By Jack McLoone
Senior receiver Robbie Cantelli fights for more yardage against Yale on Saturday. (Andrea Garcia/The Fordham Ram)
After junior running back Chase Edmonds’ historic game against Lafayette last week, Fordham Football decided to go to the air and senior quarterback Kevin Anderson against Yale on Saturday. While the offense regressed a bit and the defense struggled, the Rams still managed to gut out a 44-37 victory at home.
It was clear from the start that head coach Andrew Breiner wanted the Rams to come out throwing. After a great return by senior Jihaad Pretlow put the Rams on the Yale 33-yard line, Anderson converted on all four of his attempts on the opening drive. It culminated in a 15-yd touchdown reception over the middle for senior receiver Robbie Cantelli, putting the Rams up 7-0 right away.
The Bulldogs answered right back, marching down the field to score. After a quarterback keeper on a read option got them to the end zone, they chose to go for two with an unbalanced line and converted, giving them an 8-7 lead with 9:49 left.
Fordham and Yale then traded fruitless drives, with both teams going three-and-out. Three drives and 13 plays into the game, Edmonds still did not have a carry.
He finally got one on the next Fordham possession, immediately ripping off a 16-yd rush on the right side. With the Bulldogs stepping back in to respect the rush, Anderson found a wide-open Corey Caddle down the seam for a 55-yd touchdown, the sophomore receiver’s third of the season. Fordham took a 14-8 lead with about a minute left in the first quarter.
After yet another three-and-out for the Rams, Yale scored again thanks to an Edmonds-esque 56-yd run by Chandler Rich that put his team in the red zone. The Bulldogs found pay dirt on their very next play, taking a 15-14 lead early in the second quarter.
After another pair of three-and-outs for the two teams, the Fordham offense got back to work. A handoff to Edmonds resulted in a 27-yd rush, and then a couple of Anderson rushes put the Rams in the red zone. Anderson threw for his third touchdown of the day by finding sophomore receiver Austin Longi open in the end zone. The Rams took a 21-15 lead that they never relinquished.
After a sack by senior linebacker David Barletta forced yet another Yale three-and-out, the Rams once again found the end zone. It was Anderson to Caddle again, this time up the seam for 19 yards and the score. After a failed two-point conversion attempt by Edmonds, the score stood at 27-15, and it remained unchanged as the halftime whistle sounded.
At the half, Edmonds had just six carries for 60 yards, a far cry from the 12 for 226 he had last week. However, thanks to the Fordham defense holding Yale to just 122 yards of offense, as well as the four touchdowns from Anderson, the Rams were doing just fine.
Fordham came out sluggish to start the third quarter, a problem that has plagued the team throughout this season. The defense was gashed repeatedly on the Bulldogs’ opening drive, but the Rams still managed to force their first turnover of the game, a fumble deep in their own territory, to stop it.
The Rams failed to do anything with the turnover, however, with the drive stalling after an Edmonds fourth-and-short conversion on the Fordham 30. The Rams and Bulldogs once again traded three-and-outs.
The first score of the second half came on the defensive side of the ball with almost 10 minutes gone. Junior defensive back Caleb Ham perfectly read a route by a Yale receiver and stepped in front of Tre Moore’s pass, returning it 63 yards to the house to put Fordham up 34-15.
Yale’s offense continued to pick apart the Rams’ defense, and the Bulldogs finally got points out of it on their next drive. Using a 12-play, 64-yd drive, the Bulldogs punched it in right up the middle for both a touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion, cutting the Fordham lead to 34-23 with just under two minutes left in the third quarter.
Perhaps inspired by the Ham pick-six, the Rams answered right back on their next possession. On the very first play, Anderson completed a nice pass to Cantelli for a 69-yd bomb of a touchdown, their second hookup of the day. The Rams were now up 41-23.
After multiple traded punts, the end of the game looked like it was going to be a shootout. Yale turned in an eight-play, 73-yd drive to bring the deficit back to 11. The drive included a 26-yd completion by backup quarterback Kurt Rawlings, who had to come in for one snap after Moore lost his helmet on the previous play. Yale scored the touchdown on yet another punch up the middle, making the score 41-30 with 12:21 left in regulation.
Yale looked poised to continue its comeback after forcing a huge three-and-out on the next Fordham drive, but the Rams’ defense came up big. While the defensive unit was bad on third down all game, it made a huge stop on both third and fourth down in Fordham territory, reclaiming the ball with less than eight minutes remaining.
The Rams basically salted the game away on the ensuing drive. They used a nine-play, 62-yd drive to burn 5:26 off the clock. A 27-yd completion to Longi over the middle and a 23-yarder to the outside by Edmonds put the Rams in the red zone, where they were content to settle for a 20-yd field goal from senior Makay Redd. Fordham was now up two touchdowns, 44-30, with about two minutes left.
While the Bulldogs desperately worked their way down the field and scored one more touchdown to make the score 44-37, they took too much time after using two of their timeouts in the third quarter. They went for an onside kick but could not recover, though there would have been only 21 seconds left to score regardless.
In what turned into a little bit of a shootout despite the three-and-outs, the Rams were able to eke out a 44-37 win.
Notes:
- Edmonds managed to rack up 121 yards on 18 carries, giving him more than 1,000 yards for the season. With only six games down, he is the fastest Fordham rusher to reach that milestone.
- Anderson tied his career high in passing touchdowns with five. He went 18 for 27 for 270 yards.
- Caddle had two touchdowns for the second straight game.
- Senior punter Joe Pavlik was huge for the Rams. He had seven punts, including two downed inside the 20, for a cumulative 268 yards.
- Yale converted on 11 of 19 third down attempts.
- After holding Yale to just 122 yards of offense in the first half, the Rams gave up 453 in the second. The Bulldogs gained 331 second half yards.
- Fordham committed 12 penalties for 110 yards. The Rams entered the game ranked fifth-best in the FCS in yards given up to penalties.
