By Joe DiBari
Check another one off the preseason list of goals for the Fordham University football Rams.
On Nov. 7, Fordham took the Patriot League championship when quarterback Peter Maetzold connected with Tebucky Jones, Jr., on a 10-yard touchdown pass in overtime to lead the Rams to a 30-27 win over Bucknell University.
With the victory, Fordham’s eighth straight win, the No. 9-rated Rams improved to 9-1 overall in the NCAA-FCS conference, and 5-0 in the Patriot League. Bucknell fell to 7-2 overall, 3-1 in the conference.
The game marked the second time that the Rams have clinched a Patriot League title at Bucknell, as the 2002 squad also won the championship at Christy Mathewson Stadium in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.
Maetzold, who won his second straight game in place of quarterback starter Mike Nebrich, completed 24 of 34 passes for 285 yards and two scores, with nine of those completions going to Sam Ajala for 103 yards and five to Jones for 79 yards.
On the ground, freshman running back Chase Edmonds carried 21 times for 103 yards and two scores, his eighth consecutive and, ninth overall, 100-yard game of the year.
Our senior class was 1 in 10 our first freshman year,” said Maetzold. “It’s really special to have turned around the program like this. “
He said it “speaks to a coaching staff that comes in and changed the culture completely,” referring to Football Coach Joe Moorhead.
