Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. – The Cornell sprint football team got a pair of touchdowns from Doug Famularo and three field goals from Alex Perilstein as it held off a stubborn Post squad this evening at Schoellkopf Field. With the win, the Big Red improves to 3-0 on the season, while the Eagles, playing their first season in the CSFL fell to 0-2.

Patience and opportunistic plays were the name of the game as both teams seemed to struggle on offense. Cornell showed it could run the ball, with 221 yards on the ground, while the defense held Post to just 23 net rushing yards. But the Eagles were efficient in the air with a pair of quarterback combining for 168 yards, while the Big Red threw for just 76. Neither team seemed to be able to convert a third down with both squads going 1-for-13.

Famularo was a workhorse for Cornell, carrying the ball 28 times for 159 yards. He rushed for one touchdown and caught another. The quarterback tandem of Elliot Corey and Brendan Miller combined for 76 yards in the air with Elliot rushing for 47 yards, while Miller went 5-for-9 for 40 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions.

Perilstein scored nine straight points for the Big Red, sandwiched in-between Famularo's two touchdowns. He connected from 34, 39 and 42 yards.

Defensively, Joseph Bright led the team with eight tackles, including 3.5 for a loss of 27 yards. As a team, the Big Red posted 17 tackles for a loss of 81 yards, sacked the Post quarterbacks eight times for a loss of 43 yards and caused two turnovers with Kevin Schmidt forcing a fumble and John Mackintosh intercepting a pass.

Post was led by Christopher Tropasso with 69 yards rushing and one touchdown, while Sir-Darryl Johnson went 6-for-13 for 85 yards and one touchdown. Cody Kingsley also saw time under center, completing 7-of-17 passes for 83 yards with one interception.

The Eagles defense was its strength and was led by Kyle Lagasse who racked up 16 tackles, including two for a loss and one sack. The team also caused three turnovers with two interceptions and one fumble recovery.

The teams traded possessions to start the game, but Post caught a break when it blocked a Cornell punt and recovered the ball on the home team's three-yard line. After back-to-back rushes yielded only one-yard for the visitors, a false start penalty backed the Eagles up for a third-and-six, but a perfectly thrown fade route from Johnson to Daniel Awwad in the corner of the endzone put Post up, 6-0.

The Eagles went for the two-point conversion but the rush by Mike Chance came up short.

Both offenses stalled after that and it wasn't until late in the second half that Cornell was able to draw even at 6-6, as it benefited from an Eagle fumble on the visitors' 46-yard line. It took just three plays for the Big Red to score, beginning with a nine-yard completion from Miller to Garrett Koehler. Miller than broke off a 24 yard rush to get down to the Post 13-yard line, before completing a pass to Famularo in the flat. Famularo sprinted down the sideline and then caught the pylon before being pushed out-of-bounds to give Cornell the touchdown.

The Big Red's extra-point attempt was blocked and the teams went into the half tied at 6-6.

It wasn't until late in the third quarter that either team would score again but after taking over on downs on its own 15-yard line, Cornell used a 10 play, 60-yard drive to set up Perilstein's go-ahead field goal, a 42-yarder to put the Big Red up, 9-6.

It took just 14 seconds for Post to respond, as Aawad's 14-yard kick-off return was followed by a 69-yard touchdown run from Tropasso, who found a seam up the middle and put the visitors up, 12-9. Once again, the Eagles went for two, and this time Johnson connected with Aawad to give Post the 14-9 lead with 4:00 to play in the third quarter.

Cornell dominated the final quarter, stopping four Post possessions by forcing two punts, intercepting one pass and stopping a fourth-down conversion attempt. The offense also stepped up its performance with Perilstein connecting on a 34-yard field goal and a 39-yard field goal before Famularo scored on a 37-yard touchdown run to account for the 22-14 final.

The Big Red is back in action next weekend as it hits the road to take on perennial CSFL power Army at Shea Stadium (West Point, N.Y.) on Friday, Oct. 8 at 7 p.m.