Story & Photographs by Diane Fleischman

The 2023 Lehigh Mountain Hawks Football season kicked off Saturday, and even though the game was over Labor Day weekend, Lehigh had a decent turnout. It was a typical hot summer day, sunny with temperatures in the mid 80’s.  The Villanova Wildcats won the coin toss, and elected to receive.

As both teams exhibited strong defenses in the first quarter, The Wildcats were first to hit the scoreboard towards the end of the quarter. And with less than two minutes remaining, they hit it again. The first quarter ended with a prominent Wildcats lead of 14-0.

The Mountain Hawks went almost the full game without scoring a touchdown.  Early in the second quarter, they landed on the scoreboard with a field goal. The Wildcats intercepted three times, which all resulted in touchdowns. With the close of the first half of the game, The Wildcats had established an enormous lead of 31-3 over The Mountain Hawks.

Then it happened again. Late in the third quarter, The Wildcats scored another touchdown and field goal which brought the score to 38-3.  The Mountain Hawks gave it everything they had, holding defense strong and scored a touchdown and field goal in the fourth quarter upping the score to 38-10, which became the final score, and a Villanova Wildcats victory over the Lehigh Mountain Hawks.

The next home game for Lehigh will be on Saturday, September 16, against Cornell.

For more information and upcoming schedules for the Mountain Hawks visit https://lehighsports.com/