POUGHKEEPSIE, New York – The Marist football team rallied from a 17-point third quarter deficit and toppled Davidson 48-41 in double overtime on Saturday at Tenney Stadium in a Pioneer Football League contest on Homecoming & Reunion Weekend.
 
Red-shirt freshman quarterback Austin Day made his first career start and set a single-game program record with 440 yards passing and tied a single-game record with five touchdown passes. Senior wide receiver Juston Christian tied a single-game program record with three receiving touchdowns.
 

Summary

• Wesley Dugger's five-yard touchdown run got Davidson on the board on the game's first drive.
• Marist answered on a 12-yard rushing touchdown by Day on its first drive.
• Dugger's second touchdown gave Davidson a 13-7 lead 48 seconds into the second quarter.
• After a 37-yard field goal by red-shirt sophomore Mateo Zapata, Day found red-shirt junior Anthony Olivencia for an 18-yard score, which put Marist in front 17-13 midway through the second quarter.
• Davidson had rushing touchdowns by Dugger and Tyler Phelps in the final two minutes of the first half. The Wildcats led 27-17 after the first 30 minutes.
• A 46-yard rushing touchdown by James Story gave Davidson the game's largest lead at 34-17 with 4:01 remaining in the third quarter.
• In a span of less than eight minutes, Day completed two long touchdown passes (68, 74) to Christian. The second one was capped by a two-point conversion pass from Day to red-shirt junior tight end Jon Kanda, which cut Davidson's lead to 34-31 with 10:14 remaining in the fourth quarter.
• Davidson reached the Marist 44 on its next drive, but on fourth-and-one, Story was stopped for no gain by red-shirt senior defensive end Enmanuel Soriano and red-shirt senior linebacker Willie Barrett with 5:15 remaining.
• Marist drove the ball inside the Davidson 10 on its ensuing drive. After Day was stopped at the four-yard line with 1:41 left. Zapata then tied the game at 41 with a 22-yard field goal.
• Neither team scored on its final drive of regulation, which sent the game to overtime.
• Davidson received the ball first in overtime. On fourth-and-nine from the Marist 24, Phelps completed an 11-yard pass to William Wicks. Three plays later, Dugger's fourth touchdown of the game, this one from three yards, gave Davidson a 41-34 lead.
• On the first play of Marist's ensuing drive, Day's pass intended for red-shirt junior Joe Petro was deflected into the arms of Christian, who went 25 yards for a touchdown. Zapata's extra point sent the game into double overtime.
• On the first play of the second overtime period, Day completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Kanda.
• On fourth-and-two from the Marist 17 on the ensuing drive, junior linebacker Maliek Carr stopped Dugger one yard short of a first down to end the game.  

Key Stats

• There were 1,023 yards of total offense (Marist 537, Davidson 486). Marist had 440 passing yards and 97 rushing yards, while Davidson had 400 rushing yards and 86 passing yards.
• Day completed 21 of 33 passes for 440 yards. Christian had eight catches for 246 yards.
• Sophomore Mekhai Johnson paced Marist on the ground with 72 yards on 11 carries.
• For Davidson, Dugger ran for 111 yards on 26 carries with four touchdowns. Phelps threw for 86 yards and ran for 80.
• Barrett had a game-high 14 tackles, followed by Soriano with 10.  

Notes

• Christian now has 28 career touchdown receptions. Half of them have covered at least 50 yards.
• Christian now has 17 career 100-yard receiving games, and three of over 200.
• With eight receptions, Christian is now tied for second in program history with James LaMacchia at 176. Matt Tralli, with 202, holds the record.
• Christian's 246 receiving yards were the second-highest single-game total in program history, trailing only his 274-yard effort at Columbia two weeks ago.
• With 3,791 career receiving yards, Christian is just 13 away from the all-time PFL record held by Valparaiso's Rob Giancola.
• Barrett's 14 tackles were a career high and the most by a Red Fox in a game since red-shirt senior safety Wesley Beans had 15 at Sacred Heart in 2016.
• This was Marist's first overtime game since a 44-41 triumph at Morehead State in 2016. It was the Red Foxes' first double overtime game since a 41-34 loss to Dayton at Tenney Stadium in 2010. It was Marist's first home overtime win since a 37-34 triple overtime triumph over Georgetown in 2007.
• The previous record for Marist passing yards in a game was 417, set by Tommy Reilly in the aforementioned double overtime game against Dayton in 2010. It was the fourth 400-yard passing game in program history.
• Today marked the fourth time in program history a Red Fox threw for five touchdowns in game. It was previously accomplished by Mike White at Morehead State in 2016, and by Chuckie Looney at home against Jacksonville and at San Diego in 2013.  

Quote of the Day

"It was a fantastic football game to be involved with," Marist head coach Jim Parady said. "I give Davidson a lot of credit for the way they played, but our guys were very resilient."
 

Records

• Marist is 3-4 overall and 3-1 in the PFL. It was the Red Foxes' third straight league win.
• Davidson is 5-3 overall and 2-3 in the PFL.

Up Next

Marist will play a PFL road contest against Morehead State on Saturday, Oct. 27. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.