Georgetown Outfoxes Marist

By Mike Hume • October 24, 2000

The Georgetown football team halted its losing streak at three games on Saturday, downing the Marist Red Foxes, 41-17.

The game was tight at halftime with the score 7-3 in favor of Georgetown, but the Hoyas exploded for 34 second-half points, 21 coming in the fourth quarter.

Marist took the early lead on a 21-yard field goal by Brett Biggs. The score would have been 7-0 had the Georgetown defense not held firm. The defensive stand was highlighted by a touchdown-saving tackle by senior strong safety Ryan O’Donoghue and a pass that was broken up by senior defensive back Mike Turnamian.

The Hoyas wasted no time responding, scoring 1:20 into the second quarter on a 20-yard carry by sophomore running back Jamarr Staples. Georgetown retained the lead as the teams headed for the locker rooms at halftime, but could not build on its four point lead. The Hoyas mounted several attempts, but three near-interceptions and law student Marc Samuel’s first failed field goal attempt of the season left the score at 7-3.

Georgetown would not fall short in its first drive of the second half. After a sack by junior inside linebacker Matthew Craffey forced a Marist punt, the Georgetown offense capitalized as sophomore quarterback Dave Paulus connected with senior wide receiver Gharun Hester on a quick out pattern. Hester broke several tackles, holding the final Marist defender off with a straight arm as he dashed 71 yards into the endzone. The touchdown pushed the score to 13-3, however, as Samuel uncharacteristically missed the point with a wide-right kick.

The Hoyas tacked another seven points onto their side of the scoreboard 7:39 later. Paulus picked apart the Red Fox defense on a series of short strikes to senior Mike Mattia, and finally capped the drive with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Hester for the touchdown.

Marist mounted a brief rally a minute later, as sophomore running back Chris Price took a pitch into the endzone from the nine-yard line to cut the Georgetown lead to 10.

Georgetown gave Marist another opportunity to get back in the game when a Paulus pass bounced off the pads of senior George Sumner and was snatched by Marist for an interception. The Georgetown defense held firm, however, and Georgetown regained possession.

Then it was Marist’s turn to give Georgetown a break. The Red Foxes fumbled a punt, allowing the Hoyas to recover deep in Red Fox territory. On the first play from the line of scrimmage, Paulus connected with Hester for his third touchdown pass of the day, this one a 17-yard strike. The score raised Hester’s team-leading touchdown total to 11 on the year.

“He’s a great player,” Head Coach Bob Benson said of Hester. “That’s why he’s got every NFL team looking at him. There’s not much more we can do than keep trying to get him the ball and let him make athletic plays.”

Marist tacked on seven more points after Georgetown fumbled inside its own red zone, bringing the score to 27-17, but from there, it was all Georgetown.

The Hoyas pulled away with two more touchdowns, a one-yard run by senior fullback Aaron Brown and a 40-yard run by sophomore tailback Robert Wingate-Robinson, to seal the victory.

Benson was pleased by the revived running game from his team. “It was very important for confidence clock management,” Benson said.

He also noted the play of the offensive line. “I thought they did a good job, we knew we could run the ball. Our offense staff had a good game plan and they executed.”

There was clearly no love lost between the two teams, and tensions were high; the fourth quarter saw several personal foul calls against both teams.

“It was a chippy game,” Benson said. “There was a little bit too much talking going on. Most of those calls were good on [the referees’] part. You have to be disciplined. You can’t let adversity get to you.”

In addition to halting the three game losing skid, the Georgetown win marked the first time in four games that the Hoyas have accumulated more than 100 yards rushing. The last time Georgetown accomplished this feat was in its 57-56 overtime homecoming win against Butler.

“We’ve been trying to do this for a long time,” Brown said. “We knew we could run the ball. Today we really played together well, and everyone did their job.”

With the rushing game finally in gear, things opened up offensively for the Hoyas, as it relieved some of the burden of a recently overworked passing game.

“You need that balance in any team, any great team,” Paulus said. “That help set up a lot of plays today with play-action [passes] and things of that nature.”

Despite three interceptions and several other near picks, Paulus had a solid day in the pocket for the Hoyas, throwing for 325 yards and 3 touchdowns on 17 completions. This marks the third 300-plus yard passing game of the year for the sophomore quarterback. Nevertheless, Paulus stated that the win is what really mattered to him.

“This was a must-win for us,” Paulus said. “The last three losses were all close games. We needed something to build our confidence up, to get in a rhythm.”

Georgetown (3-4) will try to do just that, as it travels to Connecticut next Saturday to take on the Fairfield Stags at 1 p.m.