The Hoya football team saw their playoff hopes erased last Saturday as they were rolled over by Lehigh 46-14. Going into the contest, Georgetown still had a shot at winning the Patriot League and earning their first Division 1-AA playoff berth since their move to the conference in 2001.
The Hoyas (4-5 overall, 2-3 PL) had a fire in their eye heading to Lehigh (7-2 overall, 3-1 PL) knowing that they could accomplish something that had never been done in the history of Hoya football. That fire was quickly extinguished as the No. 13 Mountain Hawks made it clear in the second half that the Hoyas’ journey toward the playoffs was going to hit a major roadblock in Bethlehem, Penn.
“There weren’t many bright spots,” Head Coach Bob Benson said. “We had a couple shots in the first half but it’s not a first half game. We had a horrible third quarter and it got away from us.”
The Hoyas were caught enjoying the fall foliage of rural Pennsylvania, unready for the third quarter onslaught. The over 13,000 fans in attendance for the Family Weekend football game wouldn’t be enough to drown out the offensive fireworks the Mountain Hawks exhibited. They out-gained the Hoyas 386 yards to 32, and swooped into the red zone for a field goal and three touchdowns against a tired Hoya defense in under nine minutes. Two of the scores were served up to the Mountain Hawks after Hoya fumbles deep in their own territory.
All in all, Lehigh shredded the Hoya defense for 467 yards and they exploited Georgetown’s usually stellar defensive line for 332 yards rushing on 52 carries.
“Give them their due,” Benson said. “But if we play like that we’re not going to beat anybody.”
The Hoya offense looked equally overmatched throughout the game. An injury-riddled offensive line, without senior running back Marcus Slayton, equaled only 44 yards on the ground. The meager offensive attack strung together 159 yards of total offense, 55 of those yards coming off the arm of first-year quarterback Ben Hostetler in the fourth quarter when the game was essentially over.
In an effort to get their running attack in a groove, junior starting quarterback Nick Cangelosi only attempted a paltry five passes in the first half. Cangelosi actually threw six passes, but his most effective strike was erased by penalty. A 55-yard bomb from Cangelosi to senior wide out Steve Ekechuku with just 20 seconds left should have made the score 22-14, with the Hoyas down but gaining momentum heading into the locker room.
“Momentum is a part of the game,” Benson said. “Psychologically it would have been nice for the team to go in down a touchdown, but (not getting calls) is just part of the game.”
Ekechuku, a senior who is seeing his first significant playing time because of two torn ACLs over the course of his career, downplayed the importance of what should have been his first career touchdown.
“The fact of the matter is we still had a whole half of football to play,” he said. “It would have given us a lot of momentum, but it didn’t happen and we didn’t get it done in the second half.”
The browbeaten bulldogs saw their postseason dreams start to fade as Lehigh capitalized on their momentum, converting every Hoya mistake into points.
“I challenge our guys every week to put together 60 minutes of good, clean football,” Lehigh Head Coach, and Georgetown grad, Pete Lembo (MSB ‘92) told reporters after the game. “I was very pleased with how we came out in the third (quarter) playing defense and running the ball.”
The final blow extinguishing the Hoyas’ hopes came from Lehigh senior wide receiver Adam Kovacs. Kovacs, who caught a five-yard touchdown pass from first-year quarterback Sedale Threatt earlier in the game, recovered a fumbled punt at the Georgetown seven-yard line during the ominous third quarter.
“(The fumble recovery) really helped to put the nail in the coffin,” Kovacs commented to Fox Sports Net. “We scored and it kept them from getting any kind of momentum after that.”
The Hoyas, who post the second-worst scoring offense in the country, will look to put points on the board and regain some momentum heading into Saturday’s contest against Davidson. They will have to beat the Wildcats at home Saturday afternoon to still have a chance at a winning season.
But for Steve Ekechuku and the rest of the Hoya seniors who are finishing out their careers, the last few games should be more important for everyone, including underclassmen, than just getting a win.
“The basic message to them is to just enjoy it,” Ekechuku said. “Enjoy every game because you never know when your career could be over.”
