After being stunned by Georgetown University on a late touchdown last Saturday, Fordham Football returned to Moglia Stadium at Jack Coffey Field on Homecoming weekend in desperate need of a win.
On paper, a matchup with Lehigh University seemed like a game that Fordham should win handily.
The Mountain Hawks entered the game at 1-4 on the season and were coming off a 49-7 drubbing at the hands of Monmouth University.
But as Fordham learned last week against Georgetown, all Patriot League matchups are tough. Fordham and Lehigh played out a thrilling contest on Saturday, with the Rams winning 38-35 on a last-second field goal by senior Brandon Peskin. The 45-yarder was a career long for Peskin, who was named FedEx Ground FCS National Special Teams Player of the Week for his heroics.
Fordham again started out slow in this one, falling behind 21-7 midway through the second quarter. Lehigh quarterback Brayten Silbor connected with Dylan McFadden for a 52-yard score on the Mountain Hawks opening drive of the game to push Fordham onto the back foot early.
The Rams were able to finish the first half strong, with junior running back Julius Loughridge punching in a three-yard touchdown and Peskin connecting on a 27-yard field goal to make the score 21-17 Lehigh heading into halftime. Loughridge was Fordham’s leading rusher on the day, totaling 170 yards on the ground in addition to two touchdowns.
As a team, Fordham posted over 200 yards rushing against the Mountain Hawks defense.
Fordham carried their momentum from the end of the first half into the second. Sophomore quarterback CJ Montes connected with graduate student receiver Garrett Cody for a 35-yard gain on the first play of the second half. The drive ended with Fordham near the goal line, and Loughridge punched the ball in from close range to give Fordham their first lead of the day at 24-21.
Lehigh did not go away, however. A fumble from freshman running back Jacob Rodriguez followed by a personal foul penalty set Lehigh up in Fordham territory. The Mountain Hawks promptly took advantage of the short field, going back up by four on a three-yard touchdown pass from Silbor to Geoffrey Jamiel.
Montes and Fordham immediately responded with a solid drive of their own, but it stalled on fourth-and-one from the Lehigh 12-yard line.
Loughridge took the fourth down carry but was unable to convert, handing the ball right back to Lehigh. They took advantage of their huge defensive stop, marching right back down the field and scoring another touchdown to go up 35-24 over the Rams.
With 11 minutes to go down by two scores, Fordham were in desperate need of a touchdown. In just five plays, the Rams drove 85 yards to do exactly that. Montes found senior Cole Thornton on a deep ball over the middle of the field for a huge 49-yard gain, which was followed by a 14-yard touchdown from Montes to senior MJ Wright. Fordham converted the two-point conversion as well to make the score 35-32 in favor of Lehigh. The drive took less than three minutes off the clock and was exactly what Fordham needed to get back in the game.
Fordham’s defense was able to get off the field with a big third down stop, handing the ball back to Montes and the offense with five minutes left and a chance to tie or take the lead. They moved the ball into Lehigh territory, but a sack and a failed third down conversion made Fordham settle for a game-tying field goal attempt.
Peskin connected from 42 yards, tying the game up at 35 with 1:48 to play. Still with all three timeouts, Lehigh had plenty of time to drive down the field and win the game. Aided by a pass interference call, the Mountain Hawks moved the ball near midfield, but senior defensive back Cameron Blair made a huge play on third down to force a punt.
With two timeouts, 52 seconds to play and the ball on their own 11, Fordham’s offense would need to work quickly in order to set up a potential game-winning field goal. A big run from Julius Loughridge and a 22-yard connection from Montes to Cody set Fordham up with a first down on the Lehigh 38-yard line, still outside of Peskin’s range with only five seconds left.
In need of a few more yards, Montes once again hit Cody on an 11-yard curl route down the sideline. Cody got out-of-bounds with just one second left, giving Peskin a chance at a game winning field goal.
Lehigh attempted to ice the Fordham kicker by using their final timeout, but Peskin showed no nerves and drilled the 45-yarder to give Fordham the thrilling 38-35 win.
Montes finished the game with 382 yards passing and two total touchdowns as Fordham improved to 4-2 on the year and 1-1 in Patriot League play. Fordham simply needed a win against Lehigh, and they performed clutch down the stretch to get their first conference win of the season.
Peskin was undoubtedly the hero, though. After the game, Peskin joined head coach Joe Conlin for the post-game press conference.
On his game-winning kick, Peskin said, “I actually thought it came off my foot really good. A little bit of wind at the end pushed it to the left, it hit the upright but still went in… It felt good.”
“It hit the upright?” Conlin responded. “I didn’t know that.”
The kick was Peskin’s first game-winner in both high school and college. Fordham is back in action this weekend on the road against Stony Brook University, a rare non-conference matchup during the heat of Patriot League play. That game is set for a 3:30 PM start on Saturday and can be streamed live on FloFootball or listened to on WFUV 90.7 FM.
