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| FDU-Florham athletics photo |
By Joe Sager
D3sports.com
There isn’t one thing FDU-Florham does well.
Seemingly, the Devils are excelling at many so far this season. A balanced attack has led FDU-Florham to a program-best 4-0 start and a 3-0 mark in the Middle Atlantic Conference.
“It’s awesome and we’re definitely having a lot of fun, offensive and defensively,” Devils senior quarterback Ryon Thomas said. “Everyone is playing together. What we want to do is dominate. We have big goals, but we just have to take things game by game and play by play.”
Offensively, the team has been racking up points. It averages 39.8 points per game. But, it’s not been one main guy responsible for a majority of the output. Thomas leads the conference in passing, while Aidan Clowry is the top receiver and Kwanir Edwards paces the list of top rushers.
“It definitely does make things easier with all the balance we have. Personally, it makes the game a lot more fun,” Edwards said. “Playing with those guys and, not only being able to run the ball, but pass it and having guys who can make plays once they get the ball makes it easier for me. It opens up a lot of things. It takes a lot of pressure off the O-line as well.”
Balance is something FDU-Florham has been working to achieve.
“I think one key for our offense is that we have a lot of experience with a lot of older guys, predominantly seniors,” FDU-Florham coach Anthony Van Curen said. “The MAC is a tough conference and some of these guys have been multi-year starters. So, having that experience really helps them in games and with making adjustments if a team is trying to take something away.
“It’s a really well-balanced offense that can attack from all different angles. Really, it just comes down to execution. We’re not trying to score a touchdown every single play, but if it happens through our execution, that’s great. We want to execute and be efficient. Our offensive coordinator (Michael Tufaro) has done a tremendous job building our offense into an efficient machine.”
Edwards, who rushed for 193 yards in last week’s 48-26 win over Lebanon Valley, slightly disagrees with his head coach on one point.
“Our whole mission, as an offense, is to score every time we touch the ball and get on that field,” he said.
The Devils have done a pretty good job of that, so far.
“The offensive line is doing a great job. Kwanir and the run game as well as our receivers are doing a great job. That makes my life a whole lot easier when we have guys that complement each other,” Thomas said. “It makes my life a whole lot easier just having guys that complement each other on the offensive side. It helps us be a great offense and keep moving forward.
The offensive success eases the burden on the team’s defense, which ranks second in the conference at 15.5 points allowed per game,
“When the offense can score 38 points per game, it gives you some room to work,” said Van Curen, who runs the defense. “It makes it easier to call the defensive plays when you have that much room to work with. But, no matter where you play, we’ve just been focusing on doing our jobs and executing every single play. Whether we’re talking about offense, defense or special teams, we have to be great in all phases. Every week, we have to be consistently dominant in doing our jobs.”
That’s because the schedule only gets more challenging for the Devils, who play three of their next four games on the road.
“This first half of the schedule has been fun and enjoyable, but we know we do have some tougher games coming up,” Edwards said. “These are the games we are preparing for. This is preparation and steps for our goal, which is an MAC championship.”
FDU-Florham is enjoying a MAC-wide bye week before it returns to action next Saturday at Alvernia.
“The break came at a good point in the season,” Van Curen said. “It gives us an opportunity to regroup and see what needs to improve. It gives us an opportunity to load up for the second half of the schedule because we have a lot of great teams left to play.”
