Box Score Oct. 30, 2010
Final Stats |
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Bronx, N.Y. -
Those with weak hearts should probably avoid watching a Fordham football game this fall. The Rams have made a habit of playing games that come down to the wire as for the sixth consecutive week a Fordham game was decided by six points or less. And for the second straight game the Rams came out on top, defeating Georgetown University, 24-19, in a battle of Patriot League schools on Jack Coffey Field.
With the win, Fordham improves to 4-5 while Georgetown falls to 3-6.
During a game in which Fordham honored one of its famed running backs, Len Eshmont, junior running back Darryl Whiting did his best "Atlas Antelope" impersonation, rushing for 251 yards, the third best single game performance in school history. It was his second straight 100-yard rushing game and the fourth of his career.
"It's the same old deal," said Fordham head coach Tom Masella. "Every game this year has seemed to come down to the final play and for the second straight week we made some plays down the stretch to pull out the win."
Despite giving up over 400 yards to Georgetown, the Fordham defense also played a big part in the win, allowing just 80 net rushing yards and sacking the Hoya quarterback six times, with Clifton Stuckey and Nick Womack leading the way with one and a half each.
With the score 24-19 the Fordham defense held Georgetown on a fourth and eight play from the Fordham 47 when Patrick McGee got through and sacked Hoya quarterback Scott Darby.
The Rams took over on the Georgetown 48 and two rushes from Whiting netted eight yards but on third down he was only able to pick up one and the Rams punted the ball back to the Hoyas.
Taking over on its own 20 with 44 seconds left following the punt, Darby completed two straight passes to pick up 26 yards and put the ball on the Hoyas' 46. After an incomplete pass, Darby was pressured and sacked by Womack, who also stripped Darby of the ball. The fumble was recovered by Georgetown on the 43 but with no time outs left, the Hoyas were able to get off just one more play, a pass completion to Keerome Lawrence to the Fordham 45 as time expired.
The game started out slow offensively as each team went three and out on their first possession. The Hoyas appeared to go three and out on their second but ran a fake punt that picked up a first down on their own 35. Georgetown drove to the Fordham 39 where the drive stalled and the Hoyas punted the ball back to the Rams.
Fordham took over on its own 20 and covered the 80 yards in seven plays with Whiting taking it in from the two for a 7-0 Ram lead with 4:34 left in the first. Whiting had the big play in the drive, a 47-yard rush that brought the ball to the Georgetown 15.
On their next possession, Ram quarterback Ryan Higgins was intercepted by Jayah Kaisamba on the Georgetown 17 but Kaisamba fumbled the ball on the return and it was recovered by Fordham's Stephen Skelton and brought down to the Georgetown 12.
Four plays later, Whiting again scored from two yards out to give Fordham 14-0 lead with three seconds left in the quarter.
With just over ten minutes left in the second, Higgins attempted a screen pass from the Hoyas' 43 but Georgetown's Andrew Schaetzke stepped in front of the pass and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown.
The Rams responded with a scoring drive, moving from their own 45 to the Georgetown 20 where Patrick Murray connected on his 12th field goal of the year, a 38-yarder, to put Fordham up 17-7, with 8:26 to go before the half.
On the next play from scrimmage, Georgetown quarterback Isaiah Kempf found Lawrence with a 66-yard pass play, bringing the ball down to the Fordham eleven. But the Hoyas couldn't get it in the end zone and a 21-yard Brett Weiss field goal attempt was wide right.
The Hoys then looked to take advantage of a Fordham turnover, recovering a fumble on the Fordham 41. Georgetown advanced to the Fordham 13 but a third down Kempf pass was intercepted by Fordham's Brendan Melanophy in the end zone.
The Rams took advantage of the turnover, covering the 80 yards on seven plays with Higgins finding Jason Caldwell in the end zone with a 20-yard scoring strike and a 24-7 Fordham lead with 1:34 left in the second.
Georgetown moved into Fordham territory after the ensuing kickoff but on fourth and eight from the Fordham 31 Kempf was sacked by Stuckey. The Rams then moved to the Georgetown 25 where Murray's 42-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright with two seconds remaining.
Midway through the third quarter Fordham moved from its own 13 to the Georgetown 21 where Murray attempted a 38-yard field goal but the kick sailed wide left.
The Georgetown offense then came alive, mounting a 12-play, 79-yard drive, capped by a 37-yard touchdown pass from Darby to John O'Leary on fourth and ten from the 37 early in the fourth that pulled Georgetown to within eleven, 24-13, as the extra point kick was wide.
After the Fordham offense went three and out, Georgetown took over on its own 31 and moved to the Fordham 12 where the Rams were whistled for a pass interference penalty, giving the Hoyas a first and goal from the two. Two plays later Darby took it in but his two point conversion pass failed and Georgetown trailed 24-19 with 8:01 remaining in the game.
The Rams moved down to the Georgetown 36 where they faced a fourth and one and Masella decided to go for it but Whiting was stopped in the backfield and the ball was turned back over to the Hoyas with 3:12 left.
Georgetown drove to the Fordham 47 where McGee halted the drive with his sack of Darby on fourth and eight.
Carlton Koonce aided the Fordham ground game with 63 yards on eleven carries while Higgins completed 13 of 24 passes for 136 yards and the one score. Caldwell led the Fordham receivers with five catches for 53 yards while Skelton added three for 43 and Nick Talbert three for 28.
Defensively, Ahmed Haruna led the Rams with eight total tackles, six solo, and he had three pass deflections while Melanophy added seven stops, four solo, including one for loss and two pass deflections.
The Rams will next be in action next Saturday, November 6th as they travel to Lewisburg. Pennsylvania, to face the Bucknell University Bison in a matchup of Patriot League schools at 1:00 p.m.
Notes
At halftime, a special ceremony was held as Dave Ficca, CBA '53, a football standout for the Rams, and members of the Eshmont family presented Fordham President Fr. Joseph McShane, S.J., and Executive Director of Athletics Frank McLaughlin with a portrait of Len Eshmont, created by Fordham golf coach Paul Dillon and commissioned by Ficca... The Rams now have taken the past five meetings against Georgetown and lead the all-time series, 31-19-3... The 53 games played against the Hoyas are the most against any opponent for the Rams... Sophomore quarterback Blake Wayne missed his second straight game due to injury while senior running back Xavier Martin and senior defensive back Jamal Haruna, the team's leading rusher and tackler, respectively, also missed the game with an injury... Chip Kron has the Fordham school record for rushing yards in a game with 272 against Georgetown in 1972 while Kirwin Watson gained 256 against Holy Cross in 2001... The 251-yard rushing performance by Whiting is the second best in the Patriot League this year, behind Nate Eachus' 291-yard game for Colgate at Cornell... Caldwell's five receptions for 53 yards brings his career numbers to 176 catches for 2,480 yards, both second best in school history... He is also now ninth on the Patriot League all-time receiving yards list... Caldwell's touchdown catch is the 17th of his career, placing him in a tie for fourth on the Fordham career list... Murray's 12 field goals this year ties him with Brian Colsant (1999) for the third best single season in Fordham history... Fordham had a season-best 318 rushing yards, averaging 5.8 yards/carry... It was the first 300-yard rushing game for the Rams since Fordham gained 323 yards against Columbia in 2007... A Halloween costume contest was held at halftime with the winner a student who came to the game dressed as university president, Fr. McShane.
