Marist Football Heads Into Bye Week With Loss to Lafayette

The Marist Red Foxes (1-2) could not keep up with the Lafayette Leopards (1-1) and their stifling run defense on Saturday, falling 13-9. Lafayette, a member of the Patriot League, allowed under 70 yards on the ground today.

The first snap of this one saw a big story of the game begin. Marist senior running back Lincoln Cardillo was swallowed up by Lafayette senior interior defensive lineman Ahmir Crawley on an inside run, who played a huge part in this game. The 5-foot-11 nose tackle was clogging lanes all afternoon, making it difficult for Marist to run the ball up the gut.

That was when the Red Foxes realized that RPOs (run-or-pass option) and designed rollouts were the only things that were going to work against a strong Leopards front seven. Marist finished with 359 total offensive yards, but struggled to run the ball all afternoon.

Graduate student quarterback Sonny Mannino’s 110 yards and two touchdowns on the ground led Marist to victory last week, but his arm did most of the hard work today. The 6-foot-5, 245-pounder threw for 291 yards and completed nearly 70 percent of his passes.

On the Leopards’ first drive, Marist senior captain linebacker Kade Werner tallied a tackle for loss and a huge QB pressure, forcing a three-and-out. Werner finished the game with six tackles.

The Red Foxes would capitalize, netting a 21-yard field goal on their next drive. Redshirt freshman kicker Luke Stenson put it through.

After two incompletions, the Leopards fell short on fourth and inches inside the Red Foxes’ 15-yard line as the first quarter came to a close, with Marist leading 3-0 and having the ball on their own 12.

The strong and steady Marist drive to start the second was capped off by a touchdown pass to junior receiver Zach Garmont. Garmont, a Monmouth transfer, finished with the first four catches of his tenure as a Red Fox. The extra point was missed by Stenson.

Garmont was not the only wideout getting more targets, as redshirt freshman Jayden Taylor finished the day with seven catches for 90 yards, also blocking a punt later in the game.

After a phenomenal, full-body layout catch by junior wideout Mason Kuehner, Lafayette had to settle for a field goal to make the score 9-3. 

The Leopards tested the Marist secondary deep for the second time in the game on their next drive. Junior defensive back Tyrell Powell made a great play at the catch point and the deep shot was unsuccessful, which forced another Lafayette field goal to round out the half.

The Leopard offense woke up late in the third quarter after junior backup quarterback Jason Penza dusted the Marist defense for a 38-yard rushing touchdown to put the foxes down 13-9. Penza saw four snaps today, and they were all designed QB runs.

After a missed Leopards field goal to start the fourth quarter, Marist still had 10:38 left to take the lead, but would fail to convert on fourth down and gave the ball back to Lafayette still trailing.

Lafayette went three-and-out and punted the ball back to Mannino and company with 2:11 left in the game, but they would again fail to convert on a fourth-and-6. This allowed the Leopards to drain the rest of the clock out and end the game.

Lafayette snags their first win of the year in a game that saw a plethora of creativity on offense and great discipline defensively. The Leopards will face Columbia next on Saturday in New York City.

Marist falls to 1-2 on the year, and they are going to need to figure things out on offense if they want to keep moving in the right direction. With their only win coming against a Division II program (Franklin Pierce), they will need to adjust during their bye week before they host Presbyterian. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 26th.

Edited by August Lieberman

Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo

Photo via Marist Athletics

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