It was a picture-perfect day for football at Lehigh’s Goodman Stadium.

And after two disappointing defeats in a row to their archrival from across the Lehigh Valley, the Mountain Hawks got back on the winning side of The Rivalry.

Lehigh quarterback Nick Shafnisky had a career day—throwing for 283 yards and four touchdowns and running for 109 yards and another score—as the Mountain Hawks carved up the Lafayette defense en route to a 49-35 win in the 151^st edition of the most played rivalry in all of college football.

On an unseasonably warm day at Goodman, the Mountain Hawks jumped on Lafayette early and never looked back. Shafnisky found Trevor Soccarras on a 3-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter, then followed up that strike shortly afterward with a beautifully thrown 5-yard touchdown pass to Derek Knott. The quarterback would add another 5-yard scoring pass to Casey Gatlin early in the second quarter and then ran it in himself on a 5-yard scamper with 6:50 left in the half.

Though Lafayette added two scores of their own before the break, Lehigh went into the half with a 28-14 lead—not to mention 337 yards of total offense on a day when the Leopards simply had no answers for the Mountain Hawks’ relentless attack, or for Shafnisky. Of those 337 offensive yards in the first half, Shafnisky accounted for 318 of them (248 through the air, another 70 on the ground).

Lehigh didn’t let up on their rivals from Easton in the second half, either.  A quick scoring drive capped by yet another Shfanisky touchdown pass—this one to Troy Pelletier from nine yards—was followed up by a thrilling 84-yard fumble return for a touchdown by Brandon Leaks in the third quarter. By that point, Lehigh’s lead had ballooned to 42-14 and Lafayette was on the ropes. In fact, Lehigh didn’t even have to punt at all until 4:21 remained in the third quarter.

To the Leopards’ credit, they would battle back with three late touchdowns to tighten the score to 42-28 with just under 4 minutes to go. But then Lehigh freshman tailback Dominick Bragalone sealed the win with a 44-yard touchdown run. Lafayette scored once more with under a minute to play, but in the end, it was the Mountain Hawks who emerged victorious with a 49-35 win—and it was the Lehigh fans who left Goodman with smiles on their faces, having seen their team emerge victorious in yet another spirited, well-played showdown between these two historic rivals.

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Game report from LehighSports.com

Post-game interviews