South Mountaineer Volume 41, Issue 13

              SouUhMountaineer
Volume 12, Issue 13
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
November 24,1998
Get connected with Lehigh Athletics:
Website: www.lehigh.edu/~inspo
Hot Line: (610) 758-LULU
Tickets:   (610) 7LU-GAME
KM
i Ticket Information
Lehigh will play at Richmond
University located in Richmond, VA in the first round of
the NCAA Division I-AA Playoffs on Saturday, November
28, tenatively scheduled for 1
p.m. A limited number of tickets are on sale in the Lehigh
ticket office located on the
lower level of Taylor Gym.
Ticket prices are $15 for
adults, $10 for individuals under 18 and senior citizens and
$5 for college students. Tickets can be purchased in person or may be charged to a
Visa or MasterCard by calling
(610)7LU-GAME.
Television
■ Coverage
Lehigh's playoff game against
Richmond will be televised live
in the Lehigh Valley on WFMZ-
| TV 69. The game will be covered by Rich Lerner, Marty
Horn and Jeff Fisher. At press
time, no satellite coordinates have
been assigned.
Radio Coverage
Catch the playoff game live on WKAP-
1470 AM in the Lehigh Valley. Matt Kerr
and Mike Yadush will be on hand to
bring you all of the exciting action from
Richmond, VA.
Web Site Coverage
You can listen to the Lehigh-Richmond
game live via the internet or catch a
recent game you may have missed at
www.broadcast.com/sports/ncaa/
Lehigh/Football.
NCAA   Playoff
Appearances
1973-The team's first-ever play off appearance. It finished the season with a
7-4-1 record under the leadership of
head coach Fred Dunlap and tied with
Delaware for the Lambert Cup. It went
on to play in the first round of the NCAA
Championships but lost to Western
Kentucky 26-16. Senior quarterback
Kim McQuilken led the country in passing for the first time in Lehigh history
and was the first Lehigh player ever to
earn All-America honors from the Associated Press and American Football
Coaches. McQuilken set numerous
records and was drafted by the Atlanta
Falcons.
1975-ln his final year as head coach at
Lehigh, Fred Dunlap directed Lehigh to
its first home playoff game, a 9-3
record, the Lambert Cup and a #6 national rankings. Rutgers, Pennsylvania,
Colgate, Delaware, Lafayette, Maine,
Davidson, Gettysburg and Millersville
were all beaten. Only Army and
Bucknell managed to beat Lehigh prior
to the first round playoff loss to New
Hampshire 35-21. During that season,
Lehigh set single season school marks
for most points (409), most rushing
yards (2,692), and most total yards
(5,037).
1979-ln only its second season as a
member of Division I-AA, Lehigh
earned a trip to to the postseason and
defeated Murray State 28-9 in the opening round before losing to Eastern Kentucky 30-7 in the I-AA Championship
game. Offensive tackle Dave Melone
earned All-America First Team Honors.
The 10-3 Engineers were under the
guidance of head coach John Whitehead.
1980-For the third time in school history, Lehigh was the Lambert Cup
Champions. Under John Whitehead,
Lehigh finished with a 9-1-2 record.
Lehigh faced Eastern Kentucky in the
NCAA I-AA playoffs. Lehigh fell 23-20
to eastern Kentucky in a down to the
wire game. Senior wide receiver Mark
Yeager broke several of Steve Kreider's
records and earned All-America status,
and senior All-America linebacker
Bruce Rarig led the defense. In the final NCAA poll of the year, just before
the playoffs began, Lehigh was ranked
#1 in the nation with Grambling #2 and
Eastern Kentucky and South Carolina
#3.
Lehigh declaws Leopards and
ends its perfect season 11-0
Statistics
Rob Upton.
Head coach Kevin Higgins hoists the championship crown.
Lehigh University's Nick
Martucci cradled the
Patriot League championship trophy firmly in his arm.
TheLehigh's 31-7 whipping of
Lafayette at Fisher Field was a
perfect culmination to their unbeaten regular season Saturday.
There wasn't the wild celebration you might expect after
a victory against the arch-rival
Leopards (3-8). It was just another workmanlike effort in a
season full of methodical victories.
Lehigh (11-0) will savor the
win for a short while. Then
they'll get ready for Saturday's
NCAA Division 1-AA playoffs.
"It's nice that we'll have
about 24 hours to relax," said
Martucci, a senior defensive end
from Pius X High School. "But
we're not even thinking about
(this win) until the season's
over. Right now we're looking
at UMass or Richmond or whoever."
"This team has been the closest of the three teams I've
played on," said junior quarterback Phil Stambaugh, who's
also from Pius X. "It has good
chemistry and it shows on the
field."
Lightning-quickjunior
Ronald Jean, starting at halfback for injured Brian Baker,
rushed for 179 yards and three
touchdowns to earn MVP honors.
Jean electrified the crowd of
13,158 with a league record-tying 92 yard touchdown run that
gave Lehigh a 31-0 lead late in
the third quarter, Jean accelerated into the open field and
eluded free safety Bryant
Ibekwe's desperation lunge inside the Lafayette 20.
"They blitzed and everybody
did a good job blocking," Jean
said. "I just turned it upfield.
The rest is history. In my mind
Lehigh a 3-0 lead with 5:19 left
in the first quarter.
"I think scoring first was important for our confidence because I don't know how many
years it's been since we've been
up (early) against Lafayette,"
Lehigh coach Kevin Higgins
said.
Lehigh's next possession began when Stambaugh and split
end Deron Braswell (four
catches, 131 yards) hooked up on
a 54-yard bomb to the Leopards
30. Jean capped the drive with
a 1-yard touchdown run on
fourth down.
