On This Date presented by Belmont Realty: Football Defeats Hofstra in NCAA III Playoff Game

On This Date Presented by Belmont Realty
 
With the 2020 fall sports season canceled by the COVID-19 outbreak, we at Fordham have decided to dig back through our archives and provide our fans with content on some of the outstanding teams and student-athletes who have graced Rose Hill over the years.
 
November 21, 1987 – (Hempstead, N.Y.) – It's been almost 46 years since a Fordham football team appeared in a postseason game. The Rams made it worth the wait as they ran over Hofstra, 41-6, in a first round NCAA Division III playoff game on a brutally cold and windy day at Hofstra Stadium.
 

The two teams entered the game with identical 9-1 records, with The Flying Dutchmen seeded first in the East region and eighth nationally, and the Rams fourth in the region.
 
With the weather forcing both teams to keep the ball on the ground, the Fordham offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage, outgaining the Flying Dutchmen 379-168 in rushing yardage. The Rams did not attempt a single pass in the game.
 
''We just ran the ball down their throats,'' said Fordham head coach Larry Glueck to the NY Times following the game, ''and our defense was superb.''
 
Fordham, entered the game ranked fifth against the run in Division III and allowed only 218 total yards.
 
Fordham scored early and often, finding the end zone on three of its first four possessions. On the Rams' first possession, Eddie Pearson capped the drive with a 36-yard scoring run.
 
Freshman quarterback Dave Olfakowski, who was playing in only his third game for the injured Bob Hagan, got the Rams' second score on a 12-yard option run later in the quarter.
 
Rick Hollawell made it 20-0 for the Rams when he broke through the line and took it 67 yards to pay dirt late in the first.
 
 

A one-yard Pearson scoring lunge in the second quarter made it 26-0 before Hofstra scored its lone points of the game later in the quarter.
 
The Rams tacked on a Hollawell 12-yard run in the third quarter before Pearson closed out the day's scoring with his third touchdown of the game in the fourth.
 
''We overcame a lot of pressure today,'' Pearson said to the NY Times. ''But we did our homework before the game. This was one of our better running games, and we planned it that way.''
 
Hollawell led the Rams with 181 rushing yards on 26 carries with two scores while Pearson picked up 132 yards on 25 carries with three touchdowns.
 
The Rams would go on to fall to the eventual national champions, Wagner College, the following week.