Senior quarterback Scott Darby made a surprise start in his final home game for the Georgetown football team (8-2, 3-1 Patriot League) and led the Hoyas to a stylish 30-13 Senior Day victory over Fordham (1-8) Saturday at MultiSportFacility.

Darby, who has played backup to junior Isaiah Kempf for much of the season, went 18-of-30 for 199 yards passing and rushed for 19 yards on five carries.

“Isaiah had a little bit of an injury, and we had Scott the senior, and we had to make a decision, and Scott was the guy,” Head Coach Kevin Kelly said. “It’s Senior Day, let the guy play. Scott’s a good player, [and he] was ready to go.”

Darby, motivated in part by a large cheering section, led the Blue and Gray with poise from the get-go. The opening drive netted a field goal from senior kicker Brett Weiss only six minutes into the game.

“It’s huge to play in front of your family on Senior Day. I thought it was an incredible gesture by Coach,” Darby said. “It feels great to play on the field in front of a home crowd.”

Junior linebacker Robert McCabe forced a fumble on the Rams’ drive, and Georgetown quickly scored again on a 4-yard rush from sophomore running back Nick Campanella.

“Rob is leading the Patriot League in tackles. Last year we had him as an outside linebacker. When our two guys graduated we decided to move him inside,” Kelly said. “He’s [a]natural at it. And he’s been great this year.”

Fordham picked up a field goal on the next drive, and after Georgetown was forced to punt on their next drive, sent another one home to cut the lead to 10-6 at the end of the quarter.

The second quarter was relatively slow, with a Weiss field goal the only scoring play for either team. TheHoyas entered the break ahead, 13-6.

Darby connected on two long passes in the third quarter: One for 35 yards to junior slot receiver MaxWaizenegger and one for 26 yards and the touchdown to senior wide receiver Patrick Ryan.

Fordham answered in the opening moments of the fourth quarter, as junior running back CarltonKoonce ran it in from the 1-yard line to narrow Georgetown’s lead to 20-13.

But as the going got tough, junior cornerback Jeremy Moore rose to meet the challenge. After the Fordham touchdown, he returned the kick for 73 yards, which led to Weiss’ 18-yard field goal that put the Hoyas up, 23-13.

“The kicker has a good leg, so we’d been trying to guess which way he was going to kick it. I guess we finally guessed right,” Moore said. “I read the holes and was able to explode through.”

On the Rams’ next drive, Moore made the game-sealing interception and ran the football back 75 yards for a touchdown to clinch the game for the Hoyas.

“They did a great job blocking all day long, it was just a great read at the time. There was some eye contact with the receiver, looking at me a bit too much,” Moore said. “You can’t go wrong playing the reads. I was able to make that play.”

With the win, Georgetown picked up its eighth victory of the season and will have momentum heading into their showdown with No. 6 Lehigh on Saturday. The Patriot League championship hangs in the balance.

“We’ve handled success well so far, we’ve been in a position to handle success,” Moore said. “[We] just have to continue to work hard. Lehigh’s got the status, but we’re hungry, we’re coming.”