Another Big Day by DeMorat Sparks Fordham Past Leopards
BRONX, N.Y. – The numbers Tim DeMorat continues to put up is reminiscent of the tote board at a Jerry Lewis Telethon.
Fordham’s standout senior quarterback turned another near-flawless performance on Nov. 12 as the Rams rolled all over Lafayette 45-10 at Jack Coffey Field on Fordham’s campus.
The win improved Fordham to 4-1 in the Patriot League and 8-2 on the season and keep its hope of a berth in the upcoming FCS playoffs alive.
The Rams are currently trailing only unbeaten Holy Cross in the conference standings. The Crusaders defeated Fordham 53-52 in overtime on Oct. 29 in Worcester, Mass. Fordham’s only loss is a 59-52 loss to FBS foe Ohio University (Sept. 24) earlier this season.
DeMorat also did it on the ground against Lafayette as his one-yard keeper midway through the first quarter put Fordham in front 7-0 following Brandon Peskin’s conversion kick with 6:54 remaining in the opening period. It was the first of two rushing touchdowns on the afternoon for DeMorat.
Pekin would add a 22-yard field goal with just 36 seconds left in the period to increase the Fordham lead to 10-0.
DeMorat would find the end zone again in the second quarter, this time from three yards away, as the Rams found themselves with a 17-0 lead on the visiting Leopards, who closed the gap a short time later when Jakob Trestik connected on a field goal of 30 yards with 1:31 left in the half.
DeMorat would then toss his first touchdown pass of the afternoon when he found Deuquece Carter for a play that covered 30 yards that increased Fordham’s lead to 24-3 at the intermission.
It was a harbinger of things to come for the Rams, who would get two more scoring passes off the arm of DeMorat in the third quarter and another in the final period that combined to put the game out of reach.
The Leopards did try to make a game of it when QB Ah-Shaun Davis threw a 14-yard scoring pass to Chris Carasia which pulled Lafayette to within 24-10 with 9:11 to go in the third quarter. But, it turned out to be only momentarily as it proved to be the final points of the day for the visitors and DeMorat threw a pair of TD passes in a span of 3:57 to Carter and to Fotis Kokosioulis.
Carter’s second scoring play of the day came from 35 yards out with 7:53 remaining in the period. Kokosioulis’ reception came on a nifty over-the-shoulder catch in the end zone that shielded the defender from making a play on the ball and the Rams were in front 38-10 with 3:56 left to go in the quarter.
Kokosioulis added another touchdown reception with just over eight minutes were left in the game on a 14-yard reception to close out the scoring.
DeMorat, the top passer in the FCS, ended the day by completing 32 of his 45 pass attempts for 482 yards on four touchdowns. He now has 4,107 passing yards this season after completing 268 of 407 attempts. He has thrown 47 touchdowns and has been intercepted just six times heading into the season finale against Colgate.
Behind DeMorat’s pin-point accuracy, Fordham also got huge performances from a trio of receivers. MJ Wright led the way with a team-high 11 receptions and also paced the Rams with 155 receiving yards against the Leopards, while Kokosioulis and Carter both tallied 117 yards on the afternoon. Kokosioulis, the No. 2 receiver in the FCS in terms of yardage, had seven catches and the day, while Carter hauled in six passes.
Kokosioulis (1,110 yards) trails only Georgetown’s Joshua Tomas (1,149) by just 39 yards on 84 receptions compared to Tomas’ 88 receptions so far this season.
Wright and Carter both have a chance to surpass the 1,000-yard receiving plateau with solid performances against Colgate this weekend.
The Fordham defense was paced by James Conway, who had nine (3 solo) tackles, while Ryan Greenhagen (3 solo) and B.J. Ferguson (5 solo) tallied seven tackles each in the win over the Leopards.
Davis accounted for 124 yards on 15 of 27 passing and was intercepted once on the day. Curtis Jamar was the top ground gainer on the day as Fordham bottled up the Lafayette rushing attack. Jamar finished with 40 yards on eight carries and four other ball carriers combined for just 15 additional yards on the ground.
Lafayette closes its regular season on by entertaining arch-rival Lehigh on Nov. 13 at Fisher Stadium in Easton.
A native of Bismarck, N.D., Ray is a graduate of North Dakota State University where he began studying athletic training and served as a student trainer for several Bison teams including swimming, wrestling and baseball and was a trainer at the 1979 NCAA national track and field championship meet at the University of Illinois. Ray later worked in the sports information office at NDSU. Following his graduation from NDSU he spent five years in the sports information office at Missouri Western State University and one year in the sports information at Georgia Tech. He has nearly 40 years of writing experience as a sports editor at several newspapers and has received numerous awards for his writing over the years. A noted sports historian, Ray is currently an assistant editor at Amateur Wrestling News.
