The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 29

FIRST 11 THE MORNING CALL SECTION (7 UPDATE Info-tel 610-821-8300. Category 8693 SPORTS SCORES 610-821-8300, Categories Page C2 Football: Irish knock off USC PAGE C2 Hoops: Purdue beats No. 1 Arizona PAGE C4 JL SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2000 LEHIGH UNIVERSITY 37, WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY 7 mm (QM sumo Dear Bill: Your playoff committee really blew this one ill Rowe Of) JN NCAA Division I-AA Playoff Committee Chairman And Athletic Director Southwest Missouri State MACOMB, 111. Dear Bill: This is going to sound condescending, I know it. I guess those Western Illinois people had me pegged all along.

I'm sure you were Taunted Engineers totally dismantle higher-seeded foe By TERRY LARIMER Call Sports Columnist MACOMB, 111. Like the rest of the country, Lehigh University's football team spent Saturday feasting on leftovers. And it left a stunned Western Illinois squad stacked with Division I-A transfers who for one reason or another couldn't cut it at that level eating its words. "You aren't from Iowa or Wisconsin or Michigan," Lehigh coach Kevin Higgins told his home-grown team as it gathered at midfield for a postgame celebration. "You're from Lehigh." Less than 2 hours earlier, Lehigh players had stridden silently onto the pockmarked surface of Hanson Field and heard Western Illinois players taunting them with, "This isn't the Patriot League." But when the Engineers completed two nearly flawless scoring drives to start the game, the Leathernecks learned about respect.

And by the time Lehigh was finished dismantling them 37-7, they had been beaten worse by Lehigh than the Engineers around somewhere, but because I didn't see you hidden among the throng of 3,204 who turned out in crotchety Hanson Stadium which, by the way, looks even more archaic on a damp, rainy late-November afternoon than it does in the beautiful sunshine Paul Reinhard I r.f. A feel compelled to -rn Wff I 33 "Our players were on a mission. I had just a tremendous feeling about this week. Lehigh coach Kevin Higgins fire off this open letter. The short answer is, You screwed up big time.

You totally disregarded the only undefeated team in your postseason playoff tournament. You demeaned the program with the logic that it deserved no better than a No. 10 seed because its approach to the game is different from that of the Gateway Conference. You could have scheduled a very successful first-round playoff in Goodman Stadium, and assured Carolyn Schlee-Fe-movich and the rest of the Patriot League that you do understand that championship-caliber football might just be played at academics-first institutions, too. It's possible, too, that Richmond or Massachusetts would have been a more appealing matchup for Lehigh all around.

Instead, you put together a pairing that almost no one could get the least bit excited about. You then compounded your blunder by chasing the Lehigh contingent to your home territory. I can't help but thirik you must have spent the week hoping beyond hope the end result would be that the Engineers would be set down a couple of pegs at the hands of the championship team in your conference. Well, it didn't happen, as I'm sure you are well aware by now. In fact, the 37-7 whoopin' under-appreciated Lehigh put on overrated Western Illinois was surpassed in margin of victory by only two of the Engineers' 11 games this season, the 45-13 victory over Harvard and the 51-17 destruction of Fordham.

This was a mismatch of major proportions. The team that came into the game with one running back who averaged 138 yards per game all by himself was held to 78 total yards on 27 rushes. The team that averaged almost 35 points per game was held to one touchdown. The team with the big mouth and the See REIMHARD Page C2 had beaten any Patriot League team this season, except Fordham. "There wasn't a player on our football team who didn't believe we could win that football game and win it big," Higgins said.

He said the pregame taunts of WIU players only added fuel to the fire. "We just stayed quiet and didn't say anything," said guard Brian McDonald, a senior co-captain. Lehigh made its most telling comments on the scoreboard. Junior quarterback Brant Hall, battling the flu, killed the Leathernecks, running for 78 yards, many of his runs coming in third-and-long situations. He connected on 22-of-30 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns.

He threw three interceptions, as many as he threw during all of the regular season, but none hurt, because Lehigh's secondary just kept picking off passes, too. Safety Matt Andrews (Catasauqua), cornerbacks Ken Pitter and Matt Salvater-ra, and linebackers Brendan Moore and James "Bubba" Young picked off Leather- 1 neck quarterback Sam Clemons' passes. In fact, Lehigh was demons' favorite receiver. The Engineers caught five of his passes, and no one on demons' team caught more than three. The biggest interception came from Young on the final play of the first half.

WIU had the ball on its 24-yard-line with 12 seconds left and decided to try a See LEHIGH Page C2 l- i -v' i 'X 'v: irr MICHAEL KUBEL The Morning Call Lehigh's John Snyder runs through the tackle of Ryle Irish of Western Illinois in the Engineers' 37-7 Division l-AA playoff game victory. Snyder caught seven passes for 97 yards as Lehigh ran up 534 total yards against the Leathernecks. Are Eag ready Scipio lesds Becahi into 4A Eastern final ft 1 is for a run 'Skins? SUNDAY'S KICKOFF Who: Eagles vs. Redskins When: 1 p.m. Where: FedEx Field Television: FOX Radio: WYSP 94.1-FM, WAEB 790-AM 1 Bethlehem Catholic coach Bob Stem.

"We never thought we'd get there." But Bethlehem Catholic has gone from 0-3 to 10-3 following an overpowering 43-28 win over Cumberland Valley in the PIAA Eastern semifinals Saturday at J. Birney Crum Stadium. Eddie Scipio, a speedster and elusive open-field runner, opened the scoring with a interception return in the first quarter, and capped off the the sixth straight game in which the Golden Hawks have scored 40 or more points with a 30-yard TD run with 3:45 remaining. Scipio also scored on a 55-yard interception return during which he at first, lost his balance and then, reversed field to go the distance. And he had 21- and 38-yard TD runs.

See BECAHI Page C3 Versatile star scores five touchdowns; Golden Hawks eye C.B. West. By ANDRE D. WILLIAMS Of The Morning Call Unstoppable is not just Bethlehem Catholic. It's also Central Bucks West, winner of 58 straight football games.

Dominating is not just Bethlehem Catholic. It's also Central Bucks West, winner of three straight PIAA Class 4A titles. "We want you," is not what Central Bucks West is necessarily saying. It is what Bethlehem Catholic is saying, has always felt, and will finally get next weekend, when the two powerhouses meet in the PIAA Eastern final at a site to be determined. "We are looking forward to playing C.B.

West again." said The battle is between experienced Washington and up-and-coming Philly. By GARY R. BLOCKUS Of The Morning Call PHILADELPHIA It doesn't take much prodding to get Eagles players to remember their first game with the Washington Redskins this season. "A big play here, a turnover there," defensive end Hugh Douglas said of the 17-14 loss in front of a home crowd at Veterans Stadium. At 1 p.m.

today, at FedEx Field in Landover, the Eagles will get a chance to atone for that loss. If Donovan McNabb had thrown the ball away in the final minute instead of attempting to iris make a play, that first game would have gone into overtime. If the side judge had ruled correctly, Stephen Davis would have been charged with a fumble and Michael Husted never would have gotten the chance for the game-winning kick in regulation "We should have won that See EAGLES Page C12 DENISE SANCHEZ "The Morning Call Bethlehem Catholic's Eddie Scipio dives over a pile of players for some of his 246 yards in Saturday's 43-28 win over Cumberland Valley..