Tied up 18-18 after the first half, Marist football fell short of victory, losing 39-32 for the Red Foxes’s sixth-straight loss in a single season, the first time they have done so since 2007.
St. Thomas senior running back Hope Adebayo–the team’s leading rusher entering today–decimated the Marist rush defense, averaging 8.1 yards per carry and allowing the Tommies to get downfield effectively, despite Marist leading in total offensive yards 344 to 321.
Marist’s offense stalled with only six yards of positive offense in the first quarter, with three punts and an interception. After the lackluster quarter, they thrived off crafty play-calling and five touchdown passes from redshirt sophomore quarterback Sonny Mannino, tying the Marist record.
“I could not do any of it [without] my offensive line, all the guys up front, and then obviously the receivers,” said Mannino. “I cannot do it all, so it’s up to them to make the big plays and especially to come down with the ball.”
Coming into today, St. Thomas sophomore quarterback Tak Tateoka had completed only 39% of his passes, but went 16-for-21 for 122 passing yards and four total touchdowns: two rushing and two passing. He contributed to the all-around offensive effort that only struggled in the second quarter on the day.
After the Tommies’ first touchdown score, Mannino threw his only interception to senior defensive back Nick Hand for his second interception of the year, getting St. Thomas back to the goal line for a corresponding quarterback rush score.
After 15 unanswered points from the Tommies and looking for a third score, two straight rushes of no gain on third and fourth down gave Marist their first turnover on downs of the day. Marist halted a surging first quarter and gave themselves a crucial opportunity to flip the switch.
Marist finally got their must-needed first-down completion on a crafty flea flicker 16-yard pass from graduate student running back Tristan Shannon to quarterback Mannino. The Red Foxes looked to experiment with their playmakers, with a third-down conversion on a direct snap to redshirt freshman running back Lincon Cardillo.
Without a completion over ten yards, Mannino finally connected for a crucial 22-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore running back Carter James to get Marist within nine early in the second quarter.
Thriving off of two St. Thomas defensive penalties, Mannino used one of his many tools, his legs, to get Marist within the red zone when another Tommies defender committed a penalty–this time a late hit on Mannino–getting Marist to the goal line for another Mannino-James touchdown. Missing another extra point, Marist was down 15-12 with 5:00 in the second half.
On a fourth down situation late in the second half, redshirt freshman safety Connor Fitzgibbon blocked a punt, bringing Tenney stadium to their feet and giving Marist a chance to score before halftime.
In the most unorthodox motion play in the Willis era to date, the entire Marist offensive line shifted out left with Mannino completely unprotected with a tight end snapping the ball.
The Tommies clearly confused, the quarterback rolled out right to throw an easy touchdown to redshirt freshman tight end Jackson Connors-McCarthy to go up three after a third straight Marist missed extra point.
“I think Bob [Davies], TJ [Weyl], Coach [Kevin] Johnson and our staff did a tremendous job getting into some unique sets,” said Marist head coach Mike Willis. “We had a tight end snap the ball at one point today with a bunch out wide. The players did a terrific job embracing both the ice cream and the sprinkles.”
Entering the second half tied after a Tommies field goal, the Tommies looked to revive their own offense with a big rush for Adebayo with a 24-yard gain, 14 yards past a broken Marist tackle.
Exposing one-on-one coverage, Tateoka looked for his longest pass of the day in the endzone, a 21-yard pass to right graduate student receiver Jacob Wildermuth’s chest.
After a Marist decision to go deep on third and fourth down with only three yards to go, St. Thomas’s running game picked up steam. Penalties started to pick up on the Marist side of the ball, allowing Adebayo to rush just short of the goal line for a Tateoka tush push to go up two scores.
“The idea, a fallacy that usually gets expressed in questioning those decisions, is the idea that you have that much time against the team that runs the ball really well with 11 minutes left,” said Willis. “It’s really not guaranteed you’ll have two possessions at that point, and I stand by our aggression.”
Another goal-line situation gave Mannino his fourth touchdown pass of the day to redshirt senior receiver Will Downes and put Marist down eight, yet again failing to convert with a two-point conversion.
While St. Thomas scored on three consecutive drives, graduate student defensive lineman Gannon McCorkle had an impactful sack on a third-down try to force a punt.
Backs against the wall and forced to go for it on a fourth-and-5 situation with four minutes remaining, Matthew Guggemos broke up a short pass from Mannino to get the ball back.
Junior running back Gabriel Abel added St. Thomas’s last touchdown of the day to ice the game and end any comeback threat for the Red Foxes.
“I want very badly to stack some wins for them,” said Willis after the loss. “I’m not blind to the fact that this is a competitive zero-sum game… I’m very confident in our processes. We’ll tweak them where appropriate each week in game to game, but our record has no bearing on our preparation.”
Marist travels to the West Coast next Saturday to take on San Diego at 5 p.m. ET.
Edited by Jimmy Tsiantoulas
Photo & Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
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