RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Jaden Green and Geoffrey Jamiel scored on long plays in the fourth quarter and unseeded Lehigh rallied to defeat No. 9 Richmond 20-16 on Saturday in a first-round game of the FCS playoffs.
Lehigh advances to a second-round game at eighth-seeded Idaho on Dec. 7.
The Mountain Hawks trailed 16-7 early in the fourth quarter after Richmond’s Sean Clarke scored on a 7-yard pass from Camden Coleman.
Green dashed 65 yards for a touchdown on the next play from scrimmage and Lehigh trailed 16-14 with 10 1/2 minutes remaining.
The Mountain Hawks (9-3) forced a three-and-out, then Jamiel and Hayden Johnson connected on a 56-yard pass play for the go-ahead touchdown.
The Spiders were stopped short of midfield on their final drive but nearly came up with a huge play when Lehigh’s Quanye Veney muffed the punt at his own 14-yard line. Ignatious Williams recovered the loose ball for Lehigh to preserve the win.
Johnson completed 14 of 18 passes for 199 yards. Jamiel caught 10 for 137 yards.
Coleman was 24-of-37 passing for 199 yards. Zach Palmer-Smith had 107 yards rushing for Richmond (10-3).
Richmond had 249 yards of total offense in the first half but managed only three short field goals by Sean O’Haire. The scoring drives were 76, 70 and 64 yards and Richmond controlled the ball for nearly 21 minutes in the first half.
Lehigh took a 7-6 lead on Johnson’s 7-yard TD pass to Logan Galletta, but the Spiders answered with O’Haire’s third field goal for a 9-7 halftime lead.
This is 13-time Patriot League champion Lehigh’s first playoff appearance since 2017.
Lehigh and Richmond will have a rematch in the 2025 season opener at Lehigh. It will be Richmond’s debut as a member of the Patriot League.
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