DJ Brown’s spectacular one-handed interception at the 5-yard line ended a Dartmouth drive with 13 seconds left, allowing seventh-ranked and unbeaten Lehigh to hold on for a 24-20 win over Dartmouth Saturday before a Family Weekend crowd of 8,900 at Goodman Stadium.

Brown’s pick ended the Mountain Hawks most competitive game of the season after three one-sided Patriot League wins over Holy Cross, Georgetown and William and Mary.

“I just see ball in the air, and go get ball,” Brown said. “We were talking about it on the sidelines. Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games, and I just wanted to do something to help the team get this win. I look to the left and right of me and I see players I love and players I can trust. That makes me play free. I was just able to make the play, and I am thankful we got this win.”

It was Lehigh’s 21st consecutive regular season win and one of the most dramatic in the streak.

Playing without injured starting quarterback Hayden Johnson, Lehigh relied more heavily than ever on star running back Luke Yoder, who carried 27 times for 150 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner with 8:41 left.

Sophomore Derek Morgan, a sophomore from Goddard, Kansas, who got his first career start, completed 10 of 14 passes for 73 yards and a 13-yard touchdown pass to Nick Palumbo.

Johnson was injured during the win over William and Mary last week and sat out the entire second half.

While the Mountain Hawks didn’t reveal anything about Johnson’s status and he was listed first on the depth chart, Morgan knew he was going to play since Sunday.

“It was an unfortunate injury [for Johnson] last week and it was a big change for me for how I prepared going into this week” Morgan said. “My teammates and the whole offense made things easy for me. They trusted me and believed in me and no one was worried about the change. My teammates helped me out of a lot.”

Morgan said the O-line “came out firing on every play.”

“Obviously we ran the ball a lot and we had the same mentality,” he said. “Luke Yoder was doing his thing on every play. They make my job easier.”

Starting center Colby Reph, a Northampton product who has established himself as one of the best offensive linemen in the Patriot League, was pleased that the Mountain Hawks were able to have a three-minute advantage in time of possession and churn out 20 first downs with drives that lasted 10, 15, 16 and 11 plays.

“We had some long drives and our O-line got after it,” Reph said. “We didn’t care. We love doing that. Our O-line is gritty. Honestly, it may be tough at times, but when we look across and see that D-line struggling, it just fuels us more. We pride ourselves on taking it to them on every play. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing or who’s in front of us.”

Lehigh was 9 of 12 on third-down conversions.

The most important drive came after Dartmouth took a 20-17 lead with its own 10-play, 75-yard march ended with a TD run with two seconds left in the third quarter.

Lehigh answered with an 11-play, 75-yard possession in which Yoder carried six times for 58 yards, Parkland graduate Trey Tremba chipped in two carries for 12 yards and Morgan had a 10-yard completion and Lehigh was awarded a first-and-goal at the Big Green 2 after a pass interference penalty.

Dartmouth, playing its season opener, staged two late drives — one going to the Lehigh 22 which ended on downs and the last one went to the 26 where the Big Green had a second-and-10 with 19 seconds left when Brown intercepted Grayson Sauier’s pass to the left sideline.

“I don’t know if it’s good to have a game like this, but it was good to be tested,” first-year coach Rich Nagy said. “There have been points in other games where we had some critical situations that we didn’t handle as well. But we overcame and moved on and created more of a lead. But today we overcame some situations and, in the end, we were able to make plays. It’s a testament to the players and their belief in our culture and what we do. It was a belief in each other and in the coaching staff.”

While no detail was given about the extent of Johnson’s injury, Nagy indicated that Morgan will be the team’s starting quarterback going forward.

“Derek will be the starter,” Nagy said. “We’re not going to post what the injuries are, and those types of things, but we’re fully aware and Derek will be the starter going forward. We’re excited about the opportunity for him and for our football team.”

Reph said Morgan being the team’s new QB1 will not change anything.

“Honestly, all week nothing changed and Coach [Dan] Hunt], our offensive coordinator, didn’t ask for anything more from the O-line, the receivers and the running backs,” he said. “Nothing changed. There was no extra pressure We have full faith in Derek and it showed today.”

Lehigh 24. Dartmouth 20
Scoring Summary

Dartmouth 3 – 10 – 7 – 0 — 20

Lehigh 7 – 7 – 3 – 7 — 24

FIRST QUARTER

L: Luke Yoder 1 run (Connor Poole kick), 8:29

D: Owen Zalc 49 field goal, 4:54

SECOND QUARTER

D: Zalc 50 field goal, 13:10

L: Nick Palumbo 13 pass from Derek Morgan (Poole kickj), 4:09

L: KyDric Fisher 33 pass from Grayson Saunier (Zalc kick), 3:34

THIRD QUARTER

l:  Connor Poole 27 field goal, 6:38

D: Myles Craddock 2 run (Zalc kick), 0:02

FOURTH QUARTER

L: Yoder 2 run (Poole kick), 8:41

Individual stats

RUSHING

Dartmouth: Myles Craddock 13-33, TD; Grayson Saunier 8-21; Jacob Henry 2-9, Colin O’Garro 2-0.

Lehigh: Luke Yoder 27-150, 2 TDs; Derek Morgan 7-35; Trey Tremba 5-21; Aaron Crossley 5-19.

PASSING

Dartmouth: Saunier 17-30-1, 262 yards, TD.

Lehigh: Morgan 10-13-0, 73 yards, TD.

RECEIVING

Dartmouth:  Nick Lemon 5-102; KyDriic Fisher 4-88; Kyle Meier 2-13; O’Garro 2-2.

Lehigh: Nick Palumbo 6-52; Yoder 2-15; Joseph Marranca 1-5; Anthony Feaster 1-1.

Lafayette loses in OT

In New York City, Lafayette fought back from a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, but on just the second play of overtime, Columbia’s Chase Goodwin hit Beckett Robinson for a 25-yard touchdown pass to give the host Lions a 40-34 nonleague win.

The overtime session went quickly. Lafayette’s Danile Lipovski was intercepted on the Leopards’ first play of the extra session and then Columbia got the TD on its only play of OT.

Goodwin threw for 367 yards and two touchdowns to go along with the team’s 155 rushing yards. Lafayette got a big day from junior Jakyre Henley, who ran for 133 yards and a score.

Lafayette, fell to 1-2, despite fighting back from deficits of 14-3, 24-173-17 and 34-31.

The Leopards, who return home on Saturday to face Holy Cross in their Patriot League opener, got six catches for 58 yards from Nazareth graduate Mason Kuehner.

Lafayette was outgained 524-338, but outrushed Columbia (1-0) 211-155.

Muhlenberg outlasts Wilkes

In a quarterback battle of Lehigh Valley graduates, Muhlenberg’s Luke Spang (Parkland) threw for 250 yards and four touchdowns to help his team post a 41-27 win over Wilkes at Scotty Wood Stadium in Allentown.

Spang, a junior who was a part of District 11 football and basketball teams at Parkland, and the Mules were able to win despite a big day by several local products playing for Wilkes.

Whitehall graduate Trey Dogmanits, a junior, completed 16 of 29 passes for 210 yards and two TDs. Dogmanits added 46 yards rushing on 12 carries and a TD. Senior Nigel Linton, another former Whitehall player, rushed for 48 yards on 17 carries. Senior and Easton grad Juju Fears had eight catches for 159 yards and two touchdowns.

The Mules improved to 2-1, while the Colonels fell to 1-1.