The football team rallied behind a defensive masterclass and the aerial attack to shut down Fordham University on Saturday, winning 24-10 at Fisher Stadium to rebound from the previous week’s loss to Princeton University.
“Last week against Princeton, we practiced the way we played and we ended up losing it,” junior defensive lineman Jaylon Joseph said. “This past week, we brought the energy and the focus, and we all made sure we played on the same page.”
The Leopards (2-0 Patriot League, 4-2 overall) marched down the field on their opening possession, but the Rams (1-2 Patriot League, 1-5 overall) stuffed junior running back Ethan Weber on a fourth-and-one to force a turnover on downs. The offense kept the juice flowing on their next drive, but was plagued by back-to-back facemask penalties.
Setting up shop at their own three-yard line, the Rams managed multiple chunk plays to threaten to draw blood first. After consecutive tackles for loss, however, Joseph ran around his tackle untouched and knocked the ball free from Fordham’s quarterback, which freshman linebacker Beckham Dee pounced on top of.
“I bent the corner,” Joseph said about the strip sack. “I saw the quarterback not even looking at me. I made the play and it helped my team.”
The game remained scoreless until the second quarter, when the hosts took advantage of a short Fordham punt. Freshman wide receiver Matthew Scerbo mossed his defender on a jump ball from senior quarterback Dean DeNobile to put the Leopards on top and secure Scerbo’s first collegiate touchdown.
“My team put trust in me,” Scerbo said. “I’m a jump ball guy, they trusted me to get the football and I came down with it.”
Another Fordham punt put the ball back in DeNobile’s hands, who uncorked a pair of deep shots to senior wide receiver Elijah Steward and Scerbo to set up his second passing touchdown of the day, a three-yard screen to junior wide receiver Carson Persing.
“The receiving room is a really tight-knit group,” DeNobile said. “There’s no selfish guys, that has me not worried about getting the ball to certain people.”
The Rams responded by converting multiple third downs to put a drive together, but missed right on a 33-yard field goal attempt to keep it 14-0 heading into the locker room.
Although the Leopards kept the offensive attack going in the second half, DeNobile’s third-and-five pass deflected off of Persing and sailed into the hands of a Fordham defender.
After forcing a three-and-out, the Leopards’ special teams unit made its presence known. Senior linebacker Tighe Cummiskey shot through the line and blocked the punt, which was scooped up by senior long snapper Dylan Aguilera and returned to make it 21-0.
“I gotta thank Tighe for that one,” Aguilera said. “I was just in the right place at the right time and made a football play, picked it up and scored.”
Fordham’s offense began to click in the waning minutes of the third quarter. Facing fourth-and-two on the Leopards’ 4-yard line, the Rams connected on a back-shoulder fade to get on the board with a touchdown. The Leopards then suffered their second straight three-and-out, but limited Fordham’s ensuing damage to a field goal.
DeNobile connected with Persing on a 63-yard strike shortly after, allowing the Leopards some breathing room with a 19-yard field goal from junior kicker Jack Simonetta. Three plays from scrimmage later, sophomore defensive back Kevin Dodard dove across the middle of the field for the interception to ice the victory.
DeNobile finished with 314 passing yards and two touchdowns, shining in the absence of star junior running back Kente Edwards. On the defensive side, Joseph led the way with 2.5 sacks.
“We run an RPO offense, so I try to put us in the best situation possible every time we go out there,” DeNobile said. “If they load up the box, we’re going to throw it.”
The Leopards will take on Bucknell University (1-1 Patriot League, 4-2 overall) in the last contest of their four-game home stretch on Saturday.
