Over the course of their one-win season, Georgetown has lost in all forms and fashions.

They have seen the frantic rally fall short (a 35-28 loss to Stony Brook in the season opener). They have endured losses in which they played admirably but simply were not the better team (28-14 to Ivy League power Yale in mid-September). They have been battered (55-0 to Holy Cross) and abused (45-0 to Lehigh), steamrolled (45-7 to Cornell) and squeaked by (38-31 to Fordham).

On Saturday, Georgetown checked the overtime heart-wrencher off its list.

After four back-and-forth quarters of regulation and three overtimes, Marist senior running back Bo Ehikioya slipped through the Georgetown line, scampered six yards into the end zone and left the Hoyas frustrated at Tenney Stadium.

Through all of their nine losses, Georgetown has not been closer to the win column than they were in Saturday’s 37-34 miss.

“This [loss] is 10 times worse than the other ones we have had this year,” senior quarterback and team captain Matt Bassuener said Monday afternoon. “It stings worse than any other this season.”

The pain was especially hard to bear on a day when Georgetown refused to give in. After Marist senior quarterback Stephen McGrath hit fellow Red Fox fourth-year Tim Keegan with a 47-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, sophomore slot back Charlie Houghton galloped for a 10-yard score.

After McGrath and Keegan hooked up again and put Marist up 21-14 with six and change to play, Houghton countered with a 26-yard romp to tie the score.

After senior kicker Eric Bjonerud nailed a 42-yard field goal in the third overtime, it was Marist’s turn to produce. Three Red Fox rushes later, the deed was done.

“It was a great game, and unfortunately someone had to lose,” Georgetown Head Coach Kevin Kelly said. “We had our chances, and we blew it. You have to be able to put teams like that away.”

For the first half, Georgetown looked like the team it has talked about being all season long. They stopped the Red Foxes cold on the game’s first possession. They marched down the field for a seven-play, 47-yard drive and took a 7-0 lead after a short jaunt by Houghton.

Kelly outfoxed his old friend Jim Parady – the two coached together at Syracuse in the mid-80’s – and held Marist out of the end zone for the first 30 minutes.

Although McGrath and Keegan got the better of a young Georgetown secondary in the second half, the Hoya offense continued to have its way. The Hoyas amassed more yards on the ground and the air than their opponent and won the turnover battle. Georgetown also saw a touchdown run by Robert Lane called back on a clipping call and another long Houghton breakaway negated by a personal foul call. But on this overcast November day in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the Hoyas simply could not catch a break.

On one long touchdown play, freshman corner back Arius Ford tripped and fell while

covering Keegan, allowing the fleet pass catcher to streak down field. On another, McGrath narrowly escaped a corner blitz and found Keegan once more.

“We didn’t play better than any other game,” Bassuener said. “In reality, we made too many mistakes. There are about six plays where we wish we could take what happened back.”

Georgetown and Marist have a history of down-to-the-wire competition – the Red Foxes eked out a 38-35 overtime win in 2001 – but this season’s game could have all been done by the final gun. With 35 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Bjonerud lined up with a blustery wind at his back for a potential game-winning 38-yard field goal. The kick had the length, but not the direction, and the Hoyas saw their chance for a road win sail wide left.

Players from both teams took advantage of the lengthy game to assault their respective record books. Georgetown’s Houghton – who has been plagued by an elbow injury most of the season – glided to a career-high 163 yards and crossed the goal line four times.

The only Red Fox wily enough to stop Houghton on a regular basis was senior linebacker Dan Smith, whose 20 tackles set a new school record.

“[Houghton] had a great game,” Bassuener said. “He’s healthy again, he’s a horse, and he ran well.”

Smith was one of a cast of Marist seniors who made the most of their curtain call at Tenney Stadium. Ehikioya rambled for 177 yards and three scores, quarterback Stephen McGrath threw for 162 yards and two touchdowns and Keegan caught four balls for 108 yards and scored twice.

Bassuener said he will remember the efforts of the Marist seniors as he enters what may be his last week in a helmet and shoulder pads.

“This is our last go-round,” the signal caller from Port Edwards, Wis., said. “Next week, there won’t be any practice to go to. We are leaving no stone unturned. This will be the most fanatical week of practice.”