Bucknell football suffers 38-13 loss at home to Fordham
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LEWISBURG -- Bucknell football fell to Fordham 38-13 in Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Fordham took the lead early in the first and although the Bison brought it within one point, the Rams then scored three unanswered touchdowns before the half to take a 28-6 lead. Despite the Bison finding their first touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Rams would extend upon their lead and walk away with a 38-13 win.
The Rams running game was the difference maker as they put up 339 net rushing yards to Bucknell's 65. Bucknell out-paced Fordham in passing yards with 146 to Fordham's 81, but it wasn't enough to keep the game close.
Matthew Giannantonio had the lone touchdown for the Bison off of a 26-yard pass from Emmett Dowling. The touchdown served as the first of Giannantonio's career. Sam Milligan led the Bucknell receiving corps with 12 catches for 99 yards.
Leading the team in rushing was Michael Cadden with 11 carries for 46 net yards. Emmett Dowling finished the day 19-for-32 for 146 yards, one touchdown and one interception at the quarterback spot for the Bison.
Fordham had two 100-plus yard rushers in Jamell James (157) and quarterback Gunnar Smith. Smith was also 11-for-17 in the air for 81 yards. All five Fordham touchdowns came on rushing plays with two for James, two for Smith and one from Yohan Li-louis.
Bucknell won the toss and elected to defer. The Bison defense then came out strong and forced Fordham to go three-and-out on the first drive, with Takai Whitmore breaking up a well-placed deep ball on third down. The Bison offense then drove all the way down to the Fordham 23 yard-line, but were unsuccessful on a fourth down attempt, turning over the ball on downs.
Fordham took advantage of the turnover on downs by putting together a seven play, 77 yard drive that ended with a 46-yard Gunnar Smith rushing touchdown and a 7-0 lead for the Rams with 6:43 left in the first. Bucknell then drove down the field with an 11-play, 58 yard drive, but after an incomplete pass on third down, the Bison had to settle for a 34 yard field goal from Juan Garanton to cut the deficit to four before the end of the first.
Having good field position at the 35-yardline thanks to a shanked punt, Bucknell's offense put together a seven play, 21 yard drive that culminated in a 31-yard field goal from Garanton after the Bison came up one yard short of the first down. The field goal put Bucknell just one point behind Fordham with 12:50 left in the first half. Fordham then re-gained control with a two play, 70 yard drive that featured Jamell James on a 61-yard rushing touchdown, the team's second long rushing touchdown of the day.
The next eight minutes went scoreless with the Bison punting twice and Fordham punting once before Fordham took advantage of a short field and put together a seven play, 33-yard drive that culminated in a five yard rushing touchdown for Yohan-Li Louis. Fordham then forced and recovered a fumble at the Bucknell 28 yard-line and put together a six play, 42 yard drive that culminated in a Gunnar Smith seven-yard rushing touchdown. On the drive, Smith rushed for 37 of the 42 yards.
After its defense forced a three-and-out to open the half, Fordham's offense began to drive down the field. The Bison defense was able to hold the Rams to a long field goal attempt, but Henderson made the 50-yarder to put them up 31-6 with 10:34 left in the third quarter. The remainder of the quarter went scoreless, but Fordham is inching towards the endzone and will pick up at the Bucknell one yard-line.
Fordham 38, Bucknell 13
Fordham 7 21 3 7 -- 38
Bucknell 3 3 0 7 -- 13
First quarter
F--G. Smith 46 run (B. Henderson kick), 6:43.
B--J. Garanton 34 field goal, 1:57.
Second quarter
B--J. Garanton 31 field goal, 12:50.
F--J. James 61 run (B. Henderson kick), 12:06.
F--Y. Louis 5 run (B. Henderson kick), 2:32.
F--G. Smith 7 run (B. Henderson kick), 0:37.
Third quarter
F--B. Henderson 50 field goal, 10:24.
Fourth quarter
F--J. James 1 run (B. Henderson kick), 14:20.
B--M. Giannantonio 26 pass from E. Dowling (J. Garanton kick), 12:13.
TEAM STATISTICS
F B
First downs 19 12
Rushes-yards 51-339 23-65
Passig yards 81 146
C-A-I 11-17-0 19-32-1
Total yards 420 211
Fumbles-lost 1-1 3-1
Penalties-yards 9-70 4-43
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING--Fordham, Jamell James 21-157 2 TDs, Gunnar Smith 12-122 2 TDs, Yohan-Li Louis 9-35 TD, Taariq Denson 5-19, Jacob Rodriguez 2-9, TEAM 2-(minus 3). Bucknell, MIchael Cadden 11-46, Jack Sullivan 7-21, Sam Milligan 3-9, TEAM 1-(minus 1), Emmett Dowling 1-(minus 10).
PASSING--Fordham, Gunnar Smith 11-17-0 81. Bucknell, Emmett Dowling 19-32-1 146 TD.
RECEIVING--Fordham, Ricky Gonzalez II 3-38; Chris Tuck II 3-3; Andrew Bond 2-7; KJ Reed 1-24; Jake V. Kucera 1-6; Nodin Tracy 1-3. BUcknell, Sam Milligan 12-99; Jack Sullivan 4-38; Matthew Giannantonio 1-26 TD; Michael Cadden 1-(minus 1); Thomas Arth 1-(minus 2).