NEW YORK, New York – The Marist football team dropped its season opener at Columbia, 37-14 on Saturday afternoon at Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium.
 

Summary

• Dwayne Menders ran a punt back 82 yards for a touchdown at the 11:36 mark of the first quarter for the first score of the game.
• On the ensuing kickoff, Kyle Fleitman forced a fumble that Teddy Wright recovered at the Columbia 42. On the next play, Austin Day hit Scott Scherzer for a 42-yard touchdown pass down the sideline, which extended the Red Foxes' lead to 14-0 at the 11:19 mark.
• Gabriel Hollingsworth's 15-yard touchdown run with 2:13 left in the first quarter started a run of 37 unanswered points for the Lions.
• Columbia scored 17 points in the second quarter, which all came in a span of 7:15.
• Ernest Robinson's second touchdown of the day, a 17-yard run, put Columbia up 31-14 early in the third quarter.
• Alex Felkins added a pair of field goals – one in the third quarter, and one in the final period – to close out the scoring.

 

Stats

• Scott Scherzer led Marist in receiving yards (82) on two receptions; Antoine Morales had a team-best four receptions for 66 yards.
• Hunter Cobb led the Red Foxes with 52 rushing yards.
• Mike Arrington and Jayden Johnson led the Red Foxes with 10 tackles apiece.
• Aaron Acosta had three tackles for loss and a sack. Acosta had eight total tackles, including five solo stops.
• Columbia outgained Marist, 463-242. The Lions held a 312-64 advantage in rushing yards.

 

Notes

• Menders' punt return was the Red Foxes' first for a touchdown since Zach Adler ran one back 90 yards for a score against Georgetown in 2014.
• Menders' return of 82 yards was tied for the fourth longest for a touchdown against Columbia all-time.
• Marist had five plays – four from scrimmage, and Menders' punt return touchdown – of at least 40 yards.
• Marist is now 0-5 against Columbia all-time.

 

From Coach Parady

"Fantastic beginning for our football team," head coach Jim Parady said. "We got a big play on special teams, we hit a big vertical, and had a lot of momentum going on. After that, we couldn't get things going on the offense to sustain any drives, we put our defense out there for a long time, and Columbia wore us down on that side."
 

Up Next

• Marist plays its home opener on Saturday, Sept. 25 against Bryant. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m.
• It will be the Red Foxes' first night game at Tenney Stadium since 2017.
• Tickets are available are MaristTickets.com.