Box Score Sept. 27, 2008
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Bronx, N.Y. - Last year, the Fordham University football squad was picked to finish sixth in the seven-team Patriot League and entered its league opener at Colgate without much fanfare. But the Rams went out and defeated the Raiders, 34-31 in Hamilton. This year, the tables are turned as the Rams are the preseason pick to win the Patriot League and Fordham finds itself as the hunted instead of the hunter. And Colgate came out and returned last year's favor, upending the Rams, 31-24, in the league opener for both teams on Jack Coffey Field.
Colgate's Jordan Scott, who became the Patriot League's all-time leading rusher last week and Colgate's career leading rusher this week, rushed for 272 yards and four touchdowns, the last one coming on a three-yard rush with just nine seconds left in the game to break a 24-24 tie.
"I thought we played well tonight but we went up against a very good Colgate team with a great player in Jordan Scott," said Fordham head coach Tom Masella. "I thought we played extremely well but came up short in the end. We didn't execute in critical situations and they did and that was the difference in the game."
The Rams jumped out to a 14-0 lead, scoring on their first possession as Fordham took the opening kickoff and drove 82 yards on just six plays to take a quick 7-0 lead on a two-yard Quasand Lewis scoring rush. The drive opened with two big gains as John Skelton rushed for 22 yards on the first play of the game and he then completed a screen pass to Asa Lucas who took it 32 yards down to the Colgate 28.
Later in the period, the Raiders drove down to the Fordham 27 but a fourth down and eight pass fell incomplete and they turned the ball back over to Fordham.
Isiejah Allen almost gave the Rams a 14-0 lead with 3:32 remaining in the first when he returned a Colgate punt 69 yards for a score only to see the play called back on a holding penalty. The Rams took over on the Colgate 31 following the penalty and covered the 31 yards on seven plays to take a 14-0 lead with 17 seconds left in the quarter on a 20-yard pass from Skelton to Nnamdi Onyeabor. The Rams kept the drive alive by converting a fourth and one situation on the Colgate 22.
Colgate responded with a ten-play, 69-yard drive to cut the Fordham lead to seven, 14-7, on a 15-yard Scott scoring rush 4:53 into the second quarter.
After holding Fordham to three plays on offense, the Raiders took over on their own 28 following a punt. Colgate kept the ball on the ground, rushing six straight times to put the ball on the Fordham 36 where the Raiders faced a third down and eight. The Rams appeared to have thwarted the drive on an incomplete pass but Fordham was whistled for a pass interference penalty, giving Colgate a first down on the Fordham 31. Four plays later, Scott took it in from the two to knot the game at 14 with 4:08 remaining in the half.
The score remained tied until Colgate took over on the second half kickoff and moved from its own 27 to the Fordham 24 where Scott took it into the end zone and a 21-14 Colgate lead 3:03 into the half.
Later in the third, the Rams took over on their own 32 following a Colgate punt. After Xavier Martin rushed for 13 yards on the first play from scrimmage, the Rams appeared to be stopped on the on the 45 but Skelton scrambled for a 15-yard gain on third down, giving Fordham a first down on the Colgate 40. Four plays later, Fordham faced a fourth-and-four from the Colgate 34 but Skelton found his brother, Stephen Skelton, open over the middle and Stephen Skelton brought the ball down to the Colgate four. The Rams couldn't punch it in from there and settled for a 22-yard Adam Danko field goal to cut the Colgate lead to four, 21-17, with 3:50 left in the third.
At the end of the third period, the Rams took over on their own 12 following a punt and Skelton drove them down to the two where he hit Lucas with a scoring strike as Fordham regained the lead, 24-21, with 11:37 remaining. The big play of the drive was a 16-yard rush from Martin, who fumbled at the end of the run, but the ball was recovered by Fordham's Jason Weston on the Colgate 18.
Colgate responded by driving down to the Fordham 16 where Jacob Stein connected on a 33-yard field goal to tie the game at 24 with 4:33 left in the contest.
The Rams went three-and-out on the ensuing possession and punted the ball back to Colgate with the Raiders taking over on their own 28 with 3:07 remaining. Colgate kept the ball on the ground, with Scott picking up 37 yards on the second play to put the ball on the Fordham 31. The Raiders would eventually get the ball down to the three where Scott took it in for the game-winner.
Skelton completed 12 of 27 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns for the Rams while Martin rushed 21 times for 83 yards. Nnamdi Onyeabor caught three passes for 36 yards and one score while Richard Rayborn grabbed three balls for 31 yards.
Matt Loucks led the Fordham defense with 19 total tackles, 11 solo, while Ryan Darcey added eight stop and Greg DeMarco six, including one for a loss.
The Rams will have a week off before returning to action on Saturday, October 11th, as they travel to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, to face the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks in a Patriot League game at 12:30 p.m.
Notes
The two touchdown passes for Skelton brings his career total to 33, moving him ahead of Mark Carney and into second place on the Fordham career list, 12 behind Kevin Eakin who threw 45 touchdown passes from 2000-03...The 19 tackles for Loucks are the most for a Ram in a game since Loucks made 27 stops last year versus Albany...The Rams entered the game leading the Patriot League in total offense, averaging 443.7 yards/game...Colgate now leads the all-time series, 16-4.
