In Lehigh's previous season, the Mountain Hawks' roster was very senior heavy, with most of the team's starting players graduating.[1] As such there is an equally large oncoming group of Freshmen, including two quarterbacks Matt Machalik of Palmerton and Hayden Johnson of Manheim Township, as well as senior QB Matt Rauscher and fifth-year QB Dante Perri.[1] Additionally, coach Cahill has highlighted the new freshmen defenders, including Broc Bender, second-team all-state linebacker from Fork Union Military Academy in Virginia.[1]
The season opener are the first time that the teams have met since 1995 and the first time Lehigh has played an FBS team since 2018.[4] In the opening drive the Black Knights performed a 35-yard fake punt followed by a 1-yard touchdown by Bryson Daily.[5] The Mountain Hawks responded the next drive by scoring in a seven-play drive off an 18-yard rushing touchdown by Luke Yoder.[5][6] However, Army then scored on back to back drives with rushing touchdowns from Daily and Kanye Udoh and hold Lehigh scoreless, making it 21–7 at the half.[5] Army scored early in the third with a 3-yard run from Noah Short, and scored twice in the fourth quarter to finish the game 42–7.[6] Army held Lehigh scoreless in the second half, mostly due to two interceptions by Lehigh quarterback Hayden Johnson deep in Army territory.[5] Lehigh had three quarterbacks take snaps in an effort to confuse Army, with Dante Perri, Matt Machalik and Hayden Johnson all being used in different packages.[5]
Seeking to bounce back from their defeat by Army, Lehigh started their home opener by scoring first off a 16-yard pass from Dante Perri to wide receiver Geoffrey Jamiel, following with two more touchdowns to take a 21–0 lead only 5 minutes into the game.[7] The Mountain Hawks continued their strong start with first-year Hayden Johnson scoring his first collegiate touchdown for a 28–0 lead, followed by two more touchdowns by Lehigh to make it 42–0 at the half.[8][7] This is the first time that Lehigh scored 42 points before halftime since their 2016 season against Yale.[7] Lehigh scored again to start the third quarter to make the lead 49–0 before the Seahawks scored two late touchdowns to finish the game.[7] Wagner had three turnovers, including a pick-six, finishing the game with 249 yards of total offense.[8] This was Lehigh's largest margin of victory in 17 years, since its 2007 45–0 win against Georgetown, and the most points scored since its 2018 season against Bucknell.[9] Junior receiver Geoffrey Jamiel put him over 100 career receptions and 1,000 receiving yards during the game, while juniors Tyler Ochojski and Matt Spatny secured Lehigh's first two sacks of the season.[9] Junior defensive back Nick Peltekian said “This should be the standard for this team every week.”[7] The game was also head coach Kevin Cahill's first ever home win.[9]
(0:37) LIU – Michael Coney 27-yard kick (Drive: 11 plays, 65 yards, 5:05; Lehigh 20-17)
Fourth quarter
No scoring
Statistics
LEH
LIU
First downs
20
15
Total yards
282
320
Rushing yards
143
166
Passing yards
139
154
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
10–18–0
16–26–1
Time of possession
33:55
26:05
Team
Category
Player
Statistics
Lehigh
Passing
Dante Perri
6/14, 113 yards, TD
Rushing
Luke Yoder
23 carries, 94 yards, TD
Receiving
Logan Galletta
2 receptions, 47 yards
LIU
Passing
Luca Stanzani
16/26, 160 yards, 2 TD, INT
Rushing
Ethan Greenwood
5 carries, 65 yards
Receiving
Cory Nichols
7 receptions, 52 yards, 2 TD
LIU was looking to come back from two losses with a home-opener against Lehigh, with this being the first time Lehigh traveled to LIU.[10] The LIU sharks opened scoring with a 13-yard pass from Luca Stanzani to Michael Love before the Mountain Hawks tied with a Luke Yoder rushing touchdown.[10] First-year quarterback Hayden Johnson then had his first career touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Geoffrey Jamiel.[10] The Sharks opened up the second half with a Stanzani 3-yard passing touchdown to Michael Love then with 37 seconds left in the third LIU's kicker Michael Coney made a field goal.[10] Lehigh held the game scoreless in the fourth quarter, with the game coming down to the Mountain Hawks' Will Parton stopping a fourth-and-2 attempt with 57 seconds left to preserve the win.[11][10] This was the first time that Lehigh won back-to-back games since 2021, and are now 7-0 all time against the Sharks.[12]
(6:49) LEH – Jaden Green 34-yard run, Nick Garrido Kick (Drive: 5 plays. 71 yards, 2:58; Lehigh 35-20)
Statistics
PRIN
LEH
First downs
14
17
Total yards
212
346
Rushing yards
-7
153
Passing yards
219
193
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
16-22-3
16-40-0
Time of possession
25:29
34:31
Team
Category
Player
Statistics
Princeton
Passing
Blaine Hipa
16/38, 219, 2 TD, 3 INT
Rushing
John Volker
10 carries, 28 yards, TD
Receiving
Luke Colella
5 receptions, 86 yards, TD
Lehigh
Passing
Hayden Johnson
12/13, 165 yards, TD
Rushing
Jaden Green
18 carries, 82 yards, 2 TD
Receiving
Dylan McFadden
2 receptions, 62 yards
Lehigh hosted Princeton for its "Parents Weekend" homecoming game.[12] This was Princeton's first game of the season.[13] Both team's marching bands put on special halftime performances, and food-trucks provided food to the homecoming crowd.[14] Lehigh opened up the scoring with a 20-yard run up the middle by sophomore running back Luke Yoder six minutes into the game.[15][14] Princeton responded tying the game to end the first quarter.[15] The Mountain Hawks would outscore Princeton by 14 points in the 2nd quarter to make it 21-7 going into the second half.[15] The Tigers scored on their opening possession of the second half and cut the lead to just 7 points.[15] The fourth quarter started off with Johnson finding an open Geoffrey Jamiel on a 17-yard passing touchdown to put Lehigh's lead back to 14 points with 14:10 remaining in the game.[15] Princeton got the ball back with 1:54 remaining with a chance to have a game-winning drive, however, Brycen Edwards intercepted Blaine Hipa to secure the win for Lehigh.[15] The Tigers responded six minutes later with a touchdown of their own, but failed to convert the two-point conversion.[15] This was the first time that Lehigh beat an ivy league school since 2016.[13][15] Hayden Johnson had the best day of his career to date, going 12-of-13 while throwing for 165 yards with one touchdown.[15] Lehigh also started Dante Perri who was 4-of-9 and finished with 28 yards.[15]
