Mountain Hawks rally past Buffalo

Thursday, August 29

Amherst, NY

07:30 PM

Lehigh University

Buffalo

9/19/2003 12:00:00 AM | Football

Amherst, NY – Down by 13 points to a Division I-A opponent less than five minutes into the game, Lehigh didn’t blink. The sixth-ranked Mountain Hawks stormed from behind to defeat the University at Buffalo by a 37-26 score at UB Stadium on Thursday night before a crowd of over 21,000. The win was Lehigh’s 24th straight regular season victory, the longest such streak in all of Division I. The win was the Mountain Hawks’ (1-0) first victory over a Division I-A team since a 24-9 win over Navy in 1987. Buffalo (0-1) has lost its last three opening day contests.
      "This is a tremendous win for our program," head coach Pete Lembo said. "We made some mistakes early, but I was proud about how our guys hung together, kept their composure and stayed with the game plan."
      The Bulls started strong, and charged out to a quick 13-0 lead. Less than two minutes after freshman Aaron Leeper scored on a two yard run, senior Andre Forde raced 83 yards down the sideline on a punt return for a touchdown to give Buffalo the double-digit cushion just 4:22 into the contest.
      The Mountain Hawks offense responded behind junior QB Matt Shiels, driving 65 yards on 12 plays to get on the scoreboard. Junior Dave Wilson scored on a one yard run to make the score 13-6. Lehigh tied the game in the second quarter, when wide receiver Dave Crockett found a wide open Adam Bergen in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown pass, Crockett’s first at Lehigh.
      On Lehigh’s next possession, junior transfer quarterback Chad Schwenk entered the Mountain Hawks’ lineup, and the offense didn’t miss a beat. Schwenk found Justin Barrasso on a six yard strike to put Lehigh in front by a 20-13 score. The two teams traded field goals, and the Brown & White took a 23-16 lead into halftime.
      "We pretty much stuck to our game plan," senior wide receiver Dave Crockett said. "We stuck to our guns the whole time and it worked out great."
      In the second half, Jermaine Pugh and the Lehigh ground game took charge. Pugh rushed for a career high 112 yards, and Lawrence Williams picked off a Secky pass and took it 31 yards for a touchdown en route to the victory.
      "It is certainly a disappointment to lose any football game," Buffalo head coach Jim Hofher said. "Lehigh did a terrific job with their passing game and they did a good job of containing ours. Today Lehigh made many more plays than we did."
      Lehigh looks for its second victory of the season when the Mountain Hawks return to Goodman Stadium on September 7th. Lehigh plays host to Georgetown in the Patriot League opener on Fleet Bank Youth Activity Day. Kickoff is set for 1:00, and tickets can be purchased by calling (610) 7LU-GAME.