Mountain Hawks grounded

FROM THE MORNING CALL

NEWARK, Del. — University of Delaware football coach K.C. Keeler wasn't just being kind to the people back home when he talked all week about Lehigh being "an improved, good football team."

But the Emmaus native also knew that he had Pat Devlin, someone he calls "the best quarterback in the country."

So, while Keeler wasn't surprised Lehigh hung around for close to a half Saturday afternoon in their FCS second-round playoff game, he also wasn't worried.


Devlin, the Penn State transfer who has followed in Joe Flacco's footsteps at Delaware and hopes to follow him to the NFL, threw four touchdown passes to four different receivers as the Blue Hens pulled away to a 42-20 victory before 13,649 freezing fans at Delaware Stadium. While the third-seeded Blue Hens (10-2) advance to the FCS quarterfinals — they will be at home against fellow Colonial Athletic Association member New Hampshire — Lehigh closed out a 10-3 season that included Patriot League title, an eight-game win streak and the program's first playoff win since 2001.

"I kind of thought it would be a game like this," Keeler said. "That's a good football team. But I thought if we could protect Pat, we'd be fine."

Lehigh coach Andy Coen, who got choked up talking about his seniors, was proud of his team's efforts, but acknowledged the obvious.

"We stood toe-to-toe with them for awhile and were there with them at halftime, but in some respects, it's the same old song," Coen said. "You run into a team that's more physical than you, faster than you, stronger than you, more talented than you, and it kind of wears you down."

Lehigh still has not won two playoff games in the same season since the 1977 national title team, falling for the fifth time in a second postseason game since 1979.

Just as the Mountain Hawks did 10 years ago, they followed up an impressive first-round road win over a Missouri Valley Conference team by getting overwhelmed in Delaware. In 2000, the final score was 47-22. This one looked like a shootout with Lehigh scoring on its first three possessions and actually taking a 10-7 lead.

Junior quarterback Chris Lum set several career-highs with 35 completions in 58 attempts for 362 yards. He hit sophomore star Ryan Spadola for a 13-yard touchdown to cap Lehigh's first drive and the Mountain Hawks converted a Casey Eldemire fumble recovery into a Tom Randazza field goal and a three-point lead on the first play of the second quarter.

Even after Delaware regained the lead on the first of Devlin's four TD passes, Lehigh came right back with a 41-yard kickoff return by John Kennedy leading to another short Randazza field goal and a 14-13 deficit.

The Blue Hens scored the next 28 points, however, with Devlin throwing three more TD passes.

"Defensively, Lehigh does a lot of stuff up front that we don't see; stuff that's unorthodox, really," Devlin said. "That gave our offensive line a challenge. So, the biggest thing was to get the line into the right protections. When we were able to protect, the wideouts were able to do their job. I have a lot of confidence in all of the wideouts."

Lehigh remained confident, too, but couldn't get stops on defense and have the consistency on offense to keep pace.The Mountain Hawks drove to the Delaware 22 and had a chance to trim a 21-13 deficit, but Anthony Walters picked off Lum in the end zone to end Lehigh's threat and the first half. A third-quarter Lehigh possession ended on downs at the Delaware 25.

"We did some nice things throwing the football, but were not able to finish some key drives," Coen said. "We were down there in the [red zone] area, or close to it, several times and came away with no points. You can't play Delaware and trade touchdowns for field goals."

Eventually, Lehigh did get another score on Lum's TD pass to Matt Fitz, but had another drive to the Blue Hens' 7 that stalled on downs.

"We weren't going to kick field goals when we got down by a large margin, but I will say this, our kids battled the whole game," Coen said. "Their effort never waned and they have nothing to feel embarrassed about today."

It was Lehigh's third loss of the season to a full-scholarship CAA school, but Will Rackley, the Mountain Hawks All-American left tackle wouldn't use scholarships as an excuse.

"We know we can play with any team in this country," Rackley said. "I'll go to war with these guys any time. Even today, we fought every single down. Even though we were down 20 points on the last series and knew we weren't going to win, we went out there and fought hard anyway. That's what I will take away from this team."

http://www.mcall.com/sports/college/mc-lehigh-football-gamer-1204-20101204,0,4490848.story