By Max Prinz
For the fifth consecutive year, Fordham will be the home of the Liberty Cup. Fordham used yet another 100-yard rushing performance from freshman Chase Edmonds and senior quarterback Mike Nebrich’s best game of the season to blow out Columbia, 49-7.
Nebrich, who has started slowly this season, was 32-48 for 435 yards and four touchdowns. Despite facing a variety of blitzes and heavy pressure in the pocket, he remained calm and took whatever the defense gave him. In the postgame press conference, Nebrich called the performance his best of the season, but pointed out that it was not perfect.
“Yeah, [best game] so far,” Nebrich said. “A lot of room for improvement though, 16 incompletions: there’s room there to improve. A big win is always nice, but there’s always room to improve.”
Nebrich’s day received a boost from a fantastic showing by his talented receiving corps. Seniors Sam Ajala and Brian Wetzel each had 10 catches. Fellow senior Tebucky Jones had his second straight impact game, catching seven passes for 129 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Jones’ first TD catch, a one-handed grab in the end zone, was particularly impressive.
“The receivers were great,” Nebrich said. “They were doing a great job all week, getting lined up, getting exactness on their routes. It doesn’t surprise me at all that all three of them had a big day.”
Edmonds did his part on offense as well, rushing for 174 yards on a season-high 27 carries. He also contributed a rushing touchdown, as did fellow running back, sophomore Kendall Pearcey.
“Chase and KP have been great for me,” Nebrich said. “They take a lot of pressure off me. Our big thing on offense is play-action pass and when you have two great running backs like we have, those play-action passes become really effective at opening the defense. Having those guys here has been really great.”
Columbia head coach Pete Mangurian was similarly impressed with Edmonds.
“He’s a good back,” Mangurian said. “He spins, he gets you going, and they’ve got that short passing game that helps open up the seams.”
The Fordham defense was, perhaps, even more impressive. The Rams stonewalled the Lions’ offense all day, allowing just 165 yards of total offense and shutting Columbia out until very late in the fourth quarter, when many of the substitutes were in the game. The run defense, often a question mark, allowed just 59 yards.
“We’ve emphasized the run defense since the end of last year,” Moorhead said. “To be a complete defense and go from being very good to a dominant level we needed to stop the run better.”
The Rams began their dominant performance on their second drive of the game. Nebrich orchestrated a seven-play, 52-yard drive that led to a field goal and put the Rams up 3-0. Then he led a 13-play drive for another field goal. A third consecutive scoring drive got Fordham six points when Nebrich found senior tight end Dan Light. At the 9:50 mark of the second quarter, the Rams were ahead 14-0 and getting everything they wanted on offense.
“We actually had prepared pretty well for what we got today,” Nebrich said of the Columbia defense. “Once we got all their coverages down we had plays dialed up.”
The defense, meanwhile, shut down the Columbia offense. Excluding the final drive when substitutes were playing, the Columbia offense did not register a drive greater than 50 yards. Columbia had 13 drives on Saturday, 12 of which ended in punts.
Mangurian was visibly disappointed in his team’s play, especially on third down.
“Numbers don’t lie,” Mangurian said. “When you’re 2-14 on third down it’s hard to keep a drive going. They made big plays and we didn’t. That’s what gets it going.”
With the win, the Rams improve to 3-1 on the year and retain the coveted Liberty Cup for a fifth straight season. Coach Moorhead said he was pleased his team performed as well as it did in the rivalry game.
“It’s very significant,” Moorhead said. “This is a good rivalry game between two great academic schools in close proximity to each other.”
The Rams will travel to face Holy Cross this weekend for the Ram-Crusader Cup.
__________
Max Prinz is the Sports Editor for The Fordham Ram.
