By Jack McLoone

Fordham Football’s senior class has a lot to be proud of. It won 32 games over its four years, including a Patriot League title and two appearances in the FCS Playoffs. The Rams were able to cap off their disappointing final season with the 32nd win, 20-9 over Bucknell. The Rams end 2017 with a 4-7 record.

This class was the one responsible for the reinvention of Fordham Football’s program. It featured two Fordham record-holders in graduate student quarterback Kevin Anderson—career passing touchdowns (73), single-game rushing yards by a quarterback (115)—and senior running back Chase Edmonds. To be honest, Edmonds’ list of accolades requires its own list. He holds the Fordham records for:

• Career rushing touchdowns (67)
• Total career touchdowns (74)
• Career rushing yards (5862)
• Single-season touchdowns (25, in 2015)
• Points scored in a season (150, in 2015)
• Single-game rushing yards (359, in 2016)
• Single-game all-purpose yards (403, in 2015, also a Patriot League record)
• Career 100-yard rushing games (26)
• Career 200-yard rushing games (7)
• Career 300-yard rushing games (2)
• Career points (444, also a Patriot League record)

His career rushing yards is also a Patriot League record. While he fell short in his pursuit of the FCS rushing yards record due to injury this season, it does not discount his incredible career. He reminded people just how explosive he is when he is healthy with a vintage performance today—which is a weird thing to say about a college senior—but it feels accurate after this slog of a season.

Unfortunately, Anderson was unable to play in his final game due to injury, so junior transfer quarterback Austin King stepped in.

The first quarter was a slugfest of the entirely unentertaining variety. Individually, both punters had more yards punting than the two teams combined had offensively. The Bison had 75 yards of offense, while the Rams were held to just 18.

The Rams offense was unable to do anything with big turnovers all game, maybe most indicative after junior defensive back Antonio Jackson picked off a deep ball on the goal line and returned it to the Bucknell 45-yard line. The Rams offense immediately went three-and-out.

Edmonds eventually woke up a quiet crowd by breaking off a run straight out of the 2016 highlight reel in the middle of the second quarter. He hit a hole right up the middle, spun around a tackler in the open field, juked out another and then broke a shoestring tackle down the sideline as he scampered in for a 65-yard touchdown. I, a very impartial observer in the press box, shouted.

The Rams carried that lead into halftime. At the half, Edmonds was already over 100 yards rushing, the only time he hit that mark this season. The Rams needed it, because while the defense was holding down the Bison, King could not get anything done at quarterback. At the half, he was 8-18 for just 65 yards.

Things stayed mostly the same until around the six-minute mark of the third quarter. As King rolled out to his right inside Fordham territory, he pulled a Jameis Winston and just lost the ball, which Bucknell recovered. The Ram defense held strong, however, only allowing a field goal to make it 7-3 Fordham. That was the theme of not just this game, but really the entire season.

Every game was seemingly won or lost by the defense, and the offense just had to do enough. It was a far cry from last season’s offensive powerhouse Rams, but that is what happens when the two record-holders in Anderson and Edmonds miss significant time to injury and do not really play like themselves when they are back.

After hitting another field goal to open the fourth quarter, making it 7-6, Bucknell once again was the beneficiary of a King fumble, this time recovered on the Fordham five-yard line. But once again, the defense bailed out King and the offense, holding the Bison to yet another field goal, which gave Bucknell the 9-7 lead with 10:49 left to play.

While it was only a two-point lead, things seemed borderline hopeless for the Rams, considering how neutered the offense was all game with King at quarterback.

But if it was not going to happen on offense, junior wide receiver and punt returner Austin Longi decided he would make it happen on special teams.

Halfway through the fourth quarter, Longi fielded a punt on the Fordham 10. He hit one hole, made a tackler miss and then got a block up a sideline to take it to the house for a 90-yard punt return touchdown. After having muffed a number of punts earlier, including one recovered by Bucknell, it was full redemption for one of the most electric players on the Fordham roster.

“It energized us,” said head coach Andrew Breiner. “Obviously, offensively, we were struggling to go forward. And to get that kind of a play, it takes the pressure off of the offense, probably gives the defense a chance to exhale. The sense was that they couldn’t give anything up. So it reenergized us for sure.”

The Rams ran a trick play where junior tight end Isaiah Searight threw a pass towards senior tight end James Orfini, but it fell incomplete, giving Fordham a 15-9 lead with 7:53 left to play.

With 3:14 left, as only he can, Chase Edmonds drove home the dagger. One last time at Jack Coffey Field, one last time in a Fordham uniform, one last time before he surely steps on a field in an NFL uniform, he broke free and won the footrace to the end zone. His 55-yard touchdown salted the game away, giving the Rams the 20-9 lead they never relinquished.

“To be able to watch ‘Deuce Deuce,’ as we call him, streak down Coffey Field two more times, it’s special,” said Breiner.

The Fordham defense was stellar, led by senior linebacker Niko Thorpe, who had eight tackles in his final game. Senior defensive lineman Ty Green had a ballistic-missile sack of quarterback John Chiarolanzio. The main reason the Bison only picked up 68 yards on the ground was graduate student defensive lineman Manny Adeyeye, who clogged up the middle one last time. Bucknell, despite having multiple drives start deep in Fordham territory, never scored a touchdown.

“Going into the game, with where we’re at at the quarterback position, we knew that for us to win the football game, it was going to have to be a low-scoring affair,” said Breiner. “We challenged the defense, starting on the bye week, that this was a game they could not give up big plays. They could not give up long touchdowns. They had to force Bucknell to try and drive the field on them. And they executed their gameplan almost perfectly.”

The post-game ringing of the Victory Bell in front of the Rose Hill Gym was as bittersweet as ever; it was the last time for the Fordham seniors.

“To send the seniors out as winners, to ring that bell one more time, was the theme of the week, the aim of the week,” said Breiner. “And to go into the offseason with a win, riding a little bit of momentum. It’s a long time until we play UNC-Charlotte, and to not have to wait as long to know what that feeling of winning is is big.”

That senior class includes: Edmonds, Green, Thorpe, Orfini Nick Angeli, Jarred Brevard, Liam Cadman, Alejandro Cardenas, Conor Cassidy, Anthony Coyle, Jonathan Dimon, Garrett Donaldson, Tony Fox, Ben Hartman, Marcus Hicks, John O’Boyle, Caleb Ham, Vincent Sansone and Clayton Welsh, along with the graduate students Adeyeye and Anderson.

“It’s a very special group. It’s a group that certainly leaves a very positive mark on the university,” said Breiner. “We’re so grateful for what those guys, all of them, have done for us and our football program. They’re a special group and will be missed.”