Football Season Ends with Loss at Towson

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Towson, Md. (December 7, 2013) - Back on August 1 when the Fordham University football squad returned to campus to start summer camp, head coach Joe Moorhead set out the team's goals for the season, with winning a national championship on the top of the list. And the 2013 Rams did their best to fulfill that goal, playing into December for just the second time in school history on the NCAA FCS level before coming up short in the second round of the NCAA FCS Championship, falling to Towson University, 48-28, in Johnny Unitas Stadium.
 
With the loss, the Rams close out the season with a12-2 mark while Towson, the seventh seed of the championship, improves to 11-2 and will move on to face second-seeded Eastern Illinois in the quarterfinals next Friday.
 
Despite the earlier-than-desired end to the season, the year was a success on multiple levels for Fordham. As a team, the Rams set the modern day (since 1920) record for wins in a season, including the first win over an NCAA FBS team (Temple), the first win over a top-ten ranked NCAA FCS team on Jack Coffey Field (Villanova) and the school's first ever home NCAA FCS championship win on Jack Coffey Field (Sacred Heart).
 
The Rams broke numerous school records this fall, including most points (526), passing yards (5,052) and total yards (7,214) in a season. All three records are also Patriot League marks as the Rams bettered the Holy Cross scoring record of 511 points in 1987, the Lehigh mark for passing yards in a season of 4,428 set in 2011 and the Colgate total offense record of 6,125 yards set in 2003.
 
Individually, when junior quarterback Mike Nebrich completed his first pass of the game he surpassed the 4,000-yard mark on the season as Fordham became the first school in NCAA FCS history to have a 4,000-yard passer, three 1,000-yard receivers (Sam Ajala, Tebucky Jones, Jr., and Brian Wetzel) and a 1,000-yard rusher (Carlton Koonce).
 
Nebrich finished the game completing 37 of 50 passes for 394 yards and four touchdowns, bringing his totals on the year to 353-of-480 for 4,380 yards and 35 touchdowns, all school records. He also set new Patriot League marks for passing yards in a season, bettering Chris Lum's (Lehigh) mark of 4,378 set in 2011 and passing touchdowns, surpassing the former record of 34 held by three other players, most recently by Holy Cross' Dominic Randolph in 2009. Nebrich's completion percentage of 73.5 was also both a school and Patriot League record.
 
Nebrich also set a new Patriot League mark for passer efficiency rating with a mark of 171.34, surpassing Frank Baur's (Lafayette) previous record of 171.12 set in 1988.
 
Ajala caught eight passes for 120 yards to bring his season totals to 93 receptions for 1,646 yards, setting new school and Patriot League records for receiving yards. The former Fordham mark was 1,439 by Javarus Dudley in 2003 while the former Patriot League record was 1,614 set by Ryan Spadola of Lehigh in 2011.
 
Wetzel caught five passes for 86 yards and one touchdown today while Jones finished with five catches for 15 yards. On the year, Wetzel hauled in 89 passes for 1,094 yards and 14 touchdowns while Jones added 85 receptions for 1,154 yards and five scores.
 
Also setting a school mark today was junior tight end Dan Light, who caught 13 passes for 122 yards, both career-highs, to bring his total to 66 catches for 588 yards on the year, a school record for most receptions and receiving yards by a tight end.
 
Koonce closed out his Fordham career by gaining 1,462 yards on 307 carries with nine scores, the fourth most rushing yards in a season by a Ram and his career total of 3,283 is second best in school history.
 
Towson entered the game with the nation's leading rusher in Terrance West but  the Rams managed to contain him only to see Towson quarterback Peter Athens have a career-day, throwing for 301 yards and three scores.
 
The Rams also found out the hard way that the closer you get to the championship game, the smaller the margin of error becomes. Today, Fordham saw two second half scoring chances thwarted by penalties and another by a fumble.
 
The Rams used two second quarter scores to tie the game at 21 entering the break but the Tigers came out and scored quickly to open the second half, covering 76 yards on four plays with Athens completing a short pass to Andre Dessenberg that turned into a 46-yard scoring play to break the tie. The big play of the drive was the play before the touchdown  as Towson faced a third-and-nine and was able to pick up the first down with a 29-yard completion from Athens to West.
 
The Rams drove down field on the ensuing possession, getting to the Towson 30, but a miscommunication on a snap caused the ball to go over Nebrich's head and the fumble was recovered by Towson on the Towson 46.
 
The Tigers took advantage of the turnover, scoring on a West five-yard run with 5:31 left in the third to take a 35-21 lead.
 
The Rams again moved the ball into Towson territory, getting down to the Tigers' 19 but illegal blocking and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on the same play moved Fordham back to the 47. Fordham got back to the Towson 30 but a 47-yard Michael Marando field goal attempt hit the cross bar on the first play of the fourth quarter.
 
Towson took over on the 30 and covered the 70 yards on eight plays with West taking care of the final 14 yards as the Tigers took a 42-21 lead with 10:54 remaining.
 
The Fordham offense got back on track on the next series as Nebrich completed three of four passes for 61 yards, including a 20-yard scoring strike to Wetzel on fourth down as the Rams made it a two-touchdown game, 42-28, just under two minutes later.
 
After Towson recovered the onside kick, the Fordham defense held the Tigers on the first two plays of the drive and the Tigers faced a third-and-eleven from the Fordham 47. But Athens found Dessenberg for a 22-yard gain on third down and Towson would eventually score on a 22-yard Darius Victor run with 6:25 on the clock
 
After holding the Rams to a three-and-out on the first series of the game, Towson took a 7-0 lead as West capped an eleven-play, 67-yard drive with a one-yard scoring plunge on fourth down with 8:59 left in the first.
 
Fordham came right back with a scoring drive of its own, converting three third down situations, scoring on a nine-yard pass from Nebrich to Jorge Solano in the left corner of the end zone with 3:48 remaining in the quarter.
 
Towson responded with a seven-play, 64-yard drive, taking a 14-7 lead on a 32-yard pass from Athens to James Oboh on a fourth-and-three call, and then the Tigers held the Rams on fourth-and-six from the Fordham 42, turning the defensive stop into seven points four plays later on a 41-yard pass from Athens to Victor with 12:12 on the clock.
 
The Rams faced a fourth-and-14 from their own seven on the ensuing possession and a Joseph Pavlik punt was returned to the Fordham three but the play was nullified by offsetting penalties. On the rekick, Pavlik was run into and the Tigers were flagged for a roughing the kicker penalty, giving Fordham a first down on the 22. Nebrich moved the squad down field , eventually finding a wide open Ajala with a 23-yard scoring pass to make it a 21-14 game with 6:32 left in the half.
 
Later in the quarter, the Rams were forced to punt from deep in their own territory but Brian Dowling fumbled the return and the ball was recovered by Fordham's Jake Dixon on the Towson 47. Seven plays later, the Rams faced a fourth-and-13 from the Towson 37 when Nebrich found Ajala open again with a scoring strike that tied the game at 21 with 41 seconds remaining in the half.
 
The Rams recovered the ensuing onside kick and got the ball to the Towson 24 but Marando's 41-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the half went wide left.
 
Defensively, Austin Hancock led the Rams with eight tackles, seven solo, while Levon Williams and Stephen Hodge each made six tackles.