The No. 5 Griffins defeated No. 4 Fisher 17-0 in a first-round upset in the Interhall postseason Sunday afternoon.
With the win, Stanford will advance in the playoffs to face top-seeded Morrissey, after the Manor shut out Knott 7-0 Sunday.
Stanford captain and junior Daniel Babiak said the team’s preparation was a major factor in the victory.
“What helped us win today was that we had a great practice this week,” Babiak said. “We got a lot of attendance, which is so hard in this league. [The team] got out here really early and had a great warm up so everyone was fresh. The guys took it easy last night, and when we came out here everyone was all-in.”
Stanford's preparation paid off as the Griffins forced a fumble on the opening drive of the game, recovered by senior linebacker Peter Jochens. The Griffins capitalized on the fumble and scored a touchdown on the ensuing possession with a 33-yard pass from freshman quarterback Andrew Foster to sophomore wide receiver Brent Jordan in the end zone.
Foster’s running and passing production helped the Stanford offense dominate, as he ended the game with 93 yards passing, 31 yards rushing and a touchdown. Babiak said Foster's performance was the result of hard work in practice.
“The passing game in general has been coming along the entire season,” Babiak said. “Today was just showing the results of all the hard work we've been putting in the last two months.”
On the next possession, the Griffins forced the Green Wave to punt. Stanford regained possession and scored another touchdown on a 5-yard run by junior running back Michael Grasso. Foster set up the touchdown with a 35-yard flea-flicker pass to junior receiver Daniel Muldoon. Babiak said the trick play worked well.
“We drew that up this week,” Babiak said. “We weren't sure if we were going to use it. We had a good scenario; we had the ball in good field position, so we figured why not run it.”
Stanford opened the second half with a long drive that led to a field goal by freshman kicker Samuel Kohler. The drive took up most of the third quarter and left Fisher with little time to mount a comeback.
In attempt to narrow the gap, the Fisher offense began to focus more on passing. Fisher quarterback and sophomore Michael Cooney threw for 58 yards in the game but was unable to conduct a scoring drive. However, time was against the Green Wave, and Fisher ultimately fell 17-0.
Fisher captain and senior Matthew Nagy said there was “just a little bit of frustration at the end of the game,” but his team played well throughout the season.
“We kept playing hard,” Nagy said. “[We] couldn't keep it moving too much on offense and the penalties really hurt us as well. Our first game we lost pretty badly (Fisher lost to Carroll 21-0), and we were a little worried after that, but we kept working hard and we came back and won our next three games, so we were pretty happy about that.”
Babiak said his team will need to continue practicing well to continue on the path to the championship game at Notre Dame Stadium.
“We just have to keep getting out there every day we have a practice,” Babiak said. “Morrissey and Knott are both pretty good teams, so we're going to have to prepare to play the best team in the league, in my opinion.”
Stanford will play Morrissey on Sunday in the semi-finals at 1 p.m. at LaBar Fields.
