University of Northern Iowa Athletics
University of Northern Iowa
7-5
Lehigh
10-2
Lehigh Tops UNI in the FCS Playoffs, 14-7
11/27/2010 7:00:00 AM | Football
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Lehigh University Mountain Hawks topped the University of Northern Iowa Panthers in the first round of the 2010 FCS Playoffs, 14-7.
The Mountain Hawks trailed 7-0 at the half but scored a pair of third-quarter touchdowns to advance to face Delaware in the second round next Saturday. Lehigh out-gained UNI in total yards, 336-251. The 251 yards of offense for the Panthers was a season-low.
UNI's only score of the day came on a 17-yard touchdown run by junior quarterback Tirrell Rennie. Rennie's scampter culminated a nine-play, 56-yard drive and came with 4:32 left in the first quarter.
The Mountain Hawks held off a pair of late second-quarter drives by the Panthers by intercepting Rennie on both occasions. The first pick came with 1:49 left in the half when Lehigh's John Veniero nabbed an interception at the 8-yard line. The Panther defense held and forced a three-and-out giving the ball back to UNI with 28 seconds left in the half. However, Lehigh's Casey Eldemire intercepted another Rennie pass at the 2-yard yard line with 6 seconds before intermission to halt another Panther drive.
Lehigh seemed to feed off the momentum of the two interceptions and was able to turn that energy into a pair of third-quarter touchdowns. Lehigh's first score of the game came on a 62-yard pass play from Chris Lum to Jake Drwal with 10:08 left in the third quarter.
The Mountain Hawks then took the lead for good on a 28-yard scoring strike from Lum to Ryan Spadola with 2:07 left in the third quarter.
UNI had multiple chances in the fourth quarter to cut into the Lehigh lead but senior placekicker had a 26-yard field goal blocked with 13:02 left in the final quarter and he missed a 31-yarder wide right with 3:31 left in the contest. Hallgren also missed a 44-yard attempt with 11:57 left in the third quarter.
Lum led the Lehigh passing attack with 267 yards in 18-of-37 passing, including a pair of touchdowns. Ryan Spadola led the Mountain Hawks' receivers with nine catches for 127 yards and a score. Jay Campbell led the Lehigh rushers with nine carries for 47 yards. Al Pierce secured a game-high 11 tackles to lead the Mountain Hawk defense. Lehigh's Colin Newton tallied 2.5 quarterback sacks, 3.5 tackles-for-loss and forced a fumble.
UNI was led by L.J. Fort posted a team-high 10 tackles. Ben Boothby registered nine tackles, 3.5 tackles-for-loss and 1.5 quarterback sacks.
Lehigh improved to 10-2 on the season, while UNI fell to 7-5 overall.
Team Stats
LEHIGH 0, UNI 7
UNI - Rennie, Tirrell 17 yd run (Hallgren, Billy kick), 9 plays, 50 yards, TOP 4:56
LEHIGH 7, UNI 7
LEHIGH - Drwal, Jake 62 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Randazza, Tom kick) 4 plays, 73 yards, TOP 1:49
LEHIGH 14, UNI 7
LEHIGH - Spadola, Ryan 28 yd pass from Lum, Chris (Randazza, Tom kick) 1 plays, 28 yards, TOP 0:06
