POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.— After trailing Davidson 27-17 at the half, the Marist Red Foxes were able to force overtime and finally defeat Davidson 48-41.
Red shirt freshman quarterback Austin Day set the program’s single game record for passing yards with 440 and tied the program record for touchdown passes with five on his first home start of his career.
“I’m not even thinking about the numbers or anything, I’m just going out there and trying to win the game. I guess I broke a record,” said Day. “I love it, it feels great. Moving forward, I’m not going to get too overconfident. I’m just gonna keep grinding and keep working and come back next week to get another dub.”
Senior wide receiver Juston Christian tied the program’s single game record for receiving touchdowns with three. “I just try to take everything one play at a time and give my maximum effort every play,” Christian said.
Continuing with the theme of the day, linebacker Willie Barrett set the program’s record for most tackles in a single game with 14 tackles. “Everyone on the defense trusts me to make those plays,” Barrett said. “It’s just a whole team effort.”
Head Coach Jim Parady was pleased with his team’s performance. “A fantastic football game to be involved in. Give Davidson a lot of credit for the way they played,” Parady said. But our guys were very resilient. We were down 17 points late in the third quarter, they kept believing and made some plays at the end that got us to overtime. Then the defense finished it off with a great stop.”
The Red Foxes had a 17-13 lead over Davidson going into the second quarter. However, they found themselves trailing after two interceptions by Day, which resulted in two Davidson touchdowns. Marist went into the locker room at halftime trailing 27-17.
After throwing two interceptions and fumbling the football in the second half, Day began to show signs of frustration on the sidelines.
“I had a lot of teammates that had my back and they calmed me down,” Day said. That’s what I feel was the difference in the second half. My teammates calmed me down and made sure that I was alright mentally and to go out there and execute.”
Parady was in agreement. “We felt that the plays were there offensively in the first half. We just had to calm down a little bit and finish the drives,” he said.
Davidson scored first in the second half on a 46-yard touchdown run by running back James Story, increasing their lead to 34-17. Marist responded with a 68-yard touchdown pass to Christian from Day and a 74-yard touchdown pass, to Christian, as Marist took a three-point lead with 10 minutes left in the game.
“Going into the second half we are thinking 0-0. We’re not worried about the score. It’s all about regrouping and coming back out with even more fire than we came out with in the first half,” said Day. “I feel like that is what our team is capable of. You will see more of that coming in the future I can promise you that.”
Davidson held Marist on the four-yard line with under two minutes left. Marist was forced to kick the field goal to tie the game and send it to overtime.
In the beginning of the game we kind of struggled. When overtime came we just had to buckle up and do our jobs. Just go out and dominant the man across from us,” said Barrett.
Davidson was the first to possess the football in overtime, and promptly scored on a 3-yard touchdown run by running back Wesley Dugger. Marist responded with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Day to Christian after Day’s passing attempt was tipped and somehow ended in Christian’s hands. Christian showed great focus and concentration and was able to track the ball into his hands after the tip.
After both teams converted on their first possessions in OT it was tied once again 41-41. On their next possession in overtime Marist converted once again when Day found tight end Jon Kanda for a 25-yard touchdown pass. Marist took the lead at 48-41 and was in need of a stop to win the game. They got the stop they needed by holding Davidson a yard short of a first down on 4th and 2.
The Marist defense held Davidson to seal the overtime victory.
Marist improves to 3-4 and 3-1 in conference play. Next week the Red Foxes will travel to Kentucky to take on Morehead State University.
Edited by Meaghan Roche
Header photo by Allison Smith.
