Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
WASHINGTON - The Catholic University of America football team earned a hard-fought victory over Randolph-Macon on Saturday afternoon at Cardinal Stadium, 25-20. The Cardinals now improve to 2-1 overall as they closed out nonconference play.
Catholic came out strong on both sides of the ball as they build a 19-point halftime advantage while the Cards held the Yellow Jackets off the scoreboard for the first 37 minutes of the game.
Sophomore quarterback Alejandro Ros led Catholic to four touchdown drives as he threw for three touchdowns and totaled 327 yards of offense through the air and the ground.
Senior defensive lineman Patrick Vidal was once again sensational and a force in the trenches for head coach Mike Gutelius. Vidal racked up 11 tackles, three sacks, 3.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
Equally impressive was the play of junior corner Isaiah Snead. The defensive back erased two would-be Randolph-Macon touchdowns as he intercepted one in the endzone and knocked the ball out of the hands of another potential touchdown catch for the Yellow Jackets. He finished his day with two picks, two breakups and three tackles.
Catholic's defense forced six turnovers, one better than its performance last week. In addition to Snead's two picks and Vidal's forced fumble, senior Luke Kern recorded a forced fumble and helped the defense to two turnovers on downs.
The Cardinals D finished the day with four sacks, six tackles for loss, two forced fumbles with two recoveries, two interceptions and six pass breakups.
The Catholic offense converted 6-of-14 third downs and went for 391 total yards of offense with 265 through the air and 126 on the ground.
Offensively, Catholic struck first as junior running back Nick Esposito capped a six-play drive with a highlight reel dive over the pile on a goal-line dive.
The Cards went on to score on their next possession as Ros found senior wideout Blake Gomez up the left sideline for a 35-yard strike.
Ros added two more 20-yard TD passes with one each in the second and fourth with lasers to sophomore Rey Riveros (25 yards) and freshman Onani Moore (23 yards).
Randolph-Macon was able to score midway through the third and at the start of the fourth to set up some late-game dramatics. The Yellow Jackets scored their third touchdown of the game with 2:18 left and tried the onside kick, but hands-team member Andrew Lunarola came up with the line-drive kick to help Catholic ice the game.
Catholic continues its "New Era" as the Cardinals play and host their first-ever New England Women's & Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) game next Saturday, September 23, at noon, against MIT.
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