The Fordham Rams are looking to make up for lost time as they were selected as the unanimous choice to win the Patriot League crown in a preseason poll, it was announced at the July 30 Patriot League Football Media Day.

The Rams notched all 12 first-place votes from their opponents to finish with 72 points in the poll. Lehigh University came in second with 54 points, followed by Lafayette University with 51 points.

Fordham comes off a historic 2013-14 season where it finished 12-2 overall, made the second round of the FCS playoffs and placed in the top ten of both national polls.
The Rams homecoming game vs the University of Rhode Island is Sept. 13, 1 p.m.

— Joe DiBa

Despite the Fordham football team’s amazing 3-0 start this season, the Rams are always looking for new players. They’ve found one such player in 12-year-old Jonah Shainberg, who was officially adopted by the Rams on Sept. 12 through the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation, an organization supporting children with pediatric brain tumors.

Shainberg and his father, Joshua, attended that day’s practice, where they watched the Rams prepare for their Sept. 14 game with Temple University in Philadelphia. At the end of practice, head coach Joe Moorhead called Jonah out to midfield to meet the team. The squad ran a play in which Jonah took the ball from quarterback Mike Nebrich and raced 60 yards for the touchdown. The team met Jonah in the end zone and carried him to the locker room on their shoulders.

Accompanied by the foundation’s executive director, Michelle DeIeso, and adoption coordinator Katie Johnson, Jonah shared the history of his illness with the team and spoke of how excited he was to be involved with the Rams.

The team’s four captains presented Jonah with his own locker, which was filled with Fordham football gear, T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and a football signed by Coach Moorhead and the team.

Coach Moorhead gave Jonah a personal session on how the Rams “break down” film from games, to help coaches instruct on future plays.

Following an interview with News 12 Bronx, Jonah was escorted by the team captains to The Marketplace for dinner in the McGinley Center.

Jonah, a student at The Child School on Randall’s Island, was diagnosed with a brain tumor six years ago and underwent numerous treatments for two years. Although Jonah is cancer-free, he recently suffered a stroke, which left the right side of his body in a weakened state. He is undergoing therapy to regain control of his right side.

“This was a tremendous honor for our team,” said Moorhead. “We are thrilled to be able to add a person like Jonah to our roster. He has been through so much in life and maintains such a positive attitude. We are looking forward to having him with us in meetings and on the sidelines, and will look to him for inspiration as the year goes on.”

The nonprofit Friends of Jaclyn Foundation matches its children with a college or high school sports teams based on geographic location. Jonah is a native New Yorker.

Liberty Cup Game 2013
Click here for a recap of the Rams’ Sept. 21 Homecoming on Storify:
www.Fordham.edu/Homecoming2013

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Season and individual ticket information is
available by calling the Fordham Ticket Office
at (718) 817-4300. A complete men’s and
women’s schedule can be found online at:

http://www.fordhamsports.com/

Skelton was one of 37 players to accept an invitation to the game, the organization announced on Tuesday. He was selected to the East roster, where Central Michigan’s Dan Lefevour will join Skelton at the quarterback position. Skelton and wide receiver Andre Roberts of The Citadel were the only players from Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) schools that were placed on the initial rosters.

Skelton is wrapping up a record-setting career at Fordham with an outstanding senior season. On the year, he has completed 233 of 364 passes for 2,917 yards and 18 touchdowns. He leads the NCAA FCS in passing yards/game, averaging 324.11/game, and total passing yards (2,917) while ranking second in total offense at 344.11 yards/game. Skelton is also ranked third nationally in completions/game (25.89), tied for 15th in points responsible for (15.33), and 21st in passing efficiency (143.80).

Earlier this year, Skelton completed 43 of 67 passes for 427 yards against Holy Cross on October 31st, all school records. He finished that contest one passing attempt shy of the NCAA FCS record for most pass attempts in a game without an interception, just missing the national mark of 68 set by Marshall’s Tony Petersen against Western Carolina in 1987 (Peterson completed 34). Skelton surpassed his own school record of 420 passing yards in the Holy Cross game, a record he set earlier this year at Cornell, while he broke Matt Georgia’s 1999 records of 36 completions and 65 attempts. Over his career, Skelton has completed 751 career passes for 9,132 yards and 61 touchdowns, surpassing Joe Moorhead’s career completion record of 518 and Kevin Eakin’s career passing yards (6,112) and touchdown marks (45).

