The Funding Zone
 
SAFR: Safer Through Science
 

Lehigh Hangs Tough with Princeton but Eventually Falls in Close Loss

Tagged under: Gameday Hub, News, Pennsylvania Colleges

| September 25, 2022


Today was the first day this year that actually felt like football weather: clear skies, high 60s, and a chill in the wind. Again, perfect for a football game and a great game it turned out to be. The Lehigh Mountain Hawks came in as 24-point underdogs to the Princeton Tigers. The Mountain Hawks perhaps had their best first half all year, going into halftime all tied up at ten with arguably one of the best teams in the FCS. However, the third quarter turned out to be one that would cost the Hawks the game. They had two interceptions, a fumble, and a blocked punt, all of which put the Tigers into plus territory. Princeton proved why they won the Ivy League Championship last year; they had a lot of speed and strength on their team that was showed cased today. The Princeton Tigers would win by a final score of 29-17. Lets go into a deeper recap of how each team did…

The Princeton Tigers got off to a fast start scoring a touchdown on their opening drive but were only able to get three more points the rest of the first half. They had an interception in the process and had trouble moving the ball. Blake Stenstrom had a decent day, going for 291 yards and a touchdown, but also throwing two picks and where one of which was returned for a touchdown. Also, the Tigers had some trouble in the redzone for the entirety of the game. On three straight possessions, they had the ball at or within the Lehigh 40 and were only able to get a touchdown on only one of the three opportunities. They also had trouble establishing the ground game, they only had 62 yards on 31 carries, an average of about two yards per carry. With that being said though, the Princeton offense made plays when it needed to, they were able to get a 65-yard touchdown pass from Blake Stenstrom to Andrei Iosivas on a third down to ice the game. Overall, the showed flashes but have things to work on.

On defense, the Tigers were outstanding today, only allowing ten total points and creating four turnovers, two interceptions, one fumble recovery, and one on downs. The two interceptions were by Glenie Cross and Nick Sanker. They gave up a touchdown on the very first drive as well and did not give up another for the rest of the game. Their defensive line was able to get pressure on Lehigh quarterbacks Dante Perri and Brayten Silbor and generate sacks and incompletions. A lot of it was in thanks to potential NFL player Uche Ndukwe, who along with everyone else was able to get a lot of pressure up front the entire game. Lastly, they did not allow a lot of yards after contact, which was especially hard dealing with Jack DiPietro and Gaige Garcia. Overall, they had a really good day and were able to win the game for the Tigers.

Lehigh’s offense struggled again as they failed to score a touchdown after their first drive. Dante Perri started the game for Lehigh but would not finish it as he threw two interceptions on his final two drives, putting the Tigers within the Lehigh 40 on both of them. He threw for 104 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. He was eventually replaced by freshman Brayten Silbor, who threw for 66 yards going 3 for 6 on passing attempts. However, they did get back to the game on the ground some more, running for 83 yards on 32 attempts, an average of about 2.6 yards per carry. Their offensive line was able to hold up better than they did last week, not allowing as many pressures and creating more holes. There is a lot to be improved and playing against two tough defenses could be they think that they need to take the next step.

On defense, they had arguably their best day of the year, especially the circumstances they were in. The Tigers had really good starting field position on almost all of their possessions, near the 50-yard line. However, the Mountain Hawks were consistently able to stop them. Their defensive backfield looked very good today and did not give up many big plays. They were able to keep everything in front of that and only allow 2–5-yard gains. Also, the defensive line was really good at stopping the run today, putting a lot of pressure on that Princeton offensive line. A very big and unusual play was that Dean Colton got a pick six off of a pass he caught in the air and returned for 52 yards to the endzone. The other interception that Lehigh got was from Tygee Leach, who was been the leader of that secondary this year. Overall, a very impressive day for this side of the ball.

Lehigh will drop to 1-3 overall and will be back at home next week on Saturday at 12:00 PM against Monmouth, a team with a very high scoring offense. The Princeton Tigers will move to 2-0 and will play at Columbia next week on Saturday at 1:00 PM. Again, some very good football as we approach the halfway point of the season.

Follow PA Football News on Twitter @PaFootballNews

 
 
GoRout
 
Rainbow Lettering
 
Turf Tank
 
x