Notes on the Win over Lehigh

The Bulldogs cruised to a 34-0 win over Lehigh on Saturday albeit against one of the weakest squads we’ve faced over the last few years.  The level of play will have to amplified again this week as we hit the road to compete against arguably the toughest Ivy League foe of the season in Dartmouth.

The Yale offense started sluggishly on the first drive with a three-and-out but got into a rhythm on the second possession of the game with O’Connor connecting with freshman David Pantelis on a 27-yard touchdown strike.  Pantelis’ touchdown reception was reminiscent of Klubnik’s catches early in his career.  O’Connor’s performance was up-and-down completing just 50% of his passes for 123 yards and a touchdown.  A combination of errant throws into coverage, receivers dropping passes and poor offensive line play led to the low completion percentage.  Lehigh defenders slammed O’Connor to the turf in the second quarter and he did not play in the second half likely as a precautionary measure. Grooms played well in the second half completing 6 of 8 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns. Dudek led the Bulldogs in rushing with 8 carries for 56 yards and a touchdown as he became the most efficient running back in Yale history in terms of yards per carry.  McElwain had a great outing showing off his speed on a 48-yard run.  The offensive line struggled to maintain consistency as there were moments that they opened holes and kept the pocket clean and other times when defenders were immediately able to break free into the backfield.  Tipton had his best game of the season with 122 reception yards on 3 catches and a touchdown. 

Clay Patterson was the star of the defense racking up an astounding 9 tackles, 5 tackles for loss and 4 sacks.  Nickerson had a field day against Lehigh’s offensive tackles adding 2 sacks to his junior campaign.  Raine and Moore each notched a sack as well.  Sampleton did not play his best football on Saturday highlighting the need for Oso to return to the lineup.  Lehigh simply couldn’t move the ball on the Yale defense with just 146 yards of total offense or 2.5 yards per play.  Quarterback Nigel Summerville was held to 12 of 23 on passing attempts for 103 yards.  Summerville was constantly under pressure and when he did have a chance to connect with an open receiver, they often dropped the pass.  There’s still room for improvement in the linebacking corps and secondary but it’s hard to complain after a shutout.

On special teams, Bosman missed another PAT and Rouse bobbled two punts that could have turned into disasters had he not recovered them.  Bosman was excellent in his punting duties though averaging 41.5 yards per punt with 3 punts inside Lehigh’s 20-yard line and 2 punts that were 50 yards.