The Presbyterian Blue Hose defense yielded 52 points per contest heading into their matchup with Marist in Poughkeepsie on Saturday, tied for the second worst in FCS football. They allowed 42 more today with Marist winning its inaugural 2026 PFL game, 42-7, their largest margin of victory since 2015.
On their first defensive play, a Presbyterian unnecessary roughness penalty cost them 10 yards, leading to a 43-yard scamper by redshirt freshman wide receiver Jayden Taylor on the next snap. Graduate student quarterback Sonny Mannino capped off the drive by powering his way into the end zone to give Marist the early lead. The pre-season All-PFL First Teamer finished today with four touchdowns, two of them on the ground.
“Making things happen out of structure is something we’ve been working on,” said Mannino. “I think [Taylor] going up and getting some tough 50/50 balls speaks to that.”
A short Presbyterian drive sent the Marist offense back out onto the field, where a 50-yard catch for graduate student wideout Reed Shumpert set up Marist at the 10-yard line. The Red Foxes inched closer to the end zone, but Marist turned the ball over on downs after the Blue Hose stuffed Mannino at the one-yard line.
Another dominant Red Fox defensive possession saw Presbyterian bring out the punt unit, but the Marist special teams unit got a hand on the ball. Taylor, who had the big gain earlier in the game, returned a blocked punt for a touchdown with less than two minutes remaining in the first quarter. Taylor finished the game with this touchdown, as well as 40 yards receiving.
Deja vu struck on the next Blue Hose punt when Marist blocked it for the second straight time. This put the Red Foxes on the Presbyterian 29-yard line, where the squad eventually capitalized. Mannino struck gold on fourth down, putting Marist up 21 points with 10 minutes left in the first half.
“We had one blocked punt during my first two seasons here,” said head coach Mike Willis. “We now have quite a few to begin this season. Through pinning people deep to making kicking situations, we execute at a strong level.”
With eight minutes to go in the first half, sophomore quarterback Landon Sharpe scurried past a big Red Fox blitz to get the Blue Hose on the board. His favorite target, senior wide receiver Caleb Johnson, had two impressive grabs on the drive. Johnson finished the day with 82 receiving yards, leading Presbyterian.
Senior running back Lincoln Cardillo kickstarted the final Marist drive of the first half with a hurdle, then received help from graduate student running back Isaiah Simmons, who punched it into the end zone after a quick pitch from Mannino.
Marist led 28-7 at halftime, the most first-half points the Red Foxes have scored this season, topping their 2026 largest single-game total, a win over Franklin Pierce.
The Red Foxes continued their dominance coming out of the half. A nine-play, 68-yard drive headlined by Simmons ended in the second receiving touchdown of the day for the SUNY Brockport transfer.
“We’ve worked hard to put the ball in the hands of our running backs,” said Willis. “Today, [Simmons] certainly answered the bell.”
The fourth quarter started and ended with a 42-7 score but saw some new faces and unconventional plays on both sides of the ball.
It started with a punt by Sharpe, the Presbyterian quarterback, that gave the Red Foxes the ball on their own 17-yard line. Marist sophomore quarterback Will O’Dell checked into a game for the first time this season, running for 16 yards. He last appeared at Presbyterian last season.
Senior running back Kaden Beard scored his first touchdown, and the sideline went into a frenzy.
Marist held Presbyterian to under 220 total yards and only 12 first downs. The Blue Hose struggled to find consistency on offense and could not contain the Red Foxes on the ground defensively.
Edited by Mike Duda
Graphic and photo by Jaylen Rizzo
Marist returns to .500 on the season and will head to Stetson next week in hopes of improving to 3-2. Kickoff for that game is set for 1 p.m., with the Red Foxes looking to replicate today’s running game and defense.