Engineers plow past Football

Lehigh had no trouble moving the ball in the second half, and Penn's offense was stagnant. BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Lehigh has three nicknames for its athletic teams -- Engineers, Mountain Hawks and Brown and White. But if Saturday's game against Penn is any guide, its football team should adopt a fourth -- Tornados. Like a tornado, Lehigh struck Penn suddenly, without warning. And the destruction was total. The Engineers put it all together in the second half Saturday, coming from behind to beat Penn, 24-7, in front of 10,111 fans at Goodman Stadium. It was largest margin of defeat for the Quakers (1-3) since a 19-point loss to Dartmouth on opening day of 1992 -- Penn coach Al Bagnoli's first game in charge. It was also Lehigh's fourth-straight win in the series, including a 28-24 victory at Franklin Field last season. Down 7-3 at halftime, Lehigh (2-3) came alive offensively in the second half. Sophomore quarterback Phil Stambaugh had a career day, finishing 24-of-33 for 245 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions. Stambaugh repeatedly found open receivers five to 10 yards deep over the middle and in the flats. Stambaugh spread the ball around, so that seven Lehigh receivers had two or more catches. Although Penn won the battle to contain star wide-out Deron Braswell (three receptions, 23 yards), it clearly lost the aerial war. "Our patterns were designed so someone was open on every play," Stambaugh said. "You've just got to find him." Lehigh took the lead with 7:12 left in the third quarter. Stambaugh capped a 72-yard, eight-play drive with an eight-yard touchdown pass to Joe Falzone in the middle of the end zone. But the nail in Penn's coffin came early in the fourth quarter. Lehigh began on its own 25, but was immediately in Penn territory, thanks to a 34-yard run from senior tailback Rabih Abdullah (26 rushes for 153 yards), whom Penn avoided a year ago due to a serious knee injury. Three plays later, Stambaugh lofted a perfect pass to the back right corner of the end zone, where Brian Baker nudged clear of Penn cornerback Joe Piela. The point-after gave Lehigh a 17-7 lead. All hope was gone for Penn on the ensuing kickoff, which Quakers returner Jim Finn let slip through his hands. He had to scramble just to get the ball out of the end zone to Penn's own three-yard line. Two incomplete passes and a one-yard run later, Penn was punting. Lehigh's next drive started at Penn's 43. Six methodical plays later, Stambaugh dumped a pass on the left side to Abdullah, who waltzed 14 yards untouched for the game's final score. The Penn offense did not score after its opening drive. Rader had little doubt why. "Basically, the pressure they put on me in the second half," said the junior quarterback, who was sacked five times and hit many more. "I didn't have the time like I did in the first drive. We actually did it to ourselves with all the penalties -- holding, offsides." It wasn't that the Red and Blue could not move the ball, but they had too far to go. Penn's best drive-starting position of the second half was its own 32. What made the loss harder to take was how the game unfolded just as Penn wanted it to in the first quarter. It took the Quakers all of two minutes, 19 seconds to get a touchdown. Penn came out in a shotgun formation, and mixed a short passing game and the running of Jason McGee (24 carries, 81 yards) to get from its own 25-yard line to the Lehigh 17. From there, quarterback Matt Rader picked out receiver John James over the middle for a quick 7-0 lead. The fast start was just what Penn was looking for against a Lehigh defense which had allowed 61 points the week before, and might have been expected to fold. "We thought it was important to get up early," Bagnoli said. "They were coming off a fairly traumatic game against Colgate. We score in the first 2 1/2 minutes, from there we really struggled. I don't know what it was? We couldn't have scripted it any better." Lehigh got on the board early in the second quarter thanks to a Matt Swartz 37-yard field goal. For the most part, though, the Penn defense gave its offensive counterpart support in the first half, despite playing for the second straight week without NFL prospect Mitch Marrow at defensive tackle. Unlike the second half, Penn had scoring opportunities in the first half. A first-and-10 at the Lehigh 33 only gained three more yards, forcing Quakers placekicker Jeremiah Greathouse to try a 47-yard field goal, which he pushed wide right. Toward the end of the half, a faulty punt snap left Penn to start at Lehigh's 24. But two incomplete passes and a sack by Roobhenn Smith left Penn out of field goal range. A fourth-down pass by Rader (18-of-33, 184 yards, one touchdown) was one of three interceptions he and late replacement Tom MacLeod combined for. "We had plenty of opportunities early where it would have made the difference," said Bagnoli, who was not trying to sound like a natural disaster victim. "I'm not trying to duck the question -- I honestly don't know what happened."

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