“I was at Louisiana Tech with Tim Rattay and Luke McCown, who both went on to play in the NFL, and I think John is right up there with them,” said Fordham head coach Tom Masella. “It’s a much deserved honor for John who is a fantastic quarterback and I’m sure he’ll do well.”

The team rosters, which will be updated regularly as players accept invitations, are posted on the East-West Shrine Game Web site at www.shrinegame.com/rosters.

“This is an outstanding group of players,” said East-West Shrine Game Executive Director Jack Hart. “These young men are high-level players from top schools around the country. We look forward to continuing to receive acceptances from many other quality players to round out our East and West Teams prior to our January 23 date in Orlando.”

The East-West Shrine Game is the longest-running college all-star football game in the country and features some of the highest-rated players in the projected NFL draft ranking. In April 2009, 90 percent of players from the 84th East-West Shrine Game (played on Jan. 17, 2009) were either drafted or signed as free agents by NFL clubs. A total of 307 East-West Shrine Game alumni were on 2009 NFL opening-day rosters.

While the teams are divided by East and West, the players come together for the beneficiary of the event, Shriners Hospitals for Children, an international pediatric specialty health care system. The 85th East-West Shrine Game will kick off at 3 p.m. EST and be televised live on ESNP2.

Shriners Hospitals for Children is a system of 22 hospitals dedicated to providing pediatric specialty care, innovative research and outstanding teaching programs. Children up to age 18 with orthopaedic conditions, burns, spinal cord injuries, and cleft lip and palate are eligible for care and receive all services in a family-centered environment, without financial obligation to patients or their families.

For more information about the East-West Shrine Game, visit www.shrinegame.com.

Fordham University dedicated a monument on Friday, Oct. 24, to its famed football linemen from the 1929-1930 and 1936-1937 seasons.

The monument, located just outside the grandstand entrance to Jack Coffey Field on the Rose Hill campus, features the players’ names and a description of their athletic achievements. Seven small granite blocks rest at the base.

“This is a day that has been too long in coming,” said Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham. “It is right that we honor the group of men that has inspired Fordham football for generations.”

The linemen, which included future Green Bay Packers coaching legend Vince Lombardi in 1936-1937, fueled Fordham’s rise to football prominence during the Great Depression. The team was a national power at the time, taking on the likes of West Virginia, Pittsburgh, Georgia and North Carolina.

During the four seasons immortalized on the monument, Fordham posted a 27-2-5 record, including 20 shutouts.

The crowd, which included University administrators and athletics officials, supporters of the football program and the players’ descendents, indicated their approval with cheers and applause.

Father McShane noted that both sets of the Seven Blocks contain more than seven names—eight in 1929-1930 and 11 in 1936-1937.

“Seven is eight is 11,” he said. “It’s almost like contemplating the Holy Trinity—a mystery beyond our ability to fathom.”

The nickname was developed by Fordham publicist Timothy Cohane (FCRH ’35), after the linemen forged a reputation for preventing opposing teams from advancing the ball, as if they were running into a wall of stone.

“This is an incredible honor for me to even be here,” said Joe Moglia (FCRH ’71), the lead benefactor in building the monument. Moglia enjoyed a 16-year career as a football coach before entering the financial sector in 1984.

In his remarks, he pointed to the Seven Blocks as providing the foundation of Fordham’s gridiron greatness, and noted that they gave hope to a city and nation during trying times.

“It wasn’t an accident that Fordham would draw 80,000 people to Yankee Stadium to play NYU,” Moglia said. “The country was looking for heroes; New York was looking for heroes; and the Seven Blocks of Granite gave that to them.”

Addressing the football team, which was also in attendance, Moglia implored the players to cherish their place in the grand tradition the began with the Seven Blocks.

“You are the legacy for the Blocks of Granite,” he told them. “All we ask is that you represent that legacy and give it all you’ve got for 60 minutes. If you do that, we couldn’t be prouder of you.”