Fordham Football Feels at Home at Yankee Stadium, Beats Holy Cross 54-14

By Jack McLoone

It is not uncommon to hear Frank Sinatra sing “I want to be a part of it, New York, New York,” at Yankee Stadium — the New York Yankees play the song after each one of their home wins. Fordham Football also follows this tradition, so it made sense that, when the Rams took on Holy Cross in the Ram-Crusader Cup at Yankee Stadium on Saturday, it was Fordham who left with a 54-14 win.

The matchup at Yankee Stadium was the most anticipated event on Fordham’s schedule this season. The prestigious location and announced 21,375 in attendance combined for an electric atmosphere at the Cup. Fordham actually used to play in the old Yankee Stadium with some frequency during the time of the Blocks of Granite, but the last game played they played there was held 70 years ago, on Nov. 11, 1946.

While the history of the matchup, weeklong hype party and entrancing location were of note, the game was just like any other once kickoff happened.

The Rams wasted no time getting on the board first. Junior running back Chase Edmonds hit a home run with a 41-yard rushing touchdown to put the Rams up 7-0 after their first drive of the game, quickly taking care of his four-game drought. After being held to just 73 yards on the ground against Colgate last week, it was only fitting that his return to form coincided with the largest crowd of his career.

That early touchdown set the tone for the rest of the game. The Fordham defense came out pumped and shut down the Crusader offense, forcing a three-and-out. After getting the ball back, senior quarterback Kevin Anderson went to work. The first three plays of the drive featured completions of 20, 17 and 18 yards to Edmonds, sophomore receiver Corey Caddle and senior receiver Robbie Cantelli, respectively. These signaled a big improvement for Anderson, as he has struggled with longer passes this season. A few more plays for short yardage put the Rams on the 1-yard line, and once again head coach Andrew Breiner called on his bellcow back. Edmonds did not let him down, leaping into the end zone for the 14-0 lead.

Holy Cross threatened on the ensuing drive, with Jake Wieczorek returning the kickoff to right about midfield and quarterback Geoff Wade finding Brendan Flaherty for a 24-yard completion. The Crusaders decided to go for it on fourth-and-3 on the Fordham 24, but a diving play by sophomore linebacker Noah Fitzgerald broke up the pass attempt and turned the ball over on downs.

The Rams continued their dominance on the following drive thanks in large part to Caddle. He caught an 8-yard pass to open the drive and later came up with a 29-yard reception after a few Edmonds short gainers. On first-and-10 on the Holy Cross 27, Breiner went into his bag of tricks. Anderson threw a backwards pass across the field to Caddle, who then lofted a pass to the end zone for senior receiver Jorge Solano. Solano made an amazing catch on the slightly underthrown ball to put the Rams up 21-0. They scored touchdowns on all three of their first quarter possessions.

After forcing yet another Holy Cross three-and-out, Fordham was held to one of their own. However, Fordham managed to take advantage of its next possession, marching down the field with a 10-play, 76-yard drive that was capped off with Edmonds’ third touchdown of the day, this time from four yards out. After senior kicker Makay Redd hit the left upright on the PAT attempt, the score moved to 27-0. The touchdown gave Edmonds the Patriot League record for most career rushing touchdowns with 58.

The Crusaders finally got on the board on their next possession thanks to receiver Darrius Lacy beating sophomore defensive back Antonio Jackson for a 55-yard reception down the middle. Running back Diquan Walker scampered into the end zone from eight yards out to make the score 27-7.

This score did not go unanswered on the Rams’ next possession, as they worked their way down the field entirely on completions of 14 yards or more. First, Anderson hit sophomore tight end Isaiah Searight for a 23-yard catch. He followed that up with back-to-back 21- and 14-yard completions to Caddle. With the ball on the Holy Cross 17, Anderson tried again, but Caddle was crushed over the middle and had to leave with an injury. Anderson went to his other focus point of the drive for the touchdown, finding Searight down the seam for the 17-yard score. The Rams tried another trick play on the two-point conversion, splitting Anderson out wide and putting Edmonds in position as the quarterback, but the snap went over his head and the score remained 33-7.

After the defense stepped up deep in Fordham territory to force yet another turnover on downs, the Rams took over on their own 17. They quickly found themselves on the Holy Cross 2-yard line after Anderson hit sophomore receiver Austin Longi for a long completion over the middle that Longi turned into a 60-yard gainer with his speed. Anderson then found his favorite red zone target, Cantelli, for the 2-yard touchdown, Cantelli’s 12th of the season.

The Crusaders faced a steep uphill battle to open the second half, but they did what they could to close the gap. They used a 10-play, 67-yard drive to find the end zone on their first possession. The Rams were once again victimized by the deep ball — really their only flaw on Saturday — with the scoring play coming on a 36-yard reception by Richie DeNicola.

Fordham, despite the big lead, answered right back. Once again it was Anderson completing the deep passes that put the Rams in scoring position. He completed back-to-back 20- and 19-yard passes to Cantelli and Longi early in the drive. Then, facing a fourth-and-5 on the Holy Cross 30, Breiner decided to go for it. Anderson found Cantelli again, this time for a 24-yard completion. He then found Longi in the middle of the end zone for a 7-yard score, putting the score back at 47-14 with 6:02 left in the third quarter.

At this point, the scoring finally quieted. On their next drive, the Crusaders turned the ball over on downs inside the Fordham 25-yard line for a third time. Next, the two teams traded punts.

The Rams scored one last time after fielding the Holy Cross punt. After marching their way down the field, they faced a fourth-and-1 on the Holy Cross 18. Despite leading 47-14, Breiner kept his foot on the gas pedal. It paid off on the scoreboard, as Edmonds got a whole lot more than the one yard, bouncing outside and muscling through a few Crusader defenders for his fourth touchdown of the day to bring the game to its eventual final score of 54-14.

With the decisive victory, Fordham improves to 7-3 and 4-1 in the Patriot League. While the Rams have been eliminated from Patriot League title contention, they still have an outside shot at an FCS playoff berth, though they will need another dominant win in their season finale against Bucknell next Saturday.

Notes

• Edmonds finished with 119 yards and four touchdowns on 23 carries. Those 119 yards put his career total at 5,104, making him Fordham’s first 5,000-yard rusher. The FCS record is 6,559, held by Georgia Southern graduate and former NFL player Adrian Peterson.
• Anderson had his best game of the season, going 28 for 33 for 426 yards and three touchdowns. He has not thrown an interception since the Oct. 10 game against Lafayette.
• The Rams held Holy Cross to -5 yards on the ground, the second time they have held a team to negative yardage on the ground this season (-2 for Georgetown on Oct. 22). However, Wade amassed 307 yards through the air.
• Fordham committed just three penalties for 25 yards, one of them a false start with the second unit in late in the game.
• Late in the fourth quarter, senior defensive lineman Manny Adeyeye forced the Rams’ first turnover since the Yale game, punching the ball out of Wade’s hand. Senior linebacker David Barletta recovered the fumble.
• Fordham improved its Bronx winning streak to 11, with their last home loss coming against Villanova on Sept. 12 of last season.