South Mountaineer Volume 37, Issue 04

              SPORTS
''Columbia showed a different offensive
scheme in the first half which caused
us some problems. We made some
adjustments at halftime and I thought
we played well in the sec ."
Lehigh head football coach
Contents
Page 13
♦ Olympic sports update
and schedules
♦ Football by the numbers
♦ Patriot League football
scores and standings
SOUTH
Page 14
♦ Football Player's
Perspective:
Mike Swartz
♦ Women's Tennis:
Dara Plasky
Page 15
♦ Women's Soccer:
Courtney Rossi
♦ Swim team learns the
ropes
♦ Olympic Sports Week
in Review
MOUNTAINEER
Volume   37,   Issue   04
September   27,   1994
Jason Mack returned this interception 74 yards to
put Lehigh up 20-19. Photo by JOE RYAN
QUOTEBOARD
*Tt was a disappointing day. Certainly penalties
played a part. We're not a good enough football
team to overcome that. In many critical situations
we broke down.."
- Lehigh head coach Kevin Higgins
^"Columbia is a good football team. They have a
strong running game and didn't make mistakes.
They didn 't allow our offense to get in sync."
-Higgins
^"Certainly there were some positives out there.
The last drive, the conversions on fourth down and
some individuals played well. But if we 're not
doing it from a team standpoint then we can't be
successful."
- Higgins
*"I came in virtually untouched and managed to
slip through. That's what we're supposed to do. I
caught it with my right hand."
- Senior defensive lineman Rich Owens
on the final blocked extra point.
*"We were just trying to get a first down. It was an
out pattern.'-
- Junior wide receiver Brian Klingerman
on the go-ahead touchdown reception.
*"We were in man to man defense and I knew the
tight end was their big play man. I was expecting
the ball and just read the quarterback."
- Senior DB Jason Mack on his
interception.
FAST FACT
* Jason Mack was named Patriot League Defensive Player-of-the-Week. This marked the third
straight week that a Lehigh player earned league
honors
Lehigh and Columbia fit to be tied
In a game filled with exciting
last minute plays it seems only
appropriate that Saturday's
game finished deadlocked.
By GLENN HOFMANN
Sports Information Director
First and foremostrealizethattheColumbiafootball
teamthatonSaturdaytiedLehigh28-28isn'twhatpast
Columbia teams have been like. As their head coach Ray
TemerandLeMgh'sfirstyearmentor Kevin Higgins both
said all week long, this is a much improved program and
onethathasthebestathletesitshadin lOyears.
ThatwasveryapparentastheEngineersneededevery
ounce of energy they hadjust to come away with a tie as
Lehigh improved to 2-0-1 on the season. Columbia is now
0-1-1.
Ironically, it wasn't Columbia makingthe silly mistakes, thecritical penalties, and the major missed assignments in the game. Rather it was Lehigh. And as well as
Lelnghplayedmthefirsttwogamesoftheseason,itplayed
almost as poorlyin this contest. Makenomistake,itwasn't
because ofalack of effort. Both Lehigh and Columbialeft
everythingtheyhad on the field.
Butwhenyoucommitfourturnovers, arechargedwith
11 penalties for 111 yards and give up touchdown runs of
50and27yardsit'stoughtowinagame.
And yet, despite beingdown 19-7 atthehalf,youhad
thefeelingLehigh would somehow manage to come back.
And they did.
This groupproved on Satrudaythatwhen the going
gets tough they willnotgiveup,hold their heads, orpanic.
Instead theyrallied. First, Bob Ayslworth hit Brian
Klingermanfora
66 yard touch-
downmmethird
quartertocutthe
deficitto 19-13.
AndthenJa-
sonMackinter-
ceptedapassand
returned it 74
yardsforatouch-
down to give
Lehigh a 20-19
advantage with
1:19 left in the
thirdquarter.
The teams
tradedturnovers
earlyinmefourth
quarter, both
coming deep in
Lehighterritory.
TheEngineer offense, which appeared out of
Rabih Abdullah on his way to a 34-yard first quarter touchdown run.  Photo by JOE RYAN
synch aUdaycoulcm'tputanytbingtogetherinanattempt
to put the game away. In fact, they gave up the ball to
ColumbiaattheLehigh 35 yard line. Sixplays later kicker
Joe Aldrich booted a 35 yard field goal and Columbia led
22-20with4:121eft.
The Lehigh offense then came to life in their most
important drive ofthe season. Aylsworth drove the Engi-
neersdownmefieldandwiml:011eftMtBrianKlingermand
who weaved his way through Columbia tacklers for an
exhilarating40yard touchdown scamper. Theensuingtwo
point conversion from Aylsworth to Mark LaFeir gave
Lehigh a seemingly safe 28-22 lead.
Lost in all ofthe excitement, was that there was too
muchexritementasaftermetouchdownmeentdre Lehigh
team gathered in theendzone to celebrate. Itresulted in a
15yard penalty with Lehigh kickingofffrom the 20yard
line.
CtolumbiaretumedthebaUtotheEngmeer47yaraline
andmoveddowntothe26. Itwasfourthand lOwithonly
12 seconds left. And unlike previous Columbia teams the
lions came through as quarterback Jamie Schwalbe hit
fullback John Harper on a perfect pass up the middle.
Nietherplayercouldhavedoneitanybetter. All Columbia
had to do was kick the extra point to win.
The Engineers then showed they have the mental
toughnessittakestoavoidlosmg.RichCweris ran through
the offensivelineandblockedtheextrapoint.his second
block ofthe day.
Inaperiodofunder two minutes the Lehigh players
hadexperiencedthethrillofvictory,theagonyofdefeatand
finally the knowledge that they had passed the test of
adversity.
Mistakes, Lehighmadeplenty ofthem. Butwhatthis
gameshowed was thatLehigh,andforthatmatter Columbia, bothhavecharacterwhichshouldresultinmanymore
wins for each club the rest ofthe season.
^j"