PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania football team leveled its 2021 record to 2-2 on Saturday with a 20-0 win over Lehigh at Franklin Field. It was Penn's first shutout since the 2009 team capped a perfect Ivy League season with a 34-0 win over Cornell.
Isaiah Malcome (201 yards) and
Trey Flowers (115) combined for 316 yards of rushing to lead the Quakers, whose points all came after halftime. It marked the first time Penn had a pair of 100-yard rushers in the same game since Abe Willows and Tre Solomon did it against Princeton in 2017.
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn has now won six straight games at home against non-conference opponents.
*The Quakers finished the season with a winning record against non-Ivy League foes for the fourth consecutive season.
*It marked the first win for the Quakers at Franklin Field in 700 days.
*Penn is now 41-5 all-time against Lehigh at Franklin Field.
*The Red and Blue have won three games in a row versus the Mountain Hawks,
*The Quakers debuted their new white matte helmets. The stripe down the middle of the helmet is patterned after Locust Walk.
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Isaiah Malcome rushed for a career-high 201 yards. He scored a rushing touchdown for the second week in a row. He is the first Quaker to run for 200 yards in a game since KK Brooks had 202 yards against Lafayette in 2019.
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Trey Flowers recorded his first 100-yard rushing game as a Quaker. He scored his team-leading third rushing TD of the year in the fourth quarter.
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Mohammed Diakite had four tackles, one sack and an interception.
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Shiloh Means continued his strong play on the defensive side of the ball, he had four solo tackles and three pass breakups.
*Defensively, Penn had four sacks. The Quakers held Lehigh to negative-three (-3) net rushing yards and 101 total yards of offense.
How It Happened
The first half was scoreless, the teams punting a combined nine times and earning just 14 first downs between them. The only time either team sniffed the end zone was late in the half, but with just 40 seconds left
Daniel Karrash's 32-yard field goal attempt doinked the right upright.
After both teams punted again to start the third quarter, Penn finally gave the scoreboard some work midway through the period. The Quakers sliced through the Lehigh defense, running the ball all the way to the Mountaineers' 5-yard line, before a false start and a sack pushed them back to Lehigh's 22. However, Karrash split the uprights on a 39-yard field goal to put the hosts in front.
Penn doubled its lead with 9:27 left in the fourth quarter. The Quakers once again drove deep into Lehigh territory, getting to the Hawks' 7-yard line with the highlight being Rory Starkey Jr.'s one-handed grab for nine yards on fourth-and-5. However, three plays later a pass to Starkey went incomplete, and the receiver compounded the situation when he slammed the ball in disgust and was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike penalty. That pushed the Quakers back to Lehigh's 22-yard line, forcing Karrash to kick a 39-yard field goal. Unfazed, the senior was true and the Red and Blue's lead was 6-0.
It was over the next two possessions that the Quakers broke this thing open. Penn's pounding running game finally wore down Lehigh's defense, and the result was two touchdowns to put this one on ice.
The first was highlighted by a 54-yard Malcome gain that ended dramatically when he was caught from behind and fumbled on the tackle, the ball recovered by teammate
Justin Cayenne. Three plays later, Flowers ran it around the left side from seven yards out for the Quakers' first touchdown of the day. The play covered 77 yards on five plays—all of them rushes—and took just 2:44.
Lehigh's next possession ended near midfield when Diakite intercepted Dante Perri right in front of the Penn bench, and three plays later Malcome put an exclamation point on his career day when he took a delayed handoff, split the Lehigh defense up the middle and won the 40-yard footrace to the end zone.
Up Next
Penn is in New York City next Saturday, taking on Columbia in a game that is scheduled to kick off at 1:30 p.m.
