Brown's 2 TD passes rally St. Francis past Lehigh 14-13

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Lehigh crushes St. Francis punter, picks up loose ball for TD

Lehigh's Davis Maxie lays out St. Francis' punter and Sam McCloskey scoops up the ball for the touchdown.

Aug 31, 2019, 10:02 pm

BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Jason Brown escaped a near sack and fired a dart to Terell Johnson for a 35-yard game-winning touchdown pass as St. Francis rallied past Lehigh 14-13 in Saturday's season opener.

Brown's first two career touchdown passes came after halftime during his first start. Trailing 13-0 at the break, Brown threw a deep strike to his high school teammate EJ Jenkins for the Red Flash's first score late in the third quarter, and zipped the winner to Johnson with 1:17 left to play.

Brown completed 22 of 37 passes for 293 yards. Jenkins led all receivers with 125 yards on five catches. He caught Brown's 75-yard TD pass over his left shoulder without breaking stride.

Lehigh mounted a serious bid to regain the lead in the final minute. Starting at their own 4, the Mountain Hawks drove 74 yards before Austin Henning's potential game-winning 40-yard field goal sailed wide as time expired.

Henning had earlier connected from 21 and 37 yards. Lehigh's Sam McCloskey scored the lone TD with a 56-yard fumble recovery.

The loss foiled the debut of coach Tom Gilmore, who would have been the 16th Lehigh coach to win his first game.