After two brutal losses, one of which came against Pioneer Football League (PFL) opponent Morehead State, Marist had two options. Fold over and die against the top dog in the PFL, Drake, or send a message to the conference. Those past two weeks weren’t a testament to this team’s identity; they were the exception. How could they send that message? By going toe to toe with their strongest opponent yet.
For the first three quarters, that is exactly what the Red Foxes did. For every punch Drake threw, Marist responded. Offensively, they brought immense physicality, and defensively, they slowed down a remarkably efficient attack, before the Bulldogs ultimately pulled away to win 31-17.
The Bulldogs’ offense causes death by a million papercuts. They dink and dunk their way down the field with four-yard play after four-yard play, and freshman running back Nick Herman (No. 29), the PFL’s eighth leading rusher, plays a huge role in their ability to do that. For Marist to slow down the Bulldog offense, they had to slow him down.
After sophomore defensive tackle Braylen Ricks (No. 98) blew up the play, Herman had no choice but to bounce it outside. Due to strong pursuit from the second level, the Red Foxes held the carry to just two yards, keeping Kyle Kempt’s offense exactly where it doesn’t want to be, behind the sticks.
Mike Horan’s defense held Herman to just three yards per carry by consistently winning the battle on the line of scrimmage. The offense had to rely far more heavily on the quarterback’s run game as a result, something that hurt them later in the game.
The first step of Marist’s offense returning to form was relying on their ground game, led by a physically dominant offensive line. The way offensive coordinator TJ Weyl chooses to catalyze the return of their explosive run game is pulling their linemen, specifically graduate student Dominic Perricone (No. 65).
The offense runs a trap blocking scheme with Perricone pulling to the playside defensive tackle, senior Jacob Auen (No. 93), as fellow graduate student Will Aaronson goes up to the second level and blocks senior linebacker J.R. Flood (No. 7) and drives him far from the gap he was supposed to fill in the place of his defensive line.
This entire drive was headlined by strong offensive line play and tough running, as it ended with a Tristan Shannon direct snap touchdown. Redshirt junior Carter James (No. 9) played his role as the strong, bruiser, running back, as shown by his tough running on this play, while Shannon was the elusive open-field threat. This combination of backs, along with outstanding blocking up front and strong scheming, created a dynamic attack for the Red Foxes.
The best playcallers understand how to show the defense a tendency and use that illusion of predictability as a weapon. This play is a perfect example of that.
All season long, the Red Foxes have loved rollout passes, using redshirt junior quarterback Sonny Mannino’s mobility to extend the pocket as he goes through his reads and gets the ball to an open man. Because of how often the offense runs these plays, most defenses would expect, in a second-and-15 situation on the hash like this one, Weyl went back to his old reliable. This leads to defenses selling out to follow Mannino and block his passing lanes, leaving little defensive effort to the backside of the passing play.
Weyl takes advantage of this, though, faking the rollout pass, with leading receiver, graduate student tight end Connor Hulstein (No. 84), blocking at the start of the play. Hulstein blocking really sells this play, as ten out of the 11 defenders follow the rollout aggressively to the field side. When he turns around to catch the screen, he is practically guaranteed a huge gain with just one man between himself and the endzone.
This ten-yard gain set the Red Fox offense up to score their second touchdown of the game and was a perfect example of how the offensive staff scouts themselves to create misdirection.
As previously mentioned, the Red Foxes slowing Herman down forced Kempt and his offense to rely more heavily on the freshman quarterback Logan Inagawa (No. 3) to get them efficient gains on the ground. This leaves the Bulldogs vulnerable, because, as a quarterback, Inagawa has some ball possession issues that a traditional running back does not. Marist took advantage of that in this moment, stripping the ball out of his hands and forcing the turnover.
The Bulldogs had given Marist trouble all day by threatening them outside with jet motion from their athletic receivers. Senior wide receiver Taj Hughes is the motion man on this play and misdirects the defense outside, but junior linebacker Kade Werner (No. 29) quickly redirects as Inagawa pulls the ball for himself to run behind senior guard Nate Henry (No. 66).
Werner doesn’t just meet him for the tackle; he knocks the ball out, and sophomore cornerback Tyrell Powell jumps on it, providing a momentum shift opportunity for the Marist offense. Inagawa had 17 carries, and Marist’s defense should be credited for taking advantage of a team over-relying on the quarterback’s mobility on this play.
Marist fell short in this contest, but this showed a huge step forward from the performances seen from the Red Foxes against Morehead State and UPenn. For the first three quarters, Drake was on the ropes in a game that had the top position in the Pioneer Football League on the line.
Playing tight to such a strong team like this reminds people of the optimism this team radiated earlier in the year; they are willing to go into the arena with anyone and put up a good fight, which is very strong praise for a team that is in just year two of a new coaching regime.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Cara Lacey
For more coverage of Marist athletics, follow @cfmarist on Instagram, X, TikTok and Bluesky, and sign up to receive daily alerts here.