Oct. 9, 2004
Stats
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. - Freshman placekicker Bradley Rowe (Stratham, N.H.) booted a 29-yard field goal with 18 seconds left to lift the Marist Red Foxes to a 22-20 homecoming victory over St. Peter's Saturday afternoon at Leonidoff Field. Marist improved to 2-3 overall and 2-0 in the MAAC, while St. Peter's fell to 1-4 and 0-2 in league play.
Senior quarterback James Luft (Lake Peekskill, N.Y.) drove the Red Foxes quickly down the field on their first possession, culminating in a nine-yard strike to junior wideout Guy Smith (New Milford, Conn.) for a 6-0 lead.
Marist dented the scoreboard a second time when Luft lobbed a three-yard toss to sophomore wide receiver Prince Prempeh (Hamilton, N.J.) in the right corner of the end zone for a 13-0 advantage.
After the two teams battled into halftime scoreless the rest of the way, St. Peter's came alive and narrowed the Red Foxes' advantage to six on a one-yard plunge by freshman quarterback Scott Bonnono with 41 seconds remaining in the third stanza. However, Marist answered that score with a lightning bolt of its own when freshman defensive back Daniel Diaz streaked pass the Peacock coverage unit and returned the ensuing kickoff 93 yards to make the score 19-7 Marist.
St. Peter's would not give up and went 71 yards on just four plays and 32 seconds during its next drive to pull within five. Freshman fullback JP Larmore did the honors when he received a 10-yard pass from Bonnono for the touchdown. The Peacocks would later take the lead on another touchdown toss from Bonnono to sophomore wideout Ryan McCarney, this time, an 11-yard score with just 10:31 remaining in the contest.
The Peacocks seemed to have control of the game when it lined up in punt formation at the Marist 36-yard line with just 1:40 remaining. However, long snapper Carlos Dias snapped the ball over the head of sophomore punter Wayne Guarino, who was tackled for a 26-yard loss by Marist sophomore linebacker Shawn Casadiego (Queens, N.Y.) at the St. Peter's 38. Luft then marched the Red Foxes down the field to set up Rowe's final heroics.
Luft led the Marist passing attack with an extremely efficient afternoon of 16-for-20 passing for 113 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. Bonnono led the Peacocks with 254 yards on 15-for-24 passing with two touchdowns and no picks. Luft passed a milestone in the first quarter when he found junior wide receiver Tim Traynor (Lincroft, N.J.) for seven yards. With that completion, he passed Jim Daley's (1994-97) mark of 162 completions in the school's I-AA record book. Luft now stands atop the list with 177 career tosses.
Sophomore tailback Brad Rowe (Seabrook, N.H.) led the Red Foxes' ground attack with 58 yards on 15 carries, while junior tailback Sean Mayers tallied 112 yards on 28 carries for the Peacocks.
Smith was Marist's leading receiver with eight grabs for 60 yards and a score, while McCarney led St. Peter's with six catches for 83 yards and a touchdown.
Junior cornerback Leon Bryce (Rosedale, N.Y.) was Marist's leading tackler with eight tackles and one pass defended, while freshman outside linebacker Jon Schmidt racked up 12 stops with one tackle for loss. Marist's Scott Shukri (Commack, N.Y.) also tallied a pair of sacks to go with four tackles.
Marist will host Sacred Heart next Saturday, October 16 at 7 p.m. on Senior Day, while St. Peter's will head back home to take on Duquesne at noon that same day.
