Fullback Larry Dixon had a career day to lead an Army rushing attack that ran for 384 yards. Dixon matched his personal best with three touchdowns and became the fourth player in academy history to rush for more than 3,000 yards in his career. He also eclipsed 1,000 yards on the season with his 158-yard effort.
A.J. Schurr racked up 70 yards on four carries, Terry Baggett had 52 yards on six tries and scored his second touchdown of the year, while Angel Santiago totaled 42 yards on 17 rushing attempts. Aaron Kemper ran it six times for 20 yards and Raymond Maples got the ball twice for 10 yards and a score.
Santiago was 2-for-4 through the air for 48 yards, including a 43-yard connection with tight end Kelvin White. Santiago's counterpart Mike Nebrich threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns, all in the second half in a losing effort. Nebrich completed 27-of-38 attempts and was intercepted by John Voit in the second quarter. His top target was Brian Wetzel, who made 12 grabs for 193 yards and a touchdown.
Jeremy Timpf paced the Army defense with nine tackles and was part of an effort that limited Fordham to just 90 yards rushing. Chris Carnegie made five tackles, while Timpf, Carnegie, Richard Glover and Andrew King registered tackles for loss.
Fordham lit up the scoreboard first when Michael Marando kicked a 40-yard field goal on its opening drive.
The Rams added to their lead early in the second quarter when they ran into a fourth-and-16 situation from the Army 29-yard line. Fordham called a timeout to talk over the play and sent the punt team out onto the field instead of attempting a 46-yard field goal. Punter Joe Pavlik took the snap and lofted a pass to his left into the end zone where it was tipped and then caught by Marc DeSisto for a touchdown to put the Rams up 10-0.
Army quickly responded to the Fordham TD with one of its own as A.J. Schurr came into the game at quarterback. Runs by Baggett (nine yards) and Schurr (three yards) moved Army out to the 37 before Schurr carried left and rumbled for 54 yards down inside the Fordham 10-yard line. Two plays later, Baggett finished off the drive by taking a pitch and barreling over two defenders on his way to the endzone.
Army looked like it would go into the locker room facing a 10-7 deficit, but a sack by Andrew King on third down forced Fordham to punt from its own endzone with 18 seconds left in the period. Josh Jenkins got in and blocked the punt and players from both teams had a chance to come up with the loose ball before Lamar Johnson-Harris came out of the pile with the football. Daniel Grochowski's extra point sent Army into the intermission with a 14-0 lead.
On Army's first possession of the second half, the offense turned to Dixon. The drive started on Army's 35-yard line and Dixon carried six straight times down to the Fordham 14. Runs by Kemper and Schurr set up Dixon's five-yard dash and Army led 21-10 four minutes into the third quarter.
Fordham was forced to punt on its next drive and Army began its longest drive of the season in terms of plays and time after receiving the ball at its own 16-yard line. The 20-play, 84-yard drive ate up 11:13 seconds and ended with Dixon's second TD run of the game. Seven different Black Knights ran the ball along the way as Army pushed the advantage to 28-10.
Nebrich wasted no time in generating a response for Fordham as he found Wetzel for a 65-yard score on the Rams' first play of the ensuing drive. Following Marando's extra point, Army led 28-17.
Another heavy dose of Dixon was in store for the Fordham defense as the Army fullback ran for 58 yards on six carries, including a 30-yard scamper to cap the drive. That 10-play drive used 6:14 and helped Army to a 35-17 cushion. The Black Knights held the ball for more than 35 minutes in the game and scored touchdowns on all but their final drive of the game.
Down by three scores with 6:36 remaining, Nebrich kept throwing and continued to find success through the air. Four plays were all the Rams needed to find the endzone as Tebucky Jones Jr. caught an eight-yard slant to make it 35-24.
The ensuing onside kick was recovered by Army and Dixon added 35 more yards to his total before Maples scored on a pitch to put the exclamation on the contest. Maples' touchdown was the third of the season.
Fordham added a late touchdown to run the final score to 42-31.
Army closes its 2014 season on Dec. 13 when it plays in the 115th Army-Navy game presented by USAA at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, Md.
http://www.goarmysports.com/sports/m-footbl/recaps/112214aaa.html
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