BRONX, N.Y. – For a few minutes on Saturday night, the Fordham University football fans in attendance at Moglia Stadium at Jack Coffey field might have thought the Ram quarterback was wearing number 17. But it was number 8, sophomore CJ Montes, who was doing his best Tim DeMorat impression, throwing for 319 yards and five touchdowns to lead Fordham to a 46-16 win over Wagner College in Fordham's home opener.
With the win, the Rams even their record at 1-1 on the year while Wagner drops its season opener.
Montes completed 24 of 31 passes for the 319 yards and five scores and he also rushed for 58 net yards on ten carries. Montes connected with grad student MJ Wright for two touchdowns with Wright catching eight balls for 96 yards, while grad student Garrett Cody hauled in six passes for 102 yards and one score.
On the ground, junior Julius Loughridge picked up 85 yards on 19 carries with one touchdown.
Defensively junior linebacker James Conway led all tacklers in the game with 13, seven solo, and he forced a fumble, while sophomore linebacker Marc Pretto added nine stops, five solo, including one sack.
Fordham wasted no time in getting on the scoreboard as Montes connected with senior Mekai Felton on a 44-yard scoring strike just under five minutes into the game to cap a 92-yard drive and give the Rams a 7-0 lead.
A Wagner field goal late in the first made it a 7-3 game before Fordham scored 13 unanswered points in the second quarter, on a Loughridge rushing touchdown and a Montes to Wright scoring pass, to take a 20-3 lead at the half.
The Rams made it a 27-3 game 1:19 into the third quarter as Montes connected with Wright again, and the closest the Seahawks would get from that point was 17, the last time at 33-16 early in the fourth.
Takeaways
• Freshman running back Jacob Rodriguez scored his first collegiate touchdown on a five-yard rush in the fourth quarter.
• Garrett Cody recorded the third 100-yard receiving game of his career.
• After allowing eight sacks at UAlbany last week, the Rams only gave up two tonight.
• Fordham has won three straight from Wagner but the Seahawks still lead the all-time series, 8-6.
• The Rams had a Wright 96-yard kickoff return for a score and a Stephen Williams II interception return for a touchdown negated by penalties.
• Fordham converted on eight of 14 third downs and held Wagner to converting four of 14.
• The Rams are now 9-2 at home over the past three years.
• Over the past ten years the Fordham Rams are 27-18 in non-conference play (not including the NCAA FCS Championship games).
By the Numbers
3 – Sacks by the Rams.
3 – Punts inside the Wagner 20 by junior punter Will Haslett.
5 – Winning streak at Moglia Stadium for the Rams.
13 – Total tackles for James Conway, his 17th career double figure tackles game.
14 – Points off turnovers for the Rams.
16 – Career receiving touchdowns for MJ Wright.
27 – First downs by Fordham.
41 – Games in which the Rams scored more than 40 points since 2012.
50.0 – Scoring average for Fordham in the past three games with Wagner.
275 – Career tackles for James Conway, eighth on the Fordham all-time list.
2,074 – Career receiving yards for MJ Wright, moving him into eleventh on the Fordham all-time list.
What's Next?
• The Rams will travel to Buffalo to face the University at Buffalo Bulls at UB Stadium on Saturday, September 9, at 6:00 p.m.
• It will be the fourth meeting between Fordham and Buffalo.
• The Bulls lead the all-time series, 2-1.
• Buffalo took the most recent meeting, 49-13, in the season-opener at Buffalo on September 2.
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