Graduate student Sonny Mannino’s career-high in passing yards was not enough to down the Columbia Lions in a Friday night thriller under the lights at Tenney Stadium. The Lions prevailed 41-28 and handed Marist their third loss of the year.
“Starts with me,” said Marist head coach Mike Willis after the loss.
Junior defensive back Carter McCray opened the contest with fireworks: a blocked field goal attempt returned for a 93-yard touchdown. The fiery first quarter also saw sophomore defensive back MD Awe deny Marist two first downs and a touchdown thanks to three ferocious plays on the ball. Awe tallied a career-high five pass breakups to force nearly half of Mannino’s 12 incompletions.
Entering play, the Red Foxes lead all of Division I in blocked kicks. This time, it was a Marist kick that was blocked—and returned for six—to swing the momentum Columbia’s way right off the bat; however, junior defensive back Wayne Adair regained the momentum with an interception to give the Red Foxes the ball back.
Senior quarterback Chase Goodwin came into the matchup leading the Ivy League in passing yards and notched over 250 yards in every game. He once more achieved the feat, tossing 277 yards on 22/32 accuracy with three passing touchdowns.
About a minute into the second frame, the Red Foxes forced another turnover. The ball squeaked loose after a huge hit, and sophomore safety Chase Hatton recovered it.
Marist capitalized on the plus-field position when redshirt freshman wideout Jayden Taylor hauled in a 15-yard rifle from Mannino to put the Red Foxes on the board and tie the game.
Junior nose tackle Braylen Ricks dominated Columbia’s next drive. The Yulee, Florida, native burst through the line of scrimmage on third down, corralling Goodwin and forcing a Lions punt.
“[Braylen] makes some plays where he’s already very tired,” said Willis. “His teammates feed off of that.”
After a huge third-down conversion that saw Mannino’s 13th completion of the first half, the Red Foxes gave the ball to their number three running back, junior Jeremy DeCaro. He punched the pigskin in from 16 yards out, putting Marist up 14-7 with under three minutes left in the second quarter.
Columbia answered with a 38-yard heave caught by sophomore receiver Beckett Robinson, and then with a strip-sack returned for a touchdown on the ensuing Red Foxes’ possession.
Mannino dropped back with an oncoming edge rusher flying his way. The ball took a good bounce into the hands of senior linebacker AJ George, and he ran it back. The Columbia defense collected two fumble recoveries on the evening, allowing them to enter halftime with a 21-14 advantage set to receive the ball in the second half.
Ricks notched his second sack of the night, this time screaming off the edge. It forced a quick three-and-out and gave Marist quick possession.
“There’s a reason he received a lot of captain votes as an underclassman,” said Willis.
Mannino then found junior receiver Zach Garmont for a 55-yard touchdown, beating his own 54-yarder for the longest play of Marist’s season. This tied the game at 21.
After back-to-back three-and-outs, Mannino launched a deep ball to junior wideout Lance Martinez with 2:06 left in the third quarter; Martinez laid out and made the diving catch, and then Mannino scampered in from one yard out.
Mannino completed 22 of his 34 attempts tonight for the career-high 321 yards and added three total touchdowns.
Senior running back Griffin Johnson retaliated with a one-yard touchdown of his own to cap off a 19-attempt, 98-yard night that took the burden off of Goodwin. The senior quarterback attempted 50 or more passes in each of the last two games, the first Columbia player to do so since 2014. However, senior kicker Hugo Merry missed the point-after attempt. Merry had connected on 45 straight extra point attempts before this blunder, far surpassing the program’s record.
On the ensuing kickoff, freshman defensive back Logan Johnson called a fair catch but dropped the ball, resulting in the drive starting inside their own five-yard line. On the second play, a hold in the end zone resulted in two points for the Lions, making the score 35-28.
The safety was the dagger, but Columbia put up one more touchdown late in the fourth. The Lions came out on top, 41-28, in one of the more out-of-the-ordinary football games this college season. The matchup saw six lead changes.
Marist moves to 3-3 on the year after the loss and will look to bounce back next Saturday at Drake. Kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
Edited by Mike Duda
Graphic and photo by Jaylen Rizzo
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