Box Score Oct. 11, 2008
Final Stats | Photo Gallery 
BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- The Fordham University football squad experienced Halloween a little early this year. Unfortunately for the Rams, it was more tricks than treats as Lehigh University used multiple tricks plays to pick up big gains as the Mountain Hawks handed Fordham a 45-24 Patriot League loss at Goodman Stadium. With the loss, the Rams fall to 2-3 overall on the year, 0-2 in the Patriot League, while Lehigh improves to 2-3 overall, 1-0 in the conference.
Lehigh emptied the playbook against the Rams, using a flea-flicker, a halfback pass and a direct snap to the running back to rack up 450 yards of total offense. In their last game, the Fordham defense couldn't contain the Colgate running game. Today, it was the Lehigh passing game as the Mountain Hawks gained 330 yards through the air.
"You don't know how much you miss a Matt Loucks until you don't have him," said Fordham head coach Tom Masella, speaking of the loss of the senior defensive back to injury. "He sets up the defense and with him out, we had some young guys in there and it showed. But the bottom line is we have to get better and become a better football team."
Things seem to start out positive for the Rams, as Kennith Thompson returned the opening kickoff 66 yards, giving the Fordham offense the ball on the Lehigh 45. After a two-yard Xavier Martin rush, the Rams were whistled for two straight false start penalties, moving the ball back to the Fordham 47. On third down from the Lehigh 49, a John Skelton pass was tipped at the line and intercepted by Lehigh's Steve Santora on the Lehigh 42. It was the first opening drive of the season in which the Rams didn't score any points.
The Mountain Hawks took advantage of the turnover, moving down to the Fordham 20 where Jason Leo connected on a 38-yard field goal with 9:34 left in the first.
The Fordham offense got on track on its next possession, moving from the Fordham 24 down to the Lehigh 27 after a 16-yard Martin carry was aided by a 15-yard personal foul penalty. But Skelton was sacked on two of the next three plays, being called for intentional grounding on the second sack, and the Rams were forced to punt the ball back to Lehigh.
Later in the first, Lehigh took over on the Fordham 26 following a short punt and covered the 26 yards on three plays with J.B. Clark finding Mike Fitzgerald with a 24-yard scoring strike to put the Mountain Hawks up 9-0 with 24 seconds left in the quarter.
On their second possession of the second quarter, the Rams took advantage of a short Lehigh punt, taking over on the Lehigh 26 and moving down to the Lehigh five where Martin took it in to cut Fordham's deficit to two, 9-7, with 9:52 remaining in the half.
But Lehigh responded with a five-play, 51-yard drive to regain a nine-point lead on an 8-yard scoring pass from Clark to Nick Johnson midway through the second. The drive was kept alive on a trick fourth down play as the Mountain Hawks faced fourth and one on the Fordham 42 when running back Matt McGowan took a handoff and took a step towards the line but then stopped and found a wide open Troy Healion and Healion brought the ball down to the Fordham eight.
The Rams came right back, covering 60 yards on just four plays to make it a 16-14 game on a two-yard Quasand Lewis rush with 6:29 left in the half. Skelton completed a pair of passes to Richard Rayborn on the drive, the first for a gain of 23 and the second for a pick-up of 27, which put the ball on the Lehigh two.
Lehigh again responded with a scoring drive, taking a 23-14 lead following a 39-yard pass from Clark to Fitzgerald with 3:29 remaining in the period.
A 35-yard Adam Danko field goal on the final play of the half cut the Fordham deficit to six at the break, 23-17.
The Fordham defense held Lehigh to just three plays on the first possession of the second half and the Rams took over on their own 18 following a Lehigh punt. On the third play from scrimmage, Jason Caldwell got behind the Lehigh defense and Skelton hit him with a 66-yard pass, putting the ball on the Lehigh 12. Two plays later, Skelton connected with Asa Lucas with a seven-yard touchdown pass to give Fordham its first lead of the day, 24-23, 4:22 into the third quarter.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Lehigh moved 77 yards on just four plays, the big play a 50-yard completion from Clark to Sekou Yansane on a flea-flicker, to retake the lead, 30-24, on a seven-yard Clark touchdown run with 8:52 left in the third.
The game would remain a 30-24 contest until Lehigh took over on its own 23 and moved to the Fordham 38 where the Mountain Hawks faced a fourth down and two. Clark found Yansane over the middle with a 20-yard pass on the fourth down call and the Mountain Hawks would score later in the drive to take a 38-24 lead with 6:57 remaining.
Later in the fourth, a Skelton pass was picked off by Jarard Cribbs on the Lehigh 48 and the Mountain Hawks took over on the Fordham 37 following a 15-yard personal foul penalty on the Rams. Lehigh covered all 37 yards on the ground with McGowan taking care of the final three to give the Mountain Hawks a commanding 45-24 lead with just under two minutes remaining.
Skelton finished the game completing 22 of 32 passes for 265 yards and one touchdown. Asa Lucas led the Fordham receivers with five catches for 38 yards while David Moore had four receptions for 48 yards and Brad Pierre hauled in four passes for 36 yards. Martin carried 13 times for 61 yards and the one score.
Defensively, Andre Delaire led all tacklers with 12 total tackles, six solo, including 1.5 for loss, while James Crockett added eight tackles seven solo, including two for loss and one sack.
The Rams will next be in action next Saturday, October 18th, as they host the Yale University Bulldogs on Jack Coffey Field at 1:00 p.m.
Notes The Rams are still winless in eleven attempts now in Bethlehem... The Rams had scored three touchdowns and a field goal on their first possession over the first four games...The game was Fordham's first on natural grass since the season opener last year at Rhode Island...Fordham is now 3-12 coming off a bye week since the Rams moved to the NCAA FCS...The 200-yard passing game is the 13th of Skelton's career...The touchdown pass for Skelton brings his career total to 34, placing him second on the Fordham career list, 11 behind Kevin Eakin who threw 45 touchdown passes from 2000-03...Fordham begins a three-game homestand next weekend.
