Laube's Four TDs Leads #15 UNH to 52-42 Win vs. #16 Fordham in NCAA First Round

DURHAM, N.H. – Junior running back Dylan Laube (Westhampton, N.Y.) finished with a school-record 424 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns to lead the No. 15/16 University of New Hampshire football team to Saturday afternoon's 52-42 victory against No. 16/13 Fordham University in an NCAA first round game at Wildcat Stadium.

Laube rushed 29 times for 157 yards and three TDs, caught four passes for 127 yards and a touchdown, had five kickoff returns for 119 yards and three punt returns for 21 yards. The three rushing touchdowns matched a personal best, with the four total TDs and 127 receiving yards both marking career highs.

UNH, an NCAA at-large team as co-champion of the CAA, improved to 9-3 overall to advance to the NCAA second round at eighth-seeded College of the Holy Cross on Dec. 3 (12 p.m.). Fordham, which received an at-large bid out of the Patriot League, ends the season at 9-3.

Sophomore Max Brosmer (Roswell, Ga.) completed 18 of 34 passes for a career-high 348 yards and three TDs – 87 yards to Laube, seven yards to Sean Coyne (Portsmouth, R.I.) and 65 yards to Heron Maurisseau (Bellport, N.Y.).

Joey Corcoran (Montreal, Quebec) had a team-leading five catches for 47 yards. Coyne finished with three catches for 52 yards.

Josiah Silver (Hampton, Va.) led UNH's defense with seven tackles, including two stops behind the line of scrimmage, and a forced fumble. Joe Eichman (Merrimack, N.H.), Niko Kvietkus (Southington, Conn.) and Ryan Toscano (Bedford, N.H.) followed with five tackles apiece. Eichman recorded one of UNH's three takeaways with a fumble recovery; Randall Harris (Walled Lake, Mich.) and Brendan Tighe (Lowell, Mass.) both recorded an interception.

Fordham's Tim DeMorat threw for 330 yards, two touchdowns and two INTs. Fotis Kokosioulis was the top target with 14 catches for 132 yards. MJ Wright pulled in five catches for 95 yards and a touchdown.

The Rams' defense was led by James Conway (13 tackles), Stephen Williams II (12), B.J. Ferguson (10) and Ryan Greenhagen (10). Williams II made two tackles for loss and Conway had 1.5.

PHOTO GALLERY

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FIRST QUARTER

Fordham marched to the UNH 10 on the opening possession of the game, but then Silver stripped Sneed of the ball and Eichman recovered the fumble to stop the drive.
UNH needed only two plays to take a 7-0 lead as Brosmer found Laube in the right flat and he raced down the sideline for the score at 10:39.
After the defense held the Rams to a 3-and-out, UNH's offense marched 91 yards on 12 plays, capped by a seven-yard pass from Brosmer to Coyne at the front-left pylon, to extend the advantage to 14-0 at 4:37.
Fordham responded with a 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to close within 14-7 at 2:19.
The Wildcats once again needed only two plays to score a TD when Brosmer found Maurisseau alone down the right sideline for a 65-yard strike that reestablished a 14-point lead, 21-7, at 1:23.
On the next play from scrimmage, Kvietkus hit DeMorat as he was releasing a pass and Tighe intercepted the ball at the UNH 49 to give possession back to the 'Cats.

SECOND QUARTER

The turnover did not result in any points, however, as the Rams stopped UNH on 4^th-and-7 at the Fordham 33.
Fordham once again had a one-play drive as Harris tipped the ball in the air at the UNH 30, came down with it at the 28 and returned the interception 30 yards to give the ball back to the Wildcats.
This time the 'Cats converted the turnover into a TD when Laube gained the left edge and ran into the end zone to give UNH a 28-7 lead at 11:31.
Fordham once again had a quick response with a 6-play, 81-yard drive to close within 28-14 at 8:56.
For the second time in the quarter, UNH lost possession on downs on a failed 4^th-and-1 at the UNH 47.
The Rams capitalized on the short field with a 55-yard TD pass from DeMorat to Wright to lift the visitors within 28-21 with exactly one minute on the clock.

THIRD QUARTER

On the first play from scrimmage in the second half, Maurisseau got outside on the right edge and raced past three defenders into the end zone to give the Wildcats a 35-21 lead at 14:44.
Loughridge's 25-yard run untouched up the middle trimmed the margin to 35-28 at 5:59.
Laube returned the ensuing kickoff 36 yards to set up 1^st-and-10 at the UNH 48, and six plays later he scored his third TD of the game (second rushing) on a 12-yard run up the middle to extend the advantage to 42-28 at 1:40.

