Football Closes Out Regular Season with Win at Colgate

Box Score  | Photo Gallery
 
Hamilton, N.Y. (November 23, 2013) - Last year, the Fordham-Colgate football game came down to a missed two-point conversion by the Rams with under a minute left that decided the game. Fordham wanted to make sure that didn't happen again this year, scoring on its first four possessions and never looking back, closing out the regular season with a 56-19 win over the Raiders at a cold, windy and, at times, snowy, Andy Kerr Stadium.
 
With the win, the Rams close out the regular season with an 11-1 record, breaking the school record for wins in a season in the modern era (since 1920), while Colgate falls to 4-8. The Rams will find out about their NCAA FCS championship plans on Sunday morning at 11:30 a.m. (the show will be streamed on the Patriot League Digital Network).
 
The 56-point outburst was Fordham's highest of the season and the fifth 50-point game of the year for  the Rams. The total brings Fordham's scoring output to 461 points for the season, breaking the school record of 418 set by the 2003 squad.
 
The Rams recorded 557 yards of total offense in the game to bring their season total to 6,252, shattering the former school mark for total yards in a season of 5,377 set by the 2009 team. The Rams also added to their new single season passing yardage total, compiling 4,248 yards, bettering the former record of 3,708 set in 2009.
 
The game marked the return of junior quarterback Mike Nebrich, who missed last week's loss at Lafayette with an injury. He completed 29 of 38 passes for 395 yards and five touchdowns on the day to bring his season total to 284-of-379 passes for 3,576 yards and 28 touchdowns. He breaks Mark Carney's record of 27 touchdown passes in a season, set in 2001, and ties John Skelton's mark of 284 completions in a season, set in 2009. Nebrich's 3,576 yards this year is second only to Skelton's 3,708 yards in 2009.
 
Nebrich's favorite receiver today was Tebucky Jones, Jr., who caught 12 passes for a career-high 224 yards and one touchdown. He now has 1,067 receiving yards this year and joins Sam Ajala as 1,000-receivers this year, marking the first time in school history that a Fordham team has two 1,000-yard receivers.
 
Ajala had 71 receiving yards as he now totals a team-high 1,398 on the year, 41 yards behind Javarus Dudley's school record of 1,439 set in 2003.
 
Junior Brian Wetzel also had a spectacular day, catching eight passes for 73 yards and three touchdowns while also returning a punt 81 yards for a score. He becomes the first player in school history to record two punt returns for more than 80 yards in a season and brings his touchdown reception total to 13 this fall, one shy of the school record set by Dudley in 2003.
 
On the ground, Carlton Koonce picked up 148 yards on 29 carries with two scores to bring his season total to 1,340 yards, the third best single season in school history.
 
The Rams wasted little time in getting on the board, taking the opening kickoff and moving 65 yards on six plays with Koonce covering the final nine on the ground to give Fordham a 7-0 lead just 1:54 into the game.
 
Four plays later, the defense got the ball back for the offense as Anthony Pesanello and Levin Williams came up with a big stop on fourth-and-one from the Colgate 40 and the offense made the Raiders pay for the gamble, taking the ball down to the Colgate 14 where Nebrich connected with Wetzel on a scoring pass and a 14-0 Fordham lead 5:37 into the contest.
 
On the ensuing possession it took the defense just one play to get the ball back to the offense as Jake Rodriques picked off a Jake Melville pass and returned it to the Colgate 31. Nebrich hit Tebucky Jones for a 22-yard gain on second down and, two plays later, Koonce broke through the line from the two to put the Rams up 21-0 with 7:55 left in the first.
 
After a Colgate three-and-out, the Rams took over on their own 16 but needed just two plays to score as, after a two-yard loss, Nebrich found a streaking Tebucky Jones down the right sideline with an 86-yard touchdown strike, tying the duo for seventh on the Fordham longest reception list, and making it a 28-0 game with 5:46 left in the first.
 
After a Colgate score made it 28-7 late in the first, the Rams went on a 96-yard, eleven-play drive in the second, capped by a five-yard scoring pass from Nebrich to Wetzel with 8:41 left in the half as the Rams went up 35-7.
 
After the defense held the Raiders to a three-and-out, Wetzel fielded a punt on his own nine and raced down the right side and to the end zone, tying the second longest punt return in school history (the record is an 84-yarder by Wetzel earlier this year) and giving Fordham a 42-7 lead.
 
A Colgate score in the third made it a 42-13 game but the Rams extended their lead to 49-13 on the first play of the fourth when Nebrich hit Dan Light who pushed his way into the end zone for a four-yard score.
 
Later in the fourth, George Apostolopoulos intercepted a tipped pass, returning it to the Fordham 47, and Nebrich led the Rams on their final scoring drive of the day, connecting with Wetzel for the third time, this one a two-yarder as Fordham took a 56-13 lead with 10:20 remaining.   
 
DeAndre Slate paced the Fordham defense with eight tackles, four solo, including 2.5 for loss and one sack, while Levon Williams, Marc DeSisto and Austin Hancock each added six.
 
Notes
The 1987 and 2002 Fordham teams each recorded ten wins… The win breaks a Fordham five-game losing streak to Colgate… The 56 points is the most scored by Fordham against Colgate (the previous high was 40 in 2004)…  Wetzel has two of the three all-time Fordham punt returns for 80-yards or more… The Rams doused head coach Joe Moorhead with ice water in the final minutes.