After quiet first half, Lehigh surges in Penn home opener

Seconds before halftime, Penn freshman quarterback Miles Teodecki ran for a 1-yard gain to his own 2-yard line. As the clock wound down to zero and players stood up to head into the locker rooms, Teodecki remained laying on the turf for an extra second.

The other end zone remained elusive for Penn as it lost its home opener to Lehigh, 20-7.

At halftime, Penn (1-1) trailed just 3-0. But the Quakers’ last drive of the first half foreshadowed an offense unable to press forward for most of the game.

Second-half collapse

Two Lehigh touchdowns in the third quarter sealed Penn’s fate. The Quakers struggled to break through the Hawks’ swarming defense and recorded just 12 first downs.

Lehigh quarterback Derek Morgan scored the Hawks’ first touchdown on an 11-yard run about a minute-and-a-half into the third quarter. A little over four minutes later, a 20-yard pass from Morgan to wide receiver Jamaire Harden put Lehigh up, 17-0.

Teodecki couldn’t find his rhythm. He was sacked four times, was picked off twice, and completed just 49% of his passes (18-of-37) for 133 yards..

“We need to be better on first down,” Quakers coach Rick Santos said. “So it’s third-and-manageable, not third in obvious passing situations, and that seemed to be the entire third quarter.”

But in the last five minutes, several long passes by Teodecki powered Penn’s drive in an attempt to put points on the board. Sophomore running back Tommy Lafayette, whose name garnered “boos” from the Lehigh crowd, scored Penn’s only touchdown on a 1-yard run with 2 minutes, 47 seconds to go.

“We preached this entire week … ‘We have to win the run game. We have to win the run game. We have to win the run game,’” Lafayette said, “When you’re in a 2-minute situation like that … you have to get something going.”

Defense shows moments of promise

Before the matchup, Santos said “stopping the run has to be our No. 1 priority this week.” The defense took that to heart and kept Lehigh star running back Luke Yoder, who entered Saturday averaging 142.3 rushing yards per game, to just 74 yards.

Though the Hawks (5-0) leaned on their ground game throughout the first half, the Quakers’ defense kept them contained. A minute before halftime, senior linebacker Joey Holliday tackled Yoder a loss of 2 yards. Holliday also had both of Penn’s sacks.

When Morgan’s passes started connecting in the second half, the defense adjusted. In the Hawks’ first drive following halftime, senior defensive back Jayden Drayton broke up a pass to Lehigh wide receiver Nick Palumbo to force a punt. Zach Darche and Cole Olsztyn led the Quakers with 13 and 11 tackles, respectively.

“The defense clearly was the most dominant unit on our team today,” Santos said, “I think there is a continuity between the offense and defense, and, again, offensively we have a ways to go.

“We’ll take a hard look at what we’re doing schematically on offense, but I’m proud of the fight we had right now.”

Though Penn ended the game with just 49 rushing yards, it held Lehigh, which entered the game averaging 291.8 yards, to 168 yards on the ground. Overall, the Hawks outgained the Quakers, 217-182.

Up next

Penn faces Dartmouth (0-2) in Hanover, N.H., next Saturday (1:30 p.m., ESPN+).