Bucknell University
Lehigh
Bucknell Football Drops Third Straight, 40-17 at No. 16 Lehigh
10/23/2004 8:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 23, 2004
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Mark Borda threw for 385 yards and five touchdowns to lead Lehigh to a 40-17 victory over Bucknell in a Patriot League game Saturday at Goodman Stadium. The Bison dropped their third straight contest and fell to 3-4 (1-2 Patriot League) on the season, while Lehigh improved to 6-1, 2-0 with its fifth consecutive victory.
Lehigh outgained Bucknell 495-253, with the bulk of the damage coming through the air. Borda's career-best passing total came on 23 completions in 30 attempts. A 15-yard pass by backup Kyle Keating gave the Mountain Hawks an even 400 aerial yards.
Gerran Walker caught four passes for 123 yards, including a 72-yard touchdown, while Adam Kovacs caught two TD passes and finished with 108 yards on four grabs.
Freshman fullback Josh DeStefano led the Bison with 44 rushing yards on seven carries, and he caught three passes for 42 yards. Quarterback Daris Wilson completed 6 of 13 passes for 62 yards, while John Henry Jackson was 5 of 8 for 58 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Davis that brought the Bison within 27-10 with 3:05 to play in the third quarter.
In the fourth, a fumble recovery by Anthony Graziani at the Bucknell 7-yard line set up a 1-yard TD pass from Borda to Adam Bergen on fourth down, and Brennan Thomas' 67-yard interception return to the Bucknell 15 led to an Eric Rath 2-yard run that made it 40-10 with 6:47 to play.
Peter Kaufman tacked on Bucknell's final points on a 4-yard scoring run with 2:40 to play, capping a 10-play, 81-yard drive.
Behind the accurate arm of Borda, the Mountain Hawks dominated statistically and took a 20-3 lead at halftime, despite a stretch when they fumbled four times in four possessions.
Borda was 18 of 21 for 268 yards and three touchdowns in the first half alone as Lehigh outgained the Bison 309-58. Borda and Kovacs connected on TD passes of 36 and 29 yards. The latter came just 10 seconds prior to halftime and answered Bucknell's lone score of the half, a 33-yard field goal by Ryan Korn that pulled Bucknell within 13-3.
Greg Fay also caught a 23-yard scoring pass on the first play of the second quarter.
Bucknell's defense forced four turnovers in an eight-minute span, but the Bison had to punt twice and threw an incompletion on a fake field goal before converting the final turnover into the Korn field goal. Dorian Petersen forced and recovered the first of the fumbles, while Sean Conover, Jeffrey Montagna and Kevin Ransome came up with the other loose balls.
Bucknell, which has now dropped seven straight meetings with Lehigh, hits the road again next week with a Patriot League contest against Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Lehigh hosts Colgate next Saturday in a battle of Patriot League unbeatens.
