Red Foxes Football Comes Back, Tops Stetson

POUGHKEEPSIE – The Marist football team bounced back from a two-touchdown deficit, and earned a 38-17 victory against Pioneer Football League rival Stetson at Tenney Stadium on Saturday.

Stetson led 14-0 late in the second quarter, but Marist finished the game on a 38-3 run and won its home opener in front of a crowd of 2,297.

There were a number of key plays for Marist.  They had a total of 134 yards in the first quarter, but was stopped twice inside the Stetson 10 twice on fourth down.Red-shirt junior quarterback Mike White fumbled on Marist’s own 20-yard line and Stetson’s Eric Martin returned it for a touchdown, giving Stetson a 14-0 lead with 1:10 to play in the first half.

White would shake off the fumble and led his Red Foxes’ down the field for an 80-yard touchdown drive on seven plays in 53 seconds. White rushed for 11 yards and threw for 69 on the drive. He connected with red-shirt sophomore wide receiver Isaiah Watson four a two-yard touchdown with eight seconds to play in the half.

On Stetson’s second drive of the second half, red-shirt sophomore cornerback Drew Daniel intercepted a pass. On the ensuing drive, red-shirt junior kicker Joe Giglio’s 37-yard field goal cut Marist’s deficit to four. On Stetson’s next drive, sophomore linebacker Maliek Carr recorded a strip-sack. Fifth-year senior linebacker Ruben Avalos III returned the fumble 20 yards for a touchdown to give Marist its first lead at 17-14.

With 12:02 left in the fourth quarter, White eluded pressure and ran for a 17-yard touchdown, which made the score 24-17 in favor of the Red Foxes. This score gave Marist the lead for good. Sophomore running back Areg Nazarian finished an 11-play, 74-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run, giving Marist the lead 31-17 with 6:56 to play in the fourth quarter. Daniel’s second interception of the game set Marist up deep in Stetson territory.

White ran for his second touchdown on the afternoon, a 12-yard run to close out the scoring with 1:58 left.

“To see the excitement of the defense and the plays they were making, it was good as an offense to pick up where they left off,” said Quarterback Mike White.

Marist will travel to Washington D.C. Saturday as the Red Foxes’ face off with Georgetown. It will be the 20th meeting between the teams all-time, and the fifth straight year the teams have met.