Fordham rams through again

Fordham rams through again

Offense minded Fordham Rams do it again to Lafayette

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, OCTOBER 4- From their first possession up at Rose Hill Friday night when Lafayette took the ball away from Fordham, something said that was not going to dictate the final outcome. After all the Fordham University Rams have that good offense that sparked them to a post season last November.

The Leopards, who dealt the Rams their first loss last season, could not capitalize and punted on fourth down. And so it went as Fordham dominated on offense and went on to a 42-18 win, improving their overall record to 5-1, and 2-0 in the Patriot League.

Fordham would once again score more than 40 points. And for coach Joe Moorhead this has become a common occurrence. He has the quarterback and an offense that likes to run the ball, and there are no flaws with their pass efficiency,

“They ruined our undefeated season last year most important thing was to get a Patriot league win,” Moorhead said. “We were struggling in our first couple of drives. We needed a pass to get a score.”

That first score set the tone when Chase Edmonds ran the ball in from 44-yards, the first of his two touchdowns and 187 yards. That erased an early 3-0 Lafayette lead off their first drive and 37-yard field goal. The Rams say they practiced a scheme all week and there is no debate because it works.

So when Edmonds the Rams; leading rusher went with the scheme, so did the entire Fordham offense that compiled 524 yards. After a 50-6 loss to Villanova in their second game Fordham has won four straight and will host Penn next Saturday afternoon.

What made the win more special was the game being viewed by a national television audience on the CBS Sports Network. With the exception of annoying and constant media timeouts, the Rams will take the exposure.

Because something special continues to happen for this football program up at Rose Hill, there will be more national televised games on the slate. And why not, because America does fall in love with an offensive team.

“We certainly have the capability,” Moorhead said about his offense and their ability to score. Fordham has scored 52, 54, 49, 45 and 42 points  in their five games.

“It starts up front on our offensive line,” said the coach.  “Its a credit to these kids. “We put a scheme together. They practice and execute it and we improve every week.”

Quarterback Mike Nebrich at the half passed for three touchdowns and 206-yards, and compiled 287 on the night.

The Rams defense also has been a factor with this success that carried over from last year and Brett Biestek led that unit with 9- tackles. That was significant because it caused the Lafayette offense to force a fumble and also lose significant yardage. And to get by Fordham losing yards is not a part of the plan.

“The whole defense had a good night,” said Edmonds, “I did a good job with the scheme.” The freshman All state American, and first team all state selection out of Central Dauphin East in “Harrisburgh Pennsylvania, rushed for 46-yards in the first quarter.

Moorhead also commented about the penalty yardage that continues to follow off the success of last year. The Rams were penalized for 124-yards and if they did not continue to pile up points, the score could have been closer.

Fordham was leveled with 15-yard penalty roughing the passer that led to a Lafayette first down late in that first quarter. The drive continued and led to the Lafayette early lead on the field goal.

But you listen to Moorhead and he is aware that at some point the penalties will catch up to you.

“We have been a highly penalized team the past few years,” he said. “There are the late hits. It got a little chippy there. Hey it’s football, it happens.They are stupid penalties... ones you can control.”

In the end though, Fordham is an offensive machine and those penalties tend to be meaningless as they seem to be the team to defeat again in the Patriot League.

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