Football Run Over by Army

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West Point, N.Y. (November 22, 2014) – Seventy years ago, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz received an honorary degree from Fordham University and thanked the school by gifting the Rams with a Victory Bell. Apparently that decision has never been accepted by Army as the Black Knights once again denied Fordham an opportunity to ring the bell, defeating the Rams, 42-31, at Michie Stadium.
 
With the loss, a loss that snaps a nine-game Fordham winning streak, the Rams fall to 10-2 while Army improves to 4-7.
 
Even though the Rams outgained Army in total offense, 471-430, Fordham missed some scoring chances in the first half and couldn't stop the Army rushing attack in the second, as the Black Knights rushed for 260 of their 382 total rushing yards and scored 28 of their 42 points over the final 30 minutes.
 

Quarterback Mike Nebrich led the Fordham offensive attack, completing 27 of 38 passes for 352 yards and three touchdowns, with 12 of those completions going to Brian Wetzel for 193 yards with one score.
 
Playing against a triple option offense is difficult. Doing it with only a week of preparation is even harder. The Fordham defense had a solid first quarter, holding Army to just 15 rushing yards and holding the Black Knights to 0-3 on third down conversions, but the Army offense started getting on track in the second quarter and then really got thing going in the second half, converting seven of nine third down chances.
 
The Rams jumped out to a 10-0 lead as Fordham took the opening kickoff and moved to the Army 23 but a third down pass fell incomplete and Michael Marando came on to kick a 40-yard field goal to give the Rams a 3-0 lead 2:48 into the game. The field goal was Marando's school-record 42^nd of his career.
 
Later in the first, the Rams took over on their own 20 following a punt and Nebrich went to work, completing five of eight passes in the drive to put the ball on the Army 29. But a third down attempt fell incomplete and Fordham lined up to punt. Punter Joseph Pavlik took the snap but instead of kicking,  lofted a pass to the end zone where Marc DeSisto was able to outleap four defenders for the score and a 10-0 Fordham lead 3:29 into the second.
 
The Fordham score seem to wake up the Army offense as the Black Knights quickly answered with a six-yard scoring run, set up by an A.J. Schutt 54-yard run, to cut the Fordham advantage to three, 10-7, with 9:20 left in the second.
 
It seemed as if the 10-7 score would hold until halftime but the Rams lined up to punt in their own end zone with 18 second left and Pavlik's kick was blocked by Josh Jenkins and recovered in the end zone by Army's Lamar Johnson-Harris as the Black Knights took a 14-10 halftime lead.
 
The third quarter consisted of just three possessions, two of those by Army who scored on both. The Black Knights took the second half kickoff and moved 65 yards on eight plays to take a 21-10 lead 3:51 into the third.
 
After a Fordham drive stalled on its own 48, Army took over on its 16 and ran the ball downfield, gaining all 84 yards on the ground, capped by a one-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter for a 28-10 lead.
 

The Rams needed just one play to get a score back. On the first play from scrimmage of the ensuing possession, Nebrich found an open Wetzel over the middle for a 65-yard scoring strike as the Rams made it a 28-17 game with 12:54 on the clock.
 
But Army answered with another long drive, again all on the ground, scoring on a 30-yard Larry Dixon run with 6:42 remaining.
 
Fordham again came back with a score of its own. After Chase Edmonds picked up ten yards on the first play, Nebrich hit Adam Malkiewicz with a 23-yard pass and then Wetzel for another 27 to put the ball on the Army eight. Nebrich then found Tebucky Jones, Jr., with an eight-yard scoring pass to make it a 35-24 game with 5:18 left.
 
The Rams attempted an onside kick but Army recovered the ball on the Fordham 38 and covered the 38 yards on six plays, scoring on a one-yard run, to extend the lead to 42-24, with 2:55 on the clock.
 
Fordham again came back with a score as Malkiewicz gathered in a tipped pass over the middle and took it 51 yards for a score with just 15 seconds remaining.
 
Edmonds finished with 69 rushing yards on 13 carries for the Rams while Sam Ajala caught four passes for 21 yards.
 
Defensively, Austin Hancock finished with a career-high 19 total tackles, 12 solo, while De'Nard Pinckney made eleven and Jake Dixon 10.
 
The Rams will learn their NCAA FCS championship opponent during the selection show on Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m.
 
Notes
Edmonds' 69 yards brings his season total to 1,539, moving him ahead of Kirwin Watson and into second place on the Fordham single season rushing list… He is just 57 yards shy of Carlton Koonce's school record set in 2012… Marando surpassed the former school career field goal record of 41, set by Brian Colsant from 1998-2001… Hancock's previous career-high in tackles was 12, accomplished twice, the most recent time against Penn in October… The Rams lined up with Army at the end of the game for the playing of the Army alma mater… The Rams are now 0-4 all-time against Army… The two teams will open the 2015 season next September 5.