Oct. 23, 2004
Final Stats
PHILADELPHIA, Pa-Obozua Ehikioya (West Hempstead, N.Y.) ripped the Explorers of La Salle for 246 yards on 28 carries and four touchdowns to lift the Marist Red Foxes to a 41-35 win at McCarthy Stadium Saturday afternoon. Marist moves to 3-0 in the MAAC and 3-4 overall with the win, while La Salle dropped to 3-5 overall and 2-1 in conference play. With the victory, the Red Foxes will now face Duquesne in Pittsburgh next Saturday with the MAAC Championship hanging in the balance. Game time is 1:30 PM at Rooney Field.
Senior wide receiver/quarterback Vernard Abrams got the Explorers on the board first with a one yard run at the 7:15 mark of the first half. The Red Foxes came right back, however, and posted two Ehikioya scoring runs of 52 and 20 yards within the game_s next two minutes to surge into the lead.
Marist pushed the advantage to 13 when senior quarterback James Luft (Lake Peekskill, N.Y.) found senior tight end Anthony Madigan (New Britain, Conn.) down the left sideline for a 24-yard scoring toss. Abrams used a four-yard scoring run with 1:19 to go in the half to bring La Salle back within six at the half.
Marist opened the second half the same way it began the first with Ehikioya plunging over from two yards out for his third rushing touchdown of the afternoon with 11:23 to go in the stanza.
However, the Explorers refused to give up when running back Kevin Sullivan scored from four yards out to close back within six.
Trying to mix up the rushing attack, head coach Brad Rowe (Seabrook, N.H.) on the next drive, ending with Rowe's 13-yard scamper in to put the Red Foxes ahead by two scores once more.
La Salle continued its aerial onslaught when Abrams entered the game at quarterback in place of freshman Michael Jump and tossed a pair of scores to wide receiver John Zabel. However, sandwiched between those touchdowns was a masterful, barreling 32-yard scoring run by Ehikioya to salt the game away for Marist. Ehikioya shed no less than five tackles on the play.
To combat Ehikioya's performance, the Explorers turned to Josh Brumfield to lead the rushing attack with four carries for 25 yards. The Red Foxes bottled up star running back Ken Triboletti all afternoon with four carries for 11 yards.
Luft led Marist through the air with nine completions for 135 yards and the touchdown, while Jump's 14-for-19 performance for 186 yards led the way for La Salle.
Junior tight end Mike Marshall (Middletown, N.J.) led Marist with three receptions for 29 yards, while the Explorers' Zabel finished with 147 yards on seven catches and two touchdown receptions.
Defensively, junior linebacker Mike Giummo (Lincroft, N.J.) finished with nine tackles and one sack for the Red Foxes, while senior defensive tackle Payton Rogers had five tackles and two sacks. Nick DePinto led La Salle with 13 stops.
