The Lehigh football team fell 42-7 in their season opener on the road against Army on Friday, Aug. 30.
After a 35-yard fake punt run on their opening drive, the Black Knights opened up the scoring with a one-yard touchdown run by quarterback Bryson Daily.
Lehigh would respond with a big run of their own the following drive.
After an efficient seven-play drive, sophomore running back Luke Yoder built off his promising first-year campaign with a diving 18-yard rushing touchdown to even up the score at 7-7.
The Black Knights then responded with back-to-back scoring drives with touchdown runs by Daily and running back Kanye Udoh.
After being held scoreless the rest of the second quarter, Lehigh entered halftime down 21-7. The Mountain Hawks were then shut out for the second half.
Army continued their dominance on the ground, scoring three rushing touchdowns in the second half to secure the home victory.
Yoder ended the game as Lehigh’s leading rusher, recording 51 yards and a touchdown.
Alongside a consistent rushing attack, the Lehigh passing game differed each drive.
The season opener saw three different quarterbacks take snaps for the Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh coach Kevin Cahill used graduate quarterback Dante Perri and first-years Matt Machalik and Hayden Johnson in different packages to confuse the Army defense with designed runs and passing plays.
The trio combined for 110 yards on the day, often looking to wide receiver Mason Humphrey, who led the unit in receiving yards with 61.
Despite gaining 277 yards of offense, the scheme changes were unsuccessful in getting into the end zone.
Two costly interceptions from Johnson deep in Army territory and turnovers on downs halted any promising drives the Mountain Hawks had.
On the other side of the ball, Army’s ground game stymied the Mountain Hawk front line. The Black Knights out-gained the Mountain Hawks 375-167 in rushing yards and 432-277 in total offense.
Lehigh now looks to get in the win column with their home opener against Wagner at Goodman Stadium on Sep. 7.
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