Luke Yoder’s 4 TDs lead Lehigh past Lafayette 42-32 to become back-to-back Patriot League champions

EASTON, Pa. (AP) — Luke Yoder rushed for 234 yards and four touchdowns, Hayden Johnson threw for a touchdown and Lehigh finished the regular season unbeaten after a 42-32 victory over Lafayette on Saturday to become back-to-back Patriot League champions.

Lehigh (12-0, 7-0), ranked No. 4 in the FCS coaches’ poll, earned the league’s automatic bid to the FCS playoffs in the 161st meeting of college football’s most-played rivalry. Lehigh’s 17-game regular-season winning streak is the longest in the FCS.

Lehigh trailed 17-14 at halftime before two Yoder touchdowns in the third quarter, the first from 80 yards, put the Mountain Hawks ahead 28-24 entering the fourth. His 6-yard score made it 35-24.

After Lafayette got within 35-32 on a 4-yard touchdown and 2-point conversion, Lehigh went on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that chewed up more than five minutes and ended in a 1-yard run by Johnson with 1:53 left for a 10-point lead.

Johnson rushed for 64 yards on seven carries for Lehigh, which was coming off a 27-7 win at Colgate in a game that was called due to lightning with 3:54 to play.

Kente Edwards rushed for 157 yards on 41 carries and he scored three times for Lafayette (8-4, 6-1), which entered 6-0 in Patriot League play for the first time in program history. The Leopards finished league action 5-0 in 1988, ’92 and ‘94.

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