Lehigh defeats Columbia 31-7 on the road bringing record to 7-0

Lehigh dominated both lines of scrimmage today, leading to another victory on the road in New York City defeating Columbia University 31-7. 

Sophomore quarterback Hayden Johnson threw for 240 yards while sophomore quarterback Matt Machalik scored two rushing touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Geoffrey Jamiel also had a touchdown and 182 receiving yards. 

Columbia’s junior quarterback Xander Menapace threw for 120.2 yards and junior wide receiver Titus Evans scored his first career touchdown with 6 receptions for 111 yards. 

Lehigh’s first offensive drive was a 12-play, 77-yard scoring drive, leaning heavily on the ground attack. Johnson had a 35-yard run to Columbia’s 26-yard line, followed by an 8-yard rush to move the ball to the 14-yard line. 

From there, Machalik capped off the drive with a 4-yard touchdown run. With senior kicker Nick Garrido’s extra point, the Mountain Hawks got on the board early with a 7-0 lead.

After two more scoreless drives from both teams, the first quarter came to a close with Lehigh still up 7-0. Columbia had no first-down conversions in the quarter. 

At the start of the second quarter, Johnson connected with Jamiel on a 45-yard pass with a one-handed catch that brought the ball to Columbia’s 25-yard line. 

Johnson followed up with an 11-yard rush to the 7-yard line, setting up junior running back Luke Yoder for a 7-yard touchdown run. After a completed kick, the Mountain Hawks’ extended their lead to 14-0.

Lehigh tacked on 3 points with less than a minute left in the half as Garrido kicked a 38-yard field goal. The half ended with the Mountain Hawks leading 17-0, holding Columbia to 42 yards due to Lehigh’s stifling defense. 

The second half began with Johnson connecting with Jamiel on the opening drive for a 63-yard touchdown pass. After the extra point, the team extended its lead to 24-0 less than two minutes into the third quarter. 

The Mountain Hawks capitalized on this momentum. Their following 8-play, 48-yard drive led to Machalik’s 2-yard rushing touchdown, his second of the game. Another successful kick pushed the lead to 31-0. 

Columbia finally answered when Menapace found Evans for a 74-yard touchdown, marking both Menapace’s first career passing touchdown and Evans’ first career score. Columbia got on the board, cutting the lead to 31-7. 

The fourth quarter remained scoreless, as Columbia struggled to break through Lehigh’s dominant defense that had two interceptions to close out the game.

The victory brought Lehigh’s record to 7-0, the first time since 2012 when it went 9-0. The team has a bye next weekend before facing Fordham University on the road on Oct. 25.