ON THE SIDELINES: Penn couldn't stop Lehigh on third downs

Lehigh rolled up 396 yards of total offense in its win over Penn on Saturday. The visiting Mountain Hawks averaged a healthy 5.0 yards a play against the Quakers defense. Those are either impressive or embarrassing numbers, depending on who you were rooting for. But they weren't the most important statistics from the game. The most crucial stat of the day, the one that best tells the story of Lehigh's 28-24 victory is this -- the Mountain Hawks converted on 10-of-18 third-downs attempts. "They made some key third down plays when they had to," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "I give them some credit. They did some good things." Lehigh did more than some good things on third down. And the Quakers defense did some very bad things. If Penn, which had a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, had been able to hold ground on a few more of the game's crucial third-and-long situations, it may have won. Instead, the Hawks got back into the game and eventually went ahead. "You work very very hard as a defense to put people in third-and-long and second-and-long," Bagnoli said. "We seemed to do that on a consistent basis, and yet we never had anything to show for it. And that's what becomes frustrating." The problems for Penn started early in the second quarter. Until that point, Lehigh quarterback Seka Edwards had shown very little of the skills that allowed him to throw for 367 yards last week against New Hampshire. But when the Mountain Hawks got the ball at the Quakers 44-yard line with 12 minutes, 44 seconds left in the first half, Edwards finally woke up. He converted on third-and-long three times on the drive. First, facing a third-and-18 on his own 47, Edwards hit flanker Joe Falzone for 23 yards. Three plays later, on third-and-six, Edwards connected with split end Deron Braswell for 11 yards. Finally, on third-and-10 at the Penn 15, Edwards took matters into his own hands and scrambled into the endzone, bringing Lehigh within seven points. "He was a real good athlete," Quakers defensive tackle Mitch Marrow said. "When he wasn't throwing on us, he hurt us with the scramble. We had a little trouble containing him." Edwards finished the game with 248 yards in the air on 20-of-36 passing. And his rushing total of three yards is misleading -- he gained 54 yards on 12 carries, but also lost 51, mostly on sacks. "He's a very good player," Bagnoli said. "He's stabilized their quarterbacking situation. They do a nice job of getting him outside, a nice job of really having him break containment and then run around and run some quarterback draws. They do some intelligent things with the kid." Later, with the score tied at 14, Lehigh worked its third-down magic again. The Hawks faced a third-and-eight at their own 21 with 2:51 left in the half. A Quakers stop could have given Penn good field position and one more drive before halftime. But tailback Brian Baker ripped up the middle for 16 yards, and the Lehigh drive was alive. Then on a third-and-27 with 53 seconds left in the half, Edwards went deep down the left sideline for Braswell. The pass was slightly underthrown, but Quakers cornerback Larrin Robertson didn't notice in time. The result was a 54-yard touchdown. "Just a simple fade route," said Braswell, who had seven catches for 131 yards. "I stopped and went ,and he bit on the fake a little. But the ball was a little short, and I came back for it and made the catch." The score put the Hawks on top, 21-14, and they never trailed again. Edwards and Braswell hooked up again for the winning touchdown, but it was Lehigh's two drives in the second quarter that turned the game around. "Give them some credit because they've got some athletic kids, and the quarterback did a nice job," Bagnoli said. "But you also really have to say that we didn't handle those situations anywhere near as well as we have to be able to handle them. You can see one third-and-18, but they must have done it two or three times and actually once for a touchdown, which I find difficult to overcome when you're in these kind of games."