ITHACA, N.Y. -- Two long touchdown returns on special teams in the first quarter sparked the Big Red football team to a 34-14 Senior Day victory over Columbia on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. With the victory, Cornell closes out its home schedule with a 4-1 record and guaranteed itself a .500 record by improving to 5-4 (2-4 Ivy). The Lions fell to 1-8 (0-6 Ivy) with the loss.

Junior Shane Kilcoyne opened the contest by returning the kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown, then Bryan Walters brought a punt back 82 yards for a touchdown later in the quarter for the first time in program history Cornell returned a kickoff and a punt for a score in the same game. Sophomore quarterback Stephen Liuzza got the start at quarterback for an injured Nathan Ford and scored two rushing touchdowns and posted 85 yards on the ground while connecting on 17-of-26 for 163 yards in the air.

While a Cornell offense that committed no turnovers on the afternoon after making 13 in its previous two games, the Big Red defense was outstanding, limiting the Lions to 64 total yards on the ground for the contest and 131 yards total in the decisive first half. Junior Graham Rihn posted 4.5 tackles for loss, including a sack, blocked a kick, and notched eight tackles in the win. Tim Bax had a game-high 15 tackles, while Gus Krimm posted 11.

Columbia's bright spot came from wide receiver Austin Knowlin, who hauled in nine passes for 73 yards and two touchdowns, catching one each from Craig Hormann and Shane Kelly. Hormann ended his afternoon 16-of-34 for 131 yards, while Kelly was 14-of-23 for 171 yards. Together, the duo passed for 302 yards, though much of it came with the game out of reach. Ray Rangel led the Lion rushing attack with 43 yards and nine carries. Defensively, Alex Gross had 11 tackles, including 2.5 for a loss

The Big Red strung together four drives of at least 11 plays in the contest, cashing in on three of them. Cornell was 4-of-4 in red zone scoring opportunities and limited the Lions to 2-of-4 chances inside the 20.
 

Coming off a miserable 59-31 loss a weekend ago at Dartmouth, the Big Red needed to get off to a fast start, and Kilcoyne delivered. Fielding his first kickoff of the season, the junior broke loose down the right side, found a seam, but to the middle of the field and evaded all Columbia defenders in picking up the Big Red's first return score since Walters went 88 yards against Penn in the 2006 season finale. It wouldn't be that long before the sophomore would get his opportunity.

The teams traded punts with Columbia using a short field to get into field goal position for place-kicker Jon Rocholl. The 33-yard effort was blocked by Rihn and returned 14 yards to the Cornell 32, keeping Columbia off the board and giving more special team momentum. That block spearheaded the ensuing 11-play, 68-yard drive by the Big Red that ended with a 15-yard run by Liuzza to the end zone. Zell's kick made it 14-0 with 3:16 to play in the half.

A short run and a pair of incomplete passes gave Rocholl the unfortunate job of punting to Walters, and the sophomore finally cashed in after several near-misses this season. Walters exploded up the right sideline and raced 82 yards to the end zone, capping the second-longest punt return in Cornell history. With 1:45 remaining in the quarter, Cornell was now looking at a 21-0 advantage on the strength of three huge special teams play.

The Lions got back into the contest with a long 12-play, 72-yard drive that ended when Hormann hit Knowlin from 3-yards out on a third-and-goal. A tough pass interference call on Cornell on a third-and-12 kept the drive alive, and the Lions scored three plays later.

Another long Cornell drive, this time 13 plays over 7:24, ended with Cornell not getting anything to show for it. Three third-down conversions, including a Liuzza pass to Walters for 15 yards on a third-and-8, ended with Zell attempting a long 48-yard field goal that fell short with 6:21 left before halftime.

After the Big Red defense forced a punt on Columbia's next drive, Cornell ran out the final 4:16 with a massive 14-play drive that concluded with a Zell 28-yard field goal as the gun went off to make it 24-7 Big Red entering the break.

The Cornell defense made a big stop on fourth-and4 from the Cornell 40 on the Lions' first possession of the second half, and the Big Red offense took advantage, seemingly putting the game out of reach with the ensuing six-play, 60-yard drive. A 20-yard strike to Zach Vredenburgh, followed by a 6-yard run by Liuzza, a 7-yard pass to Jesse Baker and a 13-yard run by Randy Barbour in succession set up the sophomore quarterback for a 14-yard run to the end zone. Zell split the uprights to make it 31-7.

A three-and-out by the Columbia offense gave the ball back to the Big Red, and this time a 14-play drive ended in a chip-shot 31-yard kick by Zell, who cashed in to make it 34-7 with 3:02 left in the third.

Out came Hormann and in came Kelly on the next Columbia drive. The transfer from Temple entered the game and promptly completed his first six passes for 58 yards and three straight first downs, but his seventh pass was an errant one on a four-and-4 from the Big Red 20.

The two teams traded punts for the next three possessions, with the Big Red stepping up and forcing the Lions to give the ball up on downs when Mark Longo broke up a Kelly pass on fourth-and-3 with 7:08.

Columbia would get the ball back with 1:23 left, and Kelly quickly moved the ball from the Lions' own 13 across midfield, then a long 28-yard completion to Derek Jancisin moved it to the Cornell 8. As the Big Red seniors made their exit one last time to get the applause of the home crowd, the Lions scored with four seconds on the clok when Kelly hit Knowlin for his second score of the night.

Cornell closes out the 2007 season and will attempt to win its sixth game of the year when it meets Penn on Saturday, Nov. 17, at 1 p.m. at Franklin Field.