PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania football team is 2-0 for the second-straight year after a 30-10 win over Lehigh on Saturday at Franklin Field. The win is the sixth in a row for the Quakers dating back to last season -- the longest winning streak in the Ivy League and the third-longest among all FCS programs. The Quakers scored fewer than half the points they did last year against the Mountain Hawks, but it was more than enough as the defense provided another stifling performance.
 
Karekin Brooks ran for 163 yards on Saturday and scored three touchdowns. In two games against the Mountain Hawks, Brooks has run for 431 yards and six TDs. Ryan Glover was solid at quarterback, completing 16 passes for 206 yards and also rushing 12 times for 77 yards. Overall, the Quakers piled up 500 yards of offense including positive yardage on all 39 of their rushes.
 
On the other side of the ball, Penn's pass rush was again impressive. One week after rolling up 10 sacks against Bucknell, the Quakers had seven sacks and nine tackles for loss against the Mountain Hawks and held them to 298 yards of offense.
 
Unlike last year's 65-47 shootout in Bethlehem, Saturday's game started slowly. In fact, the teams had combined for more punts (3) after just 5:55 of game time than they had in the entirety of last year's contest.
 
In fact, no scoring occurred until the first play of the second quarter when Lehigh's Ed Mish kicked a 23-yard field goal. The Mountain Hawks lined up 1st-and-goal following a pass interference penalty on the Quakers, but the defense stood tall with a tackle for loss by Taheeb Sonekan on second down and a sack by Cooper Gardner on third down.
 
Penn's offense sputtered through the first quarter-plus on Saturday, but midway through the second period the Quakers got untracked. The jump start was a beautifully placed pass by Glover to Steve Farrell that went for 43 yards to the Lehigh 8-yard line. One play later, Brooks scampered around the right side and tucked inside the right pylon to give the Red and Blue a 6-3 lead after the missed extra point.
 
That seemed to spark the Quakers on both sides of the ball. On Lehigh's ensuing possession, the Penn defense was all over the Mountain Hawks backfield and forced a three-and-out. That led to another touchdown drive for the offense, this one sparked by an 11-yard rush by Glover then a pass-and-catch from Glover to Logan Sharp that went for 42 yards. Two plays later, Brooks took it in from a yard out, and the score was 13-3.
 
Lehigh struck back. The Mountain Hawks went 73 yards in nine plays, the last 47 of them coming on consecutive Brad Mayes passes to Luk Christiano down the left sideline. The first of those went for 24 yards, while the other covered 23 yards and was a touchdown.
 
The half ended with Penn up, 13-10.
 
Penn had the only score in the third quarter, putting together a six-play, 73-yard drive midway through the period. Glover's fingerprints were all over the Red and Blue's success, as he completed passes to Abe Willows (20 yards), Kolton Huber (8) and Christian Pearson (27) before running the final 17 yards himself to paydirt. That gave Penn a 20-10 lead.
 
A huge reversal occurred early in the fourth quarter. It appeared Lehigh had caught a pass and was set up deep in Penn territory, but Penn head coach Ray Priore challenged the call on the field and after a lengthy delay it was reversed. That brought the ball back to the Penn 45, and on the very next play Jacob Martin intercepted Mayes and returned it all the way back to the Lehigh 38-yard line. The Quakers then pushed all the way to Lehigh's 9-yard line before stalling, but Jack Soslow converted his 26-yard field goal to make the lead 23-10 with 9:15 left.
 
Lehigh looked like it might threaten late, driving all the way to Penn's 11-yard line with about four minutes remaining. However, Mayes was incomplete on a third-down pass, and then he was sacked by Hunter Hayes on fourth down to end the threat. Two plays after that, Brooks was off and running for a 75-yard touchdown to cap another solid showing against the Mountain Hawks.
 
Penn hits the road for the first time next Saturday when it opens Ivy League play at Dartmouth in a matchup of a pair of team entering 2-0. Kickoff with the Big Green is slated for 1:30 p.m., and the game will be televised on ESPN+.