Despite a 10-7 lead in the first half, the Georgetown Hoyas blew past the Red Foxes with four unanswered scores in the second half to put a damper on new head coach Mike Willis’s season opener at Tenney Stadium, falling 31-10.
Georgetown already proved their dominance against the Pioneer League in their season-opening win against the Davidson Wildcats 42-26, but the bigger questions lay on the Marist front with Willis debuting his new squad. With mystery in the Red Fox personnel, redshirt sophomore Enzo Arjona took the ball under center in the first drive of the Willis era.
While Arjona limited turnovers, the Red Fox offense couldn’t string together many scoring drives on the day, with no scores in the second half.
“Obviously, [you are] disappointed every time the result is not going your way. I thought there were parts of the game, especially the first quarter and the first half, where we showed a tremendous amount of fight,” said Willis.
Marist’s first half could be defined by their first drive on offense and defense: a touchdown score and a three-and-out stop out of the gate, respectively. Many first-time starters made an impact on Marist’s first drive, including redshirt sophomore Carter James, with a 19-yard run on a pitch to get the crowd engaged early.
With multiple read-option looks and quick passing within the hash marks, Arjona led the Marist offense within the 20-yard line, when a crucial pass interference call by Georgetown got Marist to the goal line. James, serving as the lead back, strolled in for a 2-yard touchdown, the first of his collegiate career. A first-drive score set the tone early for a packed Tenney Stadium on opening day.
The Monmouth transfer’s favorite target, tight end Jackson Connor-McCarthy, shined on inside slant passes and got separation easily within the numbers. His statement catch came in the third quarter, when Arjona launched his first deep ball of the day, snagging an over-the-shoulder while taking multiple hard hits from opposing defensive backs for 36 yards. The newcomer from Bryant ended the day with the team lead in receptions (8) and yards (75).
“He has some real ability with a ball in his hands, as a screen runner, as someone who you can throw short to and let him run long, and someone who can make exceptional plays downfield, even through contact,” said Willis. “There’s some things that will correct for him to help him play with a better technique, but he has a bright future ahead of him.”
On defense, Marist’s physical nature shined early, having edge rushers press on every play of their first defensive drive, and plenty of key pressures from multiple players throughout the game.
Quarterback junior Danny Lauter got the offense going after their first drive, stringing together midrange passes to open and using quick releases to march downfield. Getting to the goal line, the secondary struggled to stay with opposing defenders, and the Hoyas had no trouble scoring with a deadly dual-runningback threat in play at the goal line for a senior running back Naieem Kearney score.
Trouble struck for Marist on the offensive side on their third possession, when starting left tackle redshirt sophomore Dan Lozano fell to the turf and needed help getting off the field. This–along with failure to string together any progressive runs–halted the Marist offense, punting on their next two possessions.
Later in the game, new sixth-year transfer defensive lineman Gannon McCorkle exited the game with cramps, a takeaway for Willis and the conditioning of his squad to get right before their next matchup.
“In your first game, conditioning can occasionally be a challenge, and I’ll take ownership of that. We can put processes in place to handle cramping a little bit better,” said Willis.
While both offenses squandered in the second quarter, Marist’s physical defense had multiple key stops, constantly pressuring Lauter and forcing the veteran out of the pocket.
Marist, who hadn’t scored since their first possession, found themselves in yet another fourth-down situation, where Willis chose to be aggressive and go for it. Once more, Georgetown’s penalty trouble gave Marist life after a holding penalty gave Marist a fresh set of downs.
Arjona, who had yet to make a long pass on the day, finally found redshirt senior receiver Will Downes in open field position to get close to the endzone, but settled for a field goal attempt to take a 10-7 lead.
Under three minutes left in the quarter, the defense’s first true test came against Lauter’s offense in hurry-up mode, but they didn’t break a sweat.
Forcing a three-and-out on a stop from Ronan Casavona, Marist carried a lead against Georgetown into the second half for the first time since 2017.
The third-quarter momentum slowly shifted in favor of the Hoyas, as the pace of the offense overpowered a Marist defense that bolstered an impressive first half. Though Marist stopped Georgetown on their first possession of the quarter, Lauter struck back with two scoring drives, only using 15 plays to get 85 yards downfield.
While Kearney got his second touchdown of the day, Lauter showed his skills on a perfect ball placement in the fourth quarter to sophomore tight end Isaiah Grimes on a wheel route, giving Georgetown the advantage with three unanswered scores.
Despite taking some deep shots and playing more aggressively on offense, Georgetown’s graduate linebacker David Ealey III refused to be fooled, sacking the quarterback on consecutive plays to put a damper on any comeback attempts.
As the game wound down, dark clouds circled over Tenney Stadium, and a monsoon rained down, forcing many Tenney fans to exit the stadium towards the end of the fourth quarter.
Despite the weather, Georgetown and Marist played on, as the Hoyas added their fourth consecutive score. Despite the score deficit and weird weather conditions, Willis and Davies’ offense kept marching downfield till the final whistle.
“There’s a lot of things to build on, but again, no moral victories. We’ll correct what we need to correct, and we’ll move on to an outstanding opponent,” said Willis.
That outstanding opponent, Lafayette, will host Marist next Saturday at 12:30 p.m. in Easton, Pennsylvania.
Edited by Jimmy Tsiantoulas
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photo by Kira Crutcher
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