FOURTH QUARTER

Fordham answered with an 8-play, 75-yard scoring drive to once again pull within seven points, 42-35, at 13:18.
Nick Mazzie (Boxford, Mass.), who had a 40-yard field goal attempt blocked in the second quarter, made a career-long 43-yard field goal at 10:50 to advance the score to 45-35.
UNH's defense forced a 3-and-out, but then the Rams got the ball back on a fumble at the Fordham 45.
The Wildcats' defense yielded just one yard to set up 4^th-and-9 and another incompletion gave possession back to New Hampshire at 7:02.
Six plays later, Laube scored on an 18-yard run to extend the advantage to 52-35 at 4:10. He had five rushes for 45 yards on the 6-play, 46-yard drive.
Fordham needed just 1 minute, 43 seconds to closed within 52-42 at 2:27.
Burke Griffin (Gig Harbor, Wash.) caught the attempted onsides kick and returned it nine yards to give UNH 1^st-and-10 at the Fordham 37 with 2:25 remaining.
Runs of seven and three yards by Laube gave the 'Cats a first down with less than one minute to play, and a pair of Brosmer kneel downs ended the game.

GAME NOTEBOOK

New Hampshire's offense scored a touchdown on four of its first five possessions while the Wildcats' defense recorded a takeaway on three of Fordham's first five possessions as UNH built a 28-7 lead at 11:31 of the second quarter.
UNH finished with season highs in both passing yards (330) and total offense (664), as well as points
The previous time the Wildcats topped 600 yards of offense was six years to the day: Nov. 26, 2016, with 637 in an NCAA first round 64-21 win vs. Lehigh. That was also the last time UNH scored 50+ points in a game.
Fordham, which entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation in scoring (50.2 points/game) and No. 1 in both total offense (612.1 yards/game) and passing yards (421.4 per game), finished with 577 total yards on a split of 247 rushing and 330 passing.
UNH won the turnover battle with three takeaways and one giveaway.
The Wildcats had the edge in time of possession, 35:33 to 24:57.
There were no sacks on a combined total of 75 pass attempts.

UNH NOTEBOOK

UNH improved to 3-1 against nationally-ranked teams this season as well as 5-1 at Wildcat Stadium.
This is the third consecutive NCAA tourney appearance that UNH advances out of the first round with a home win. The Wildcats' previous two appearances were in 2016 and 2017.
Laube now has 4,958 career all-purpose yards, including 2,216 this season. He entered the game as this year's national leader in all-purpose yards per game (179.2).
Laube's 1,157 rushing yards this season ranked No. 10 in program history; he surpassed Stephan Lewis' mark of 1,152 in 2002.
Brosmer eclipsed 5,000 career passing yards at 5,010, which ranks No. 9 on UNH's all-time leaderboard; he surpassed Mike Granieri (2000-04; 4,775); next on the list is No. 8 Jim Stayer (1992-94; 5,349).
Brosmer also climbed to No. 9 in career pass attempts with 730; he supplanted Stayer (710) and No. 8 is Matt Griffin (1987-91; 734).
Brosmer held at No. 8 in career completions with 445; No. 7 is Granieri at 564.
On UNH's list of single-season superlatives, Brosmer entered the Top 10 in passing yards and climbed to No. 9 with 2,915; No. 8 is current head coach Rick Santos (2,972 in 2007).
Brosmer also entered the Top 10 single-season list in completions and is No. 8 with 242; No. 7 is Bob Jean (375 in 1986) and No. 6 is Santos (256 in 2007).
And Brosmer also entered the Top 10 single-season list in pass attempts all the way to No. 7 with 384; No. 6 is Granieri with 387 in 2003.
UNH's two longest pass plays of the season came in the first quarter with the 87- and 65-yard touchdowns.
The defense matched a season high of three takeaways established in the season opener vs. Monmouth University.
UNH has a 16-19 lifetime postseason record that includes 15-16 in the FCS playoffs, 7-6 at home and 5-3 in FCS first round home games.
New Hampshire has a 24-11 record (.686 win percentage) at Wildcat Stadium and that includes 10-1 under coach Santos.
UNH's 66-16 home record (.805 win percentage) since 2008 includes 20-5 against non-CAA teams.
The nine wins are the most since the 2017 'Cats went 9-5.

SERIES NOTEBOOK

New Hampshire has a 2-0 lifetime record against Fordham. Both matchups have been NCAA postseason games in Durham.
The Wildcats prevailed 44-19 in a 2014 second round game.

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