Nov. 5, 2011
Final Stats |
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Washington, D.C. -
What a difference a week makes. Last week, the Fordham football Rams were playing in a 39,000 seat NCAA BCS stadium in a driving blizzard. This week, the Rams were playing on Georgetown's Multi-Sport Field, basking in the sun and 50-degree weather. Unfortunately for the Rams, the only thing that was similar was the result, as Fordham fell to Georgetown, 30-13.
With the loss, Fordham falls to 1-8 on the year while Georgetown improves to 8-2.
After being held to less than 100 yards of offense at Army last week, the Fordham offense got on track today, gaining 446 yards, the second best game of the year for the Rams. The offense was led by junior quarterback Ryan Higgins, who completed 35 of 53 passes, both career highs, for 387 yards. But the Rams couldn't establish a running game and turned the ball over four times, and that proved to be the difference.
"We had our chances but didn't take advantage of them," said Fordham head coach Tom Masella. "We also turned the ball over too much. You won't win many ballgames when you turn the ball over four times."
Georgetown took advantage of the Fordham turnovers, scoring two touchdowns on Ram miscues, including a 75-yard interception return for a score, and also took advantage of Fordham's missed opportunity, scoring after holding the Rams to no points when Fordham had a first and goal on the Georgetown one.
Trailing 13-6, the Rams took the second half kickoff and moved down to the Georgetown one following a 45-yard completion from Higgins to Blake Wayne. But on first down, Carlton Koonce was tackled for a loss back to the four and then a Higgins pass to Dan Light in the end zone was just out of his reach. On third down, Higgins couldn't connect with Blake Wayne and the Rams lined up for a 22-yard field goal attempt by Michael Marando but the ball sailed wide left. Higgins completed the first six passes of the drive before missing on the last two.
Taking over on their own 20, the Hoyas moved down field, scoring on a 26-yard strike from Scott Darby to Patrick Ryan to give Georgetown a 20-6 lead with 8:28 left in the third. The drive was kept alive when Georgetown gained 35 yards on a third and nine play from the Hoyas' 21.
The Rams again drove down field following the ensuing kickoff but a fourth and one pass on the Georgetown six fell incomplete and the Hoyas regained possession. The big play of the drive was a 37-yard completion from Higgins to Greg Wilson which put the ball on the Georgetown 15.
The Fordham defense held the Hoyas to one first down and Fordham took over its own 48 following a short punt. Higgins drove the Rams to the Georgetown 17 where Koonce took the ball off the left side and down to the one, setting up a one-yard scoring plunge from the junior running back as the Rams pulled to within seven, 20-13, 27 seconds into the fourth quarter.
A 73-yard kickoff return from Jeremy Moore gave the Hoyas great field position but the Fordham defense dug in, holding Georgetown to an 18-yard Brett Weiss field goal to make it a 23-13 game with 12:20 remaining.
On the ensuring possession, Higgins hooked up with Wilson for a 37-yard gain to move the ball to the Georgetown 22 but on the next play, Jeremy Moore stepped in front of a Higgins attempted screen pass and he returned the interception 75 yards for a touchdown and a 30-13 Georgetown lead with 10:42 left.
Later in the period, the Rams got the ball to the Georgetown 29 but a Higgins pass attempt went off the fingers of Dan Light and was intercepted by Wayne Heimuli on the ten.
The Hoyas took the opening kickoff and moved from their own 18 to the Fordham 20 where Weis came on to kick a 38-yard field goal to give Georgetown a quick 3-0 lead, 5:42 into the game.
On Fordham's first play from scrimmage, Koonce caught a short pas from Higgins and was looking to gain yards when he fumbled and the ball was recovered by Georgetown's Jayah Kaisamba on the Fordham 32 and returned to the Fordham ten. Two plays later, Nick Campanella took it in from the four to put the Hoyas up 10-0 with 8:13 left in the first.
The Rams responded with a nine-play, 46-yard drive, capping it with a 41-yard Michael Marando field goal to pull to within seven, 10-3, with 5:45 remaining in the period.
On Fordham's next possession, Higgins completed a third down pass to Wayne that gained 18 yards and moved the ball to the Georgetown 23. Three plays later, Marando booted a 34-yard field goal to cut the Fordham deficit to four, 10-6, with 1:31 left in the first.
The Hoyas got the three points back as Weiss finished off a 14-play, 64-yard drive with a 40-yard field goal 3:04 into the second period to take a 13-6 lead.
Later in the quarter the Rams had a chance for another score but a 45-yard Marando field goal attempt was short.
Brian Wetzel led all receivers on the day with eleven catches for 118 yards, both season-highs, while Koonce grabbed six passes for 26 yards, Light had five receptions for 53 yards and Wayne four for 88 yards.
Defensively, Andre Delaire led all Fordham tacklers with 12 stops, five solo, while Michael Martin recorded ten, including one for loss, and Brendan Melanophy added nine, four solo.
The Rams return to action next Saturday, November 12th, as they host the Bucknell University Bison in a matchup of Patriot League schools on Jack Coffey Field at 1:00 p.m.
Notes
The Georgetown win snaps a Fordham five-game winning streak against the Hoyas... The Rams still lead the all-time series, 30-20-3... The 27-point margin of victory was Georgetown's largest over Fordham since a 24-0 win in 1975 (22 games)... The 53 varsity meetings are the most for the Rams against any opponent... Wetzel's previous season-highs were six catches for 98 yards at Lafayette...Fordham outgained Georgetown in total offense, 446-376... The Fordham offense has now gained more than 300 yards in a game five times over the past six games... The Rams arrived in Washington on Thursday night and had a special White House tour on Friday morning, arranged by John O. Brennan, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism and a 1977 Fordham graduate, along with Dr. Paul D. Kim, the Director Incident Management Integration on the National Security Staff who played football at Fordham 1976-79... Game day captains were Higgins and Kevin Carter.
