Football Upends Yale, 44-37

Bronx, N.Y. – There are many adjectives that can be used to describe the Fordham University football offense. One-dimensional isn't one of them. A week after Chase Edmonds rushed for a school record 359 yards, senior quarterback Kevin Anderson matched his career-high with five touchdown passes to lead the Rams to a 44-37 win over Yale University on Jack Coffey Field.
 
With the win, Fordham improves to 4-2 on the year while Yale falls to 1-4.
 
Anderson completed 18 of 27 passes for 270 yards and the five scores. The touchdown passes covered 15, 55, 15, 19 and 69 yards. It's the third time Anderson threw five touchdown passes in a game, matching the total from 2015 games with Columbia and Monmouth.
 
Anderson spread the ball around with seven different receivers catching a pass, led by Corey Caddle who had four receptions for 74 yards and two touchdowns, Austin Longi, who caught five balls for 47 yards and a score and Robbie Cantelli, who had three catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns.
 

Oh, Edmonds also contributed to the offense, carrying 18 times for 121 yards to bring his season total to 1,065 yards, his third straight 1,000-yard season. He joins Kirwan Watson as the only Ram to have three 1,000-yard seasons and become the fastest Ram to record a 1,000-yard season, doing so in his sixth game of the year (Edmonds hit the 1,000-yard mark in the seventh game in each of the past two seasons).
 
Edmonds' 121 rushing yards brings his career total to 4,551, second best on the Fordham career list, 66 yards behind Kirwin Watson's school record.
 
Defensively, the Rams forced two Yale turnovers, one a 63-yard interception return for a score by Caleb Ham.
 
The Rams jumped on the board early as Jihad Pretlow returned the opening kickoff 62 yards to the Yale 33 and, four plays, later, Anderson connected with Cantelli on a 15-yard scoring strike to give Fordham a 7-0 lead 1:51 into the game.
 
The Bulldogs answered with an eight-play, 55-yard drive, capped by a one yard scoring run and two-point conversion as Yale took an 8-7 lead 5:11 into the contest.
 
The game remained 8-7 until the Rams took over on their own 29 following a punt. After Edmonds gained 16 on the first play from scrimmage, Anderson hooked up with a streaking Caddle for a 55-yard touchdown pass to give Fordham a 14-8 lead with 1:12 left in the first.
 
Early in the second quarter, Yale took over on its own 14 but needed only five plays to cover the 86 yards, the big play a 56-yard run from Candler Rich that put the ball on the Fordham four where Dale Harris took it in to give the Bulldogs a 15-14 lead with 10:51 remaining in the half.
 
Three minutes later Fordham took over on its own 36 and Edmonds rushed for 27 yards on the first play from scrimmage, the first of five straight Ram rushes that moved the ball to the Yale ten. Following a false start penalty, Anderson found Longi with a 15-yard scoring strike to put the Rams back on top, 21-15, with 5:32 left in the first half.
 
After the Fordham defense held Yale to a three-and-out, the offense moved 67 yards on seven plays with Anderson finding Caddle in the end zone for the score but the two-point conversion failed as the Rams settled for a 27-15 halftime lead.
 
Yale was driving on the opening possession of the second half but George Dawson hit Harris on the Fordham 20 causing him to fumble, and Dawson recovered the loose ball for Fordham.
 
The Rams couldn't take advantage of the turnover but later in the quarter Ham stepped in front of a Tre Moore pass and returned it 63 yards for a score to increase the Fordham lead to 19, 34-15, with 5:23 left in the quarter.
 

Yale answered the Fordham score with a 12-play, 64-yard drive, capped by a one-yard scoring plunge to cut the Fordham lead to eleven, 34-23, with 1:48 on the clock.
 
It took Fordham one play to get seven points back as on the first play from scrimmage Cantelli got behind his defender and hauled in a 69-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to boost the Rams' lead to 18, 41-23, 15 seconds later.
 
The Bulldogs scored on a one-yard rush early in the fourth to make it a 41-30 game before Makay Redd connected on a 20-yard field goal to give Fordham a 44-30 lead with just over two minutes remaining.
 
Yale wasn't done as the Bulldogs managed to find the end zone with 21 seconds on the clock to make it a one possession game but Yale wouldn't get that possession as the Bulldog onside kick attempt did not travel the necessary ten yards and the Rams took over at midfield.
 
Dawson led the Fordham defense with nine total tackles, six solo, including 0.5 sacks, while Lawrence Menyah also recorded nine stops, four solo, including 0.5 sacks, and David Barletta finished with seven tackles, five solo, including 1.5 for loss and 1.0 sacks.
 
The Rams return to Patriot League play next Saturday, October 22, as they play host to the Georgetown University Hoyas on Jack Coffey Field at 1:00 p.m.
 
Notes
The Rams improve to 27-2 on Jack Coffey Field over the past four years and 20-7 in non-conference play over that period.
 
The Rams have now won the past ten meetings with Ivy League schools.
 
Fordham has scored more than 40 points in four of the six games in 2016 and 24 times since 2012.
 
Edmonds now has 22 100-yard rushing games, seven 200-yards rushing games and two 300-yard rushing games in his career, all school records.
 
Anderson's 270 passing yards brings his career total to 4,606, good for sixth on the Fordham career list, while his five touchdown passes brings his career total to 48, moving him ahead of Kevin Eakin (2000-03) and into third place on the Fordham career list.
 
Senior linebacker George Dawson and senior punter Joe Pavlik have appeared in every game at Fordham since arriving as freshmen in 2013 (46 games). They are looking to become the Fordham career leaders in games played. The currently record is 47, set by Javarus Dudley (2000-03) and matched by Joe Sullivan (2011-14).
 
The Fordham defense entered the game second in the NCAA FCS in turnovers gained (17) and added the fumble recovery and interception today. The Rams now have eleven fumble recoveries on the year, tops among all NCAA FCS schools.
 
The Rams entered the game fifth in the NCAA FCS in fewest penalty yards/game (37.8) and 14th in fewest penalties per game (5.20) but were whistled for 12 penalties for 110 yards today.