Fordham Moves on to 2nd Round of FCS Playoffs with Win over Sacred Heart

The Fordham Rams are headed to New Hampshire, where next Saturday they will take on the No. 1-seeded Wildcats (10-1) in the second round of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs. 

On Saturday, The Rams beat Sacred Heart, 44-22, in the opening round in front of 2,442 fans at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx, New York.

It was a rematch of the first round of the FCS playoffs last November, when the Pioneers came to Rose Hill and lost, 37-27. The Rams would lose a week later at Towson. This year, the goal has been to get to Frisco, Texas, to play for the national championship on Jan. 10.

"Our kids did a fantastic job preparing this week," Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said. "They gave tremendous effort. For the most part we executed well. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't clean, but no game is."

"We had great urgency," he added. "They understood the magnitude of the game—with this being a single-elimination tournament."

Save for two games this year—one a 50-6 thrashing at Villanova in Week 2, the other a 42-31 loss last week at Army—Fordham has dismantled its opponents. In their 10 regular-season wins, the Rams averaged 46.9 points per game, scoring 50 or more four times.

Saturday's game did not play out like so many others did for Fordham this year, though the end result was a familiar one.

Fordham struck first when Mike Nebrich connected with Tebucky Jones Jr. on a one-yard touchdown reception. It was the 26th touchdown pass for Nebrich this season and the 62nd of his Fordham career. He would go on to throw three more, including one on the next possession, a 50-yard pass to Brian Wetzel that put Fordham ahead 14-0 less than five minutes into the first quarter.

Sacred Heart (9-3) would respond by scoring nine points in a row, though a blocked extra point and blocked field goal by the Rams kept it a five-point game early in the second quarter.

After a Michael Marando field goal for Fordham made it 17-9, Sacred Heart would score on its next possession. A 59-yard run by Sean Bell led to a two-yard touchdown pass from RJ Noel to Tyler Dube. A two-point conversion was nullified due to a pass-interference call and the Pioneers settled for the extra point and trailed, 17-16, with 4:10 to go in the second quarter.

On the Rams' final drive before halftime, Nebrich connected again with Wetzel, this time for 14 yards as Fordham took a 24-16 lead into the break.

A 97-yard touchdown pass from Nebrich to Jones put Fordham ahead, 31-16, early in the third quarter. Marando added a field goal to make it 34-16.

Keshaudas Spence then scored for the Pioneers on a 22-yard touchdown run. The two-point conversion attempt failed, and Fordham still had a 34-22 lead midway through the third quarter.

Another Marando field goal made it 37-22 with 11:44 left in the game, and Chase Edmonds' 22nd touchdown run of the season, this one from 26 yards out, sealed the win.

"We had to fight for every inch," Moorhead said, giving credit to the opponent. "That's a well-coached football team. They're tough. They're disciplined."

Fordham's motto all along has been "next man in," a reference to everyone on the roster being ready when called upon. That was certainly on display Saturday when the Rams were without key players on both sides of the ball.

Tight end Dan Light and outside linebacker/defensive lineman Brett Biestek did not play due to injuries suffered a week earlier in the game at Army. Linebacker Stephen Hodge has been out all year.

There have been injuries and setbacks, but the Rams continue to roll on.

"I can't count on two hands the number of guys who have gone down," Moorhead said. "That's the culture we've tried to create here. We neither give nor accept excuses... It's a credit to our kids for their belief in the things we deem as important to being successful."

Quotations in this article were obtained firsthand.

Charles Costello covers the Fordham Rams for Bleacher Report. A full archive of his articles can be found here. Follow him on Twitter: @CFCostello