Coming off a two-game win streak against conference opponents Stetson and Presbyterian, the Red Foxes looked to carry that momentum into a home matchup against Ivy League opponent Columbia.
Mike Willis’ Red Foxes gave the Lions three quarters of really competitive football before the wheels fell off in the fourth quarter, when the Red Foxes were outscored 20-7.
That fourth quarter can be misleading, though. The reality is that the Red Foxes didn’t just keep pace with the Lions; they got the better of them.
What was going right for Marist, and how did they eventually lose control? Nothing tells the story better than the film itself.
This third-and-six turnover was caused by one of defensive coordinator Mike Horan’s textbook simulated pressures.
With five defenders on the line of scrimmage pre-snap, Chase Goodwin (No. 15) planned to get the ball out quickly. Two of the five players on the line of scrimmage are mugged-up defenders, junior defensive back Wayne Adair (No. 42) and sophomore linebacker Matt Bonczek (No. 44).
When Goodwin sees the lone middle-of-the-field defender come on a delayed blitz, he instinctively throws the football to Hutch Crow (No. 0) to replace him over the middle.
This was exactly what Horan wanted. Goodwin’s attempt over the middle is picked off by Adair, who was expected to be rushing the quarterback pre-snap. This defense is dangerous because of how they subvert those expectations.
Adair converted the element of surprise into a turnover for the Red Foxes.
Graduate student quarterback Sonny Mannino (No. 12) threw for 329 yards, and this play illustrates how he found success through the air.
Mannino locates the mismatch. He throws to speedy junior wide receiver Lance Martinez (No. 7) running a go route against press-man coverage. Mannino saw the one high safety pre-snap, and he instantly knew where to go with the football.
Martinez specifically deserves credit for the diving effort on this play. He was dealing with a lower-body injury earlier this season, so impressive displays of athleticism like this diving grab are especially impressive.
Martinez’s presence as a deep threat consistently stretched the defense out vertically, and on plays like this, where they didn’t respect his speed, they were punished.
After what was a back-and-forth three quarters, the wheels fell off for the Red Foxes.
Mannino hesitates to pull the trigger, and as a result, the pass rush has more time to get to him.
The pass rush is especially effective here because of the stunt that Columbia ran on the left side. While
Quinn Herlihy (No. 54) contains the right edge to prevent Mannino from rolling out to his throwing-arm side, the left side runs a three-man stunt.
This stunt has the two leftmost rushers, Will Matthew (No. 55) and Julius Patton (No. 91), knife one gap in while Keller Patterson (No. 0) loops over to the left edge to contain that side.
The stunt doesn’t just get to Mannino for a sack. Patton forces the ball out of Mannino’s hands to force a fumble, which completely changed the tide of the game.
This lead-changing touchdown was a result of Tyrell Powell (No. 3) misreading Hutch Crow’s route.
Powell passes Crow’s route off to the second level, knowing that he has inside help from the safety Jace Williamson (No. 32). The issue here is that the route did not break inside.
Crow does a great job with this double-move, selling the post so Powell passes it off, then cutting back to the post on a corner route after clearing him. This leaves him uncovered on the sideline after the miscommunication.
The defensive backs always need to be on the same page because when they’re not, the whole secondary is vulnerable.
There’s no such thing as a good loss, but there was a silver lining to this game. Columbia is an out-of-conference opponent that people usually don’t expect Marist to match up well with.
For three quarters, the Red Foxes punched above their weight class, and if not for some bad mistakes, like a fumble that was returned for a touchdown with less than 30 minutes left in the first half, this game could’ve very likely gone in the win column for the Red Foxes.
Now, back at .500 for the third time this season, the Red Foxes look to bounce back against conference opponent Drake.
Edited by Ryan Eichem
Graphic and photo by Jaylen Rizzo
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