Box Score Oct. 13, 2007
Final Stats
Washington, D.C. -
All week Fordham head coach Tom Masella preached to his team about the dangers of this week's game at Georgetown. The Rams entered the game with a two-game winning streak and were looking to go to 3-0 in the Patriot League for the first time since 2002. The Hoyas entered the game from a different direction, opening the season winless in six attempts and were outscored 142-20 in their previous three games. But Fordham discovered what Masella was talking about as Georgetown gave the Rams everything they could handle before Fordham pulled out a 38-31 win at Multi-Sport Field.
With the win, Fordham advances to 5-2 overall, 3-0 in the Patriot League, while Georgetown falls to 0-7, 0-3 in the conference. The win is also Fordham's third straight on the road this year, the most road wins for the Rams since 2004.
"We let down defensively in the second half to allow them to get back in the game but then came up with a big defensive stop late in the game," said Masella. "But we'll take a college football win on the road any day."
The Fordham offense took to the ground in the game, rushing for 298 yards with both senior Jonte Coven and freshman Xavier Martin going over the 100-yard mark. Coven led all rushers with a career-high 152 yards on 27 carries while Martin gained 119 yards on 22 attempts with each scoring a touchdown.
"Coming into the game, we thought we could run the ball," stated Masella. "The offensive line did a great job in opening things up for Jonte and Xavier."
Fordham led by 28, 38-10, following a 25-yard touchdown run by Martin with 12:13 left in the third when Georgetown stormed back, scoring twice in the third and once in the fourth to make it a seven-point game with 11:27 remaining.
The Rams threatened to tack on another score later in the fourth, driving from their own 29 to the Georgetown four, but a 23-yard Adam Danko field goal went wide right.
The Hoyas then took over on their own 20 and drove to the Fordham 42 where they faced a third down and one. On the third down play, Greg DeMarco knocked down a Matt Bassuener pass attempt, forcing Georgetown to go for it on fourth down. But Fordham's Darzell Wright pushed the Georgetown offensive lineman into the backfield before hitting running back Alex Carroll at the line of scrimmage and the ball was turned back over to Fordham. The Rams were then able to run out the clock with Coven carrying four straight times for 28 yards.
The Hoyas took the opening kickoff and drove 70 yards on nine plays with Bassuener finding Kyle VanFleet with a five-yard touchdown pass 3:29 into the game. It was the first points scored by Georgetown in the first quarter this season.
The Rams came right back, moving 74 yards on nine plays with John Skelton finding an open Sylvester Clarke in the end zone from 15 yards to knot the game at seven with 7:16 left in the first.
After the Fordham defense stopped the Hoyas, the Rams took over on their own 35 following a punt. The drive appeared to have stalled on the Fordham 46 where the Rams faced a fourth and one, but Quasand Lewis was able to pick up the first down to keep the drive alive. Three plays later, Skelton found David Moore in the end zone with a 25-yard scoring strike to put the Rams up 14-7 on the final play of the first quarter.
On the first play of Georgetown's ensuing possession, Sam Orah stepped in front of a Bassuener pass, giving Fordham the ball on the Georgetown 19. Two plays later, Coven found the end zone from eleven yards out, making it a 21-7 game 1:28 into the second quarter.
The Hoyas then drove from their own 26 to the Fordham 17 where Bassuener threw two incomplete passes and rushed for no gain to set up a 34-yard Eric Bjonerud field goal.
The Rams responded immediately, moving from their own 16 to the Georgetown 20 where Danko booted a 38-yard field goal midway through the quarter to give Fordham a 24-10 lead. The big play of the drive was a third and five call when Skelton connected with Cody Kritzer over the middle for a 25-yard gain, putting the ball on the Hoyas' 44.
After Georgetown went three and out on its next possession, Coven led the Rams downfield, rushing for 24 of the 51 yards on the drive, with Lewis taking it in from the one to put the Rams up 31-10 with 30 seconds left in the half.
Fordham opened the second half by taking the kickoff and covering 56 yards on six plays with Martin scoring on a 25-yard rush to give the Rams their biggest lead of the day, 38-10, 2:47 into the third.
But the Hoyas wouldn't give up, taking the ensuing kickoff and driving 64 yards with Bassuener covering the final 16 yards on the ground to make it a 38-17 game with 10:40 left in the third.
The Hoyas were moving in for a score on their next possession but on fourth down from the Fordham 42, James Crockett broke through and sacked Bassuener, giving the Rams the ball on the Rams' 49.
The Rams couldn't take advantage of the good field position and punted the ball back to Georgetown.
After taking over on their own 12, the Hoyas quickly moved down to the Fordham 33 where Bassuener found Robert Lane with a scoring pass to cut the Georgetown deficit to 14, 38-24.
Early in the fourth, the Rams started driving on the ground, moving down to the Hoyas' 32 but Skelton and Martin got mixed up on a handoff causing a fumble, which was recovered by Georgetown's Ataefiok Etukeren on the Georgetown 38.
The Hoyas took advantage of the turnover, moving 62 yards on eight plays with Bassuener throwing a perfect pass to Brent Craft, who had a step on his defender, to make it a seven-point game, 38-31 with 11:26 remaining.
Skelton completed 13 of 18 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns on the day with Kritzer leading all Fordham receivers with five catches for 91 yards and Moore adding four receptions for 35 yards.
Defensively, Kenny Thompson and Asil Mulbah led the Rams with seven tackles each, with one of Mulbah's being for a loss.
The Rams will next be in action next Saturday, October 20th, as they travel to Easton, Pennsylvania, to face the Lafayette College Leopards in a match-up of unbeaten Patriot League teams at 1:00 PM.
Notes
The game marked the second time this year that the Rams had two running backs rush for more than 100 yards (Martin and Coven did it against Columbia)...Coven's previous career-high was 139 yards against Columbia earlier this year...Skelton's two touchdown passes brings his season total to 14, tying him with Joe Moorhead (1995) in sixth place on the Fordham single season list...Punter Ben Dato kicked twice for 97 yards (47.5 yards/kick), placing both inside the 20...The Rams now lead the all-time series with Georgetown, 28-19-3, including a 3-2 mark when both schools played club football...The Rams will look to go to 4-0 in the Patriot League next week for the first time in school history.
