BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The University of Pennsylvania football team gave ninth-ranked Lehigh all it could handle on Saturday, putting up 30 points against a Lehigh defense that hadn't given up more than 24 in its first four games. However, the Quakers were hard-pressed to stop the Mountain Hawks attack and took a 44-30 loss at Goodman Stadium.
 
Penn falls to 1-1 heading into its home and Ivy League opener next Saturday, while Lehigh remained unbeaten at 5-0.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn's 30 points on Saturday are its most against a team ranked in the Top 10 since Nov. 10, 1945 against No. 10 Columbia. That game, the No. 9 Quakers topped the Lions, 32-7.
 
*The Quakers fall to 4-2-1 against teams ranked No. 10 in a media poll.
 
*Liam O'Brien was efficient passing the ball for most of the contest, going 28-for-37 through the air for 316 yards and three touchdowns.
 
*O'Brien linked up with senior wideouts Jared Richardson and Bisi Owens a combined 22 times with 12 catches for Richardson and 10 for Owens.
 
*Richardson put together a 141-yard performance with two touchdowns. It's the sixth 100+ effort of Richardson's career and has had two to begin the 2025 season.

*He ups his career yardage total to 1,716, clearing Doug O'Neill '00 (1,614) for seventh in program history. Richardson is now chasing Conner Scott '14 (1,762) for sixth. He's still a long way from fifth, currently held by program legend Miles Macik '95 (2,365). 
 
*Owens also overtook the 100-yard plateau on his 10 catches and a TD.
 
*It's the first time since Nov. 18, 2023 that a Penn receiving duo tallied 100+ yards each. The pair? Richardson and Owens against Princeton.
 
*Carter Janki continues his torrid start to the 2025 season with two tackles for loss, losing five yards. He had two sacks against Stonehill last weekend.
 
*Ty Cortes had a career-high 10 total tackles and a pass breakup to lead the Penn defense. Jayden Drayton and Zach Darche each added seven stops. Drayton finished with a team-high five solos.
 
*Senior co-captain Paul Jennings had a big hand on the defensive front, batting down two passes to lead the Quakers.
 
*What more can be said about Julien Stokes? He returned four kicks for 133 yards, including a 60-yarder that set up a go-ahead touchdown pass early in the third quarter. He has six returns for 193 yards over the first two games on the year.
 
*Lehigh's rushing attack was fierce, totaling 300 yards even on the ground including 173 on 25 carries with two touchdowns for Luke Yoder. Jaden Green added 95 on 14 carries.
 
*Freshman kicker Mason Walters is now 2-for-2 on field goal tries to begin his collegiate career, knocking down a 32-yarder late in the fourth quarter to give Penn life. He also converted an extra point.

How It Happened
The ninth-ranked Mountain Hawks wasted little time getting on the board Saturday, receiving the opening kickoff and marching down the field for three points when Nick Garrido split the uprights from 35 yards out. Lehigh made it 10-0 on the next drive, Hayden Johnson finding Matt D'Avino for a 22-yard score to end a nine-play, 77-yard drive.
 
Penn put points on the board quickly after that. Less than two minutes after falling behind by double digits, the Quakers were within three when Liam O'Brien escaped the Lehigh rush and found Bisi Owens behind the Hawks defense for a 48-yard touchdown pass. However, Lehigh kicked another field goal—making it three scores in three possessions—and the Mountain Hawks led after one, 13-7. The Red and Blue created their own problems early in the second, turning the ball over in their own territory and giving Lehigh a short field. The Mountain Hawks got the ball all the way to Penn's 4-yard line, but were pushed back by a penalty and settled for a 25-yard Garrido field goal that made the score 16-7.
 
Penn's offense redeemed itself on the next drive. The Quakers drove 75 yards in eight plays and were back within two when O'Brien bounced off a defender and went around the right side of the line into the end zone. Both Jared Richardson and Owens had big plays on the drive, Richardson's going for 29 yards and Owens' for 16. The score was still 16-14 at halftime. Penn received the second-half kickoff, and Julien Stokes immediately electrified the crowd when he busted through the left side and took the return all the way to Lehigh's 40-yard line before falling out of bounds. Just two plays later, the Quakers had their first lead of the day as O'Brien found Richardson twice, the first for 34 yards and the second in the left corner of the end zone. The kick was no good so Penn's lead was 20-16. Lehigh drove down the field on its first drive of the second half, but it looked like the Penn defense had held when the Mountain Hawks faced fourth-and-7 and brought out the field-goal unit for a 37-yard attempt. Instead, the ball was snapped and holder Geoffrey Jamiel took off around the left side of the line. The opening took him all the way to the end zone and Lehigh was back in front, 23-20.
 
Penn punted on its next possession, but the kick was muffed and the Quakers' Davis Ellis recovered on Lehigh's 31-yard line. The Red and Blue could not take advantage, however, and on third-and-9 O'Brien had the ball knocked out of his hand as he got set to pass. The fumble was recovered by the Mountain Hawks at the Lehigh 42. The Hawks turned the turnover into points, Johnson hitting Jamiel for a 35-yard touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter. That capped a 58-yard drive that took seven plays and a little more than three minutes off the clock.
 
Penn got back within three points less than two minutes later. Richardson actually scored two touchdowns on the drive. The first, where he caught the ball over his shoulder in the back left corner of the end zone, was initially ruled a score but overturned when a review found his right foot was out of bounds while he caught the ball. No matter: on the very next play the Quakers sent him inside on a seam route and he carried two defenders over the line to finish an 18-yard play. The Quakers defense forced a Lehigh punt for the first time in the game on the next drive, but the offense gave the ball right back to the Mountain Hawks when O'Brien's pass to the left sideline was picked off at the 20-yard line. Five plays later, Lehigh was back up by ten, at 37-27, after Luke Yoder went up the gut and muscled the ball into the end zone from a yard out.
 
Once again, the offense atoned. The Quakers used six plays to drive 56 yards, most of them coming when Stokes took a pass from O'Brien in the right flat and sped 47 yards down the sideline before finally being caught at the Lehigh 18. The Red and Blue were stymied at the 15, but Mason Walters made this a one-score game by kicking a 32-yard field goal with 4:50 left.
 
A stop was needed after that, but Lehigh's power game went into full effect and the Mountain Hawks essentially ran out the clock before Yoder burst through a seam in the final minute for a 25-yard touchdown. That set the final score at 44-30.

Quotable
"We fell against these guys. We needed to go through the air a little bit more. I think this sets us up real well for our game against Dartmouth next week. Our kids battled down to the last play of the game." - Ray Priore, George A. Munger Head Coach via the Daily Pennsylvanian

Up Next
Penn is home for the first time this season next Saturday, hosting Dartmouth in what will be the Ivy League opener for both teams. Kickoff between the Quakers and the two-time defending co-champion Big Green is slated for 1 p.m. at Franklin Field.

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