"From watching film I noticed
Lafayette had pretty good defensive schemes. They mixed it up
a lot. I was just surprised the
area was so open," Braswell said.
Two series later, Lehigh drove
65 yards in 16 plays to take a 17-
0 lead. On third-and-goal from
the 3, Jean took a pitch to the
right and hurdled into the end
zone for his second touchdown.
Lehigh nearly lost possession
at the 18 after Stambaugh's
fourth-down pass for Braswell
was caught out of the end zone.
But Lafayette cornerback Kenya
Allen was called for pass inter-
Lehigh-Lafayette MVP Ron Jean is on the go.
Rob Upton
there was no way I was gonna
let anybody catch me."
Lafayette's running tandem
of Leonard Moore and Tom Williams had early success. But it
was a fumble by Moore, a senior
from Phillipsburg who surpassed
1,000 yards rushing for the season, that swung momentum toward Lehigh.
Cornerback Kevin Joseph
jarred the ball loose and tackle
Antraveous Slaton picked it up
and returned it 35 yards to the
Lafayette 17.
Strong safety Brian Tuma, of
Voorhees, sacked Stambaugh on
third down before Jaron Taaffe
kicked a 37-yard field goal to give
ference.
"The penalty could have gone
both ways," said the L3opards'
John Fistner, a junior linebacker
from Bethlehem Catholic. "They
were both pushing and shoving."
Lehigh poured it on in the
third quarter. On third-and-23
from the Lafayette 41,
Stambaugh rolled right and
lofted a touchdown pass to
wideout Kody Fedorcha for a 24-
0 lead.
Late in the third quarter,
Lafayette was denied when defensive tackle Dave Petett threw
reserve fullback Ryan Mayo for
a loss on fourth down from the
1.
■Tom Hinkel, Express Times
Lehigh (11-0)
3   14   14 0
31
Lafayette (3-8)
0    0     0   7
7
fc»l
First quarter:
Leh-FG Taaffe 37, 5; 19
Second quarter:
Leh-Jean 1 run
(Taaffe kick),
H**1
11:11
Leh-Jean 3 run
(Taaffe, kick),
0:11
Third quarter:
Leh-Fedorcha
11  pass from
Stambaugh (Taaffe kick), 7:57
Leh-Jean 92 rur
(Taaffe kick),
0:19
Ball
Fourth quarter:
Laf-Luke 34 pass from Buczek
(Menecola kick),
11:05
Att-13,158.
TEAM STATISTICS
Lehigh  Lafayette
First downs
18            17
Rushes-yards
44-220     36-143
Passing
230           140
Comp-Att-Int "
17-31-0   13-27-0
Return yards
35             18
Punts-Avg.
4-34.3      5-24.6
Fumbles-Lost
1-0           2-1
Penalties-Yards       8-63 3-33
Time of possession 34:58       25:02
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Lehigh, Jean 23-179,
Burcher 5-19, Pleasant 9-18, Person
3-12, Snyder 1-2, Fedorcha 1-2,
Stambaugh 2-(minus 12). Lafayette,
Moore 19-75, Williams 8-38, McDay 1 -
15, Palos6-12, Mayo 2-3.
PASSING-Lehigh, Stambaugh 17-31-
0 for 230. Lafayette-Palos 12-24-0 for
106, Calhoun 0-2-0 for 0, Buczek 1-1-
0 for 34.
RECEIVING-Lehigh, Braswell 4-131,
Jean 3-10, Fedorcha 2-53, Snyder 2-
13, Moore 2-(minus 3), Falzone 1-14,
Ryan 1-8, Person 1-3, Endler 1-1.
Lafayette, Luke 5-75, Hammons 3-26,
Yarberough 3-24, Williams 2-15.
FIELD GOALS MISSED - none.
Lambert Cup Standings
Lehigh is one of two Patriot League
teams to be ranked in the Lambert Cup
race this week. The cup signifies the
best Division I-AA teams in the east.
Only the Atlantic 10 Conference is also
represented in this week's voting
1. Massachusetts (3) 8-2 55
2.Connecticut 8-2       50
3. LEHIGH (1)   ■        10-0       47
Richmond (2) 8-2       47
5. William & Mary      7-3     . 35
6. Delaware 6-4 24,
7. Pennsylvania 7-2 21
8. Colgate 7-3 18
Hofstra 7-3 18
10. Villanova 5-5        6
Patriot League Titles
1993-While this season was filled with
many expectations, Lehigh's schedule
was one of the most difficult of all times.
Losses to Delaware and Idaho could
have destroyed a team's confidence,
but not this group. Led by quarterback
Scott Semptimphelter, Lehigh defeated
Lafayette 39-14 to take home the Patriot League title. Semptimphelter
guided the nation's #3 passing attack
to an average of 325 yards per game
through the air. His main target was
Dave Cecchini, who earned First Team
All-America honors and led the country in receiving. Head coach Hank
Small led the 7-4 Lehigh team to the
championship.
1995-Another great passing tandem
led Lehigh to its second Patriot League
title in three years. Bob Aylsworth's
precision throwing and Brian
Klingerman's clutch catches were keys
to this team's success. No team had
more dramatic wins with this duo providing the theatrics. In maybe the greatest Lehigh finish ever, Klingerman
hauled in a 14-yard catch from
Aylsworth in the second overtime to
beat Lafayette 37-30 at Goodman Stadium. Lehigh finished its league winning season .under head coach Kevin
Higgins, with a 8-3 record.