Lehigh buries football with early touchdowns

A combination of inexperience, rustiness, and a more talented opponent spoiled the football team's debut Saturday night against Lehigh. Playing under the lights of Princeton Stadium, the Mountain Hawks (3-0 overall, 2-0 Patriot League) jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead and never looked back during their 28-13 win over Princeton (0-1).

The inexperienced Tigers looked nervous at the start of the game, turning the ball over three times in the first half.

"It's obvious we need some work," head coach Roger Hughes said. "We made a lot of first game mistakes."

The game began badly for Princeton as Lehigh took the opening kickoff and drove 69 yards for a touchdown. It was the second time the Tigers saw Lehigh running back Jermaine Pugh, and they saw mostly his backside.

Pugh was involved in six of the eight plays on the drive and accounted for 56 yards. He rushed five times for 37 yards and caught a 19-yard touchdown pass.

Princeton was able to move the ball down the field on its first possession, something the team was able to do intermittently throughout the game. The Tigers outgained the Mountain Hawks for the game (400 yards to 389).

On the first drive, junior quarterback Matt Verbit had a huge 37-yard pass play to sophomore tight end John Dekker. Dekker was one of Verbit's favorite targets throughout the game, as he found him three times for 81 yards. The drive ended, however, with a missed 45-yard field goal by sophomore Derek Javarone.

With five minutes and 17 seconds remaining in the first quarter Princeton, down by only a touchdown, took over from its own 33-yard line for its second possession. Verbit, though, immediately threw an interception that was returned to the Tiger 25-yard line.

Lehigh quarterback Chad Schwenk hit Bergen with the game's second score on the ensuing play. Princeton again had a sustained drive at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the second. But on third-and-one from the Lehigh 13 the Tigers fumbled on what was supposed to be a handoff to sophomore tailback Greg Fields. Instead, the ball was knocked out of Verbit's hands by the fullback and recovered by Lehigh.

Verbit also fumbled the ball twice on plays where he scrambled from the pocket.

"Certainly he's got to do a better job protecting [the ball] when he's running down the field," Hughes said.

Despite Princeton's various ventures into Lehigh territory it always found a way to squander the opportunity.

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"Offensively, when we got things going we managed to find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot," Hughes said.

That changed in the fourth quarter when the Tigers began to eliminate the mistakes and improve their quality of play.

On Princeton's first drive of the fourth, Verbit dropped back to pass with a perfect pocket forming around him. He then found junior wide receiver B.J. Szymanski streaking down the right side, beating his defender by a step and a half. Szymanski hauled in the great throw and took it into the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown.

"It's a play we've been working on all year," Szymanski said. "It was nothing special, nothing razzle dazzle, just beat them deep."

Szymanski caught three passes for 105 yards.

The Tigers also improved defensively, holding Lehigh to seven total yards on their first three possessions of the final quarter.

Princeton's second touchdown drive of the fourth quarter began from its own 37-yard line. Verbit had a great 34-yard toss to sophomore running back Greg Fields. On fourth and ten from the 19-yard line, Verbit found senior wideout Blair Morrison for a touchdown over the middle.

While the Tigers could not crawl any closer, there were many positives that the team could build on from the fourth quarter. Turnovers — three lost fumbles and one interception — and defensive lapses, however, are still major areas of concern.

"I don't think you can ever consider a loss a success, but we've shown something about our team," Szymanski said. "We showed our character, we're not going to give up."