Lehigh rallies to beat Georgetown, wins outright Patriot League football title

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Perhaps it was appropriate that Lehigh had to do it the hard way on Saturday.

The Mountain Hawks nailed down their first outright Patriot League championship since 2001, rallying from a 7-6 halftime deficit for a 24-7 win over Georgetown at Multi-Sport Field in Washington, D.C.

Michael Colvin and Jay Campbell had touchdown runs and Tom Randazza added his third field goal of the game during a 18-0 second half for Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks improved to 8-2 overall, 4-0 league, with their sixth straight victory.

Lehigh still has to play Lafayette in Easton next Saturday, but no matter what, the Mountain Hawks are headed to the FCS playoffs for the first time since 2004.

“I guess it was appropriate we did it this way,” said Lehigh coach Andy Coen. “It was poor offensive execution in the first half. We blew blocking schemes and had a lot of negative yards rushing, more than we’ve had in the last five games combined. We knew Georgetown would play hard. They still had a stake in this thing themselves.

“We didn’t panic. We just told the kids at halftime that we wasted the first 30 minutes and we just had to focus and do what we needed to do in the last 30 minutes. They went out and did it.”

Lehigh regained the lead with its first touchdown with 1:14 left in the third quarter with Colvin capping a 71-yard drive.

After squandering several opportunities to extend the lead, the Mountain Hawks put it away with Campbell’s 11-yard scoring run with 4:40 left.

A fumble on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Lehigh kicker Tom Randazza and Randazza added the punction points with another field goal with 2:12 left.

Campbell led Lehigh with a career-high 118 yards rushing.

Lum finished 24-for-47 passing for 297 yards. He had three interceptions, all in the first half.

However, Lum, a junior, had 259 yards passing in the second half.

“I just feel good for the seniors,” Lum said. “We always have to make it interesting. I guess it’s better for a championshup game not to have a blowout. We just had to step up and make some plays in the second half. We had a lot of great efforts in the second half. We stepped up when we needed to.”

Ryan Spadola and Jake Drwal had six catches apiece with Spadola’s grabs producing 113 yards. Tight end Alex Wojdowski had five catches for 69 yards, including a big diving grab for 22 yards and a first down on a touchdown drive.

While the offense finally got on track, Lehigh’s defense was superb throughout. Georgetown (3-7, 2-3) was limited to 214 yards of offense, 48 on the ground.

“It’s a great feeling,” Wojdowski said. “We knew they weren’t going to hand it to us. We had to earn it. We were disappointed in the first half because we knew we’re a better team than how we were playing. We just played better and now we’re champions.”


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