30 minutes.

They don't get down on themselves, however.

They rely on a scrappy, swarming defense that just doesn't give up many points and an offense that overcomes its inconsistencies and mistakes and makes just enough plays to win.

Junior quarterback Chris Lum had another shaky start, throwing an interception that led to UNI's only touchdown drive — a 50-yard march that was capped by Tirrell Rennie's 17-yard TD scamper with 4:32 left in the first quarter.

There were many other squandered opportunties for Lehigh over the rest of a largely frustrating first half that ended with UNI leading 7-0.

But again, rather than let their misfortune snowball into complete failure, Lehigh composed itself, regrouped and flourished after intermission.

This time it was a pair of Lum TD passes that turned the 7-0 deficit into a 14-7 lead in the third quarter.

Drwal made a great play on the game-tying TD.

"The linebacker had man coverage on me, and I caught the ball and he hit me, but didn't tackle me," Drwal said. "He tried to push me out of bounds real quick, but didn't get enough of me, I guess."

Northern Iowa, the Missouri Valley Conference champs, didn't get enough of anything on this day as possession after possession Lehigh turned them away without points. Three missed field goals helped.

"We were confident coming in, but I was real impressed with how we played," senior safety John Veniero said. "This is probably the best opponent we've beaten and we were just relentless. We shut down their run, didn't let them throw the ball. A game like this reassured me of how good our defense is."

The key was shutting down Rennie, a nimble-footed, shifty quarterback who is dangerous once he gets outside the pocket.

"We were blitzing a lot and keeping contain," Veniero said. "Our outside players just kept him inside because he's most dangerous when he gets on the corner."

Rennie had an injured knee and said he was probably less than 100 percent.

But he didn't make excuses.

When it was over, you could add him to a growing list of people who have respect for Lehigh football, especially this Mountain Hawks defense.

"Their defense was great," Rennie said. "When you look at their schedule their only two losses were to Villanova and New Hampshire, both top-ranked, playoff teams. They came out to prove that they were a good team. They came out with intensity. They didn't care who was lined up in front of them."

In the postgame press conference someone asked Lehigh coach Andy Coen if he was glad the field was expanded this year to 20 teams. The thought that's how Lehigh qualified, and didn't know the Patriot League received an automatic bid.

Coen diplomatically corrected the reporter, saying that the Patriot has had the automatic spot for years.

It was an easy mistake to make because the league had not won a game in the tournament since 2003 and had been embarrassed in most of those losses.

"But when a Patriot League team goes undefeated in the league, history shows they win playoff games," Coen said. "That hadn't happened since 2003. Now it has happened with us, and we're thrilled."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/college/mc-lehigh-column-1127-20101127,0,1338195.story