Marist football (5-6, 4-3) failed to find the scoreboard en route to a senior day loss against Butler (9-2, 6-1) on Saturday, officially eliminating the Red Foxes from contention in the Pioneer Football League. The loss is the Red Foxes’ sixth loss of the season and third in PFL play; with just one game remaining, they can’t catch up to Butler and Davidson, who sit tied for first place at 6-1.
Senior day at Marist brought in a loud crowd, but the Red Foxes’ offense failed to get rolling all afternoon. They accumulated 193 yards of total offense, their lowest number since the season-opener against New Haven. Marist also converted just two of 15 third down tries in their first offensive shutout since a shade over a year ago against St. Thomas. Graduate student quarterback Sonny Mannino threw for 138 yards — his third-lowest output of the season — and two interceptions.
The Red Foxes’ struggled particularly in the run game, where Butler’s defense has been strong all season. The Bulldogs allow the fewest rushing yards per game across all of FCS football.
“They have a terrific front-seven,” said Willis. “Credit to them for their execution, it is something they have done all year.”
Among the seniors honored was captain linebacker Kade Werner, who has amassed over 190 tackles during his time in Poughkeepsie. The York, Pennsylvania native injected the crowd with energy after a third-down stop and finished the day with nine tackles and a sack.
Both teams were scoreless after one quarter, but Butler found paydirt on the first play of the second. Sophomore running back Michael Dellumo, who was named the PFL offensive player of the week last week, scampered in from six yards out to put the Bulldogs on the board. Dellumo took 12 carries for 48 yards on the day.
Dellumo is part of a three-headed monster in the Butler backfield, which includes junior quarterback Gabe Passini. The six-foot-five signal-caller had 747 yards using his legs coming into today, and left with 69 more.
“To stop a guy like that, you need to honor his arm and his legs on every play,” said head coach Mike Willis. “There were times we contained him, and there were times we did not.”
Mannino and the Red Foxes’ offense took over the ball with 10 minutes left to go until halftime following a 53-yard punt from the Bulldogs. After two first downs, Marist went deep into their bag of tricks. A variation of a flea-flicker saw Mannino take a pitch, then throw, finding graduate student wideout Reed Shumpert for a gain of 34 yards.
The trickery set Marist up inside the Bulldogs’ 20-yard line, but the Red Foxes failed to score. Mannino threw an interception at the goal line, leaving Marist with nothing to show for a once promising drive.
The two teams traded punts and Butler missed a field goal with less than five seconds to play in the first half, keeping the score at 7-0 heading into the break.
A quarterback-punt, something Passini has done before this season, pinned Marist back on their own two-yard line after Butler stalled coming out of the half. This led to a tight punt from the Red Foxes that sophomore defensive back Madden Beriault returned into the red zone. Once the Bulldogs took back possession, Dellumo found his way into endzone for the second time to go ahead by two scored.
Soon after, a Passini rushing touchdown capped off a 12-play, five-minute drive that put Butler up 21-0. This was his eighth rushing touchdown of the year, trailing Mannino by just three.
On the following Red Foxes’ drive, Mannino threw his second pick. Sophomore defensive back Tristan Johnson snagged the interception before graduate student halfback Desmin Jackson ran in for the Bulldogs’ fourth rushing touchdown of the afternoon.
Reserve players for both teams checked in with four minutes left in the game, and the score held at 28-0.
“The desire in the last week of any season is to finish on a high note,” said Willis.
The Red Foxes will look to finish the 2026 campaign with a road win next weekend against Davidson. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
Edited by Max Rosen
Graphic by Jaylen Rizzo
Photo by Joe Coppola
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