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HAMILTON, N.Y. -- A near miracle comeback feel just short, as Cornell rallied from an 11-point deficit with less than two minutes left to force overtime, but Colgate was able to hold on for a 35-28 decision on Saturday afternoon at Andy Kerr Stadium. Colgate improved to 4-3, while Cornell slipped to 2-3.
In a game where both teams face an unusual amount of adversity before taking into the rainy, misty and windy conditions, Cornell fell just short despite 318 passing yards by Jeff Mathews, a pair of clutch field goals by Brad Greenway, a long kickoff return for a score by Rashad Campbell and timely play by the defense, which stiffened in the second half against Colgate's vaunted rushing attack.
Trailing 28-17 after turning it over on downs with 2:21 left, the Big Red defense made the play it had been waiting to make all day. Senior Zack Imhoff hit Jordan McCord and stripped himof the ball with classmate Rashad Campbell jumping on it to give the Big Red new life. After a pair of incomplete passes, Mathews found a streaking Luke Tasker, who hadn't caught a pass all day, for a 52-yard touchdown with 1:50 left. Cornell decided to go for two and converted. Houska lined up in the House-cat formation, faked a handoff to Tasker on an end-around, strode toward the line of scrimmage and threw a jump pass to Nick Mlady, who tip-toed in the back of the end zone to make it 28-25.
Cornell attempted an on-sides kick and looked to have executed well, as the ball took an extra-high bounce, deflected off a Colgate player and bounced free. The ball sat on the ground for a full second before the Raiders were able to pounce on it. However, the Big Red defense held. With a pair of timeouts remaining, the Big Red was able to turn it over on downs. Again, the big play was a fourth-and-1 with Colgate's Zauhn Lewis being hit at the line of scrimamge by Tre' Minor and Josh Barut to give the visitors the ball back with 41 ticks left on the clock.
Mathews wasted little time moving the Big Red, hitting Tasker on a crossing pattern for 51 yards all the way to the Colgate 28. After an incomplete pass, Mathews hit Ryan Houska on the sidelines for a gain of five, but the play was ruled down inbounds and the clock continued to run. Mathews was forced, instead of taking a shot at the end zone, to spike the ball dead to bring up fourth down and give the team an opportunity to tie the contest. The field goal team ran on, and Greenway calmly nailed a 40-yarder with 4.6 seconds left to send the Cornell sidelines into hysterics.
The comeback to tie was complete, but the comeback win was not to be.
The Raiders took the ball first in overtime and was able to punch the ball in from the 3 when McCord, who had lost the fumble earlier, found paydirt. He was flagged for excessive celebration, causing the extra-point to move back 15 yards. Unfazed despite the long conversion kick and four misses a week ago, Joe Uglietto was true with his kick to make it 35-28.
With only last chance to send a game into a second overtime period, the Big Red picked up a quick first down on a Tasker run. After an incompletion and a short pass to Tasker, Cornell faced a fourth-and-4 from the 6. Needing a first down or a score, Mathews' pass into the end zone sailed over the head of Lucas Shapiro, who was knocked down by a Colgate defender without drawing a flag. The officials signalled incomplete, and Colgate ran onto the field to celebrate the Homecoming victory.
Mathews completed 20-of-41 passes for 328 yards and two touchdowns. He was also intercepted twice. Tasker caught three passes for 109 yards and a touchdown despite not having a catch for the first 58 minutes. Shane Savage (four catches, 89 yards) and Kurt Ondash (six catches, 78 yards, TD) also had more than 75 yards reciving. Senior Ryan Houska had a career-high 81 yards rushing on 12 carries and caught four passes for 23 yards. Greenway made 2-of-3 field goals, both from more than 40 yards. His only miss was a 38-yarder into a fierce cross-wind that went just inches left.
Campbell's 85-yard kickoff return electrified the visiting sidelines, and the senior added six tackles and the fumble recovery. Imhoff had a monster game with 13 tackles, 2.5 tackles for a loss, a sack, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Also hitting 13 tackles was Brandon Lainhart, while Brett Buehler had nine stops and Josh Barut tallied eight to go along with a forced fumble.
Colgate's Jordan McCord, who scored the game-winning touchdown in the extra period, finished the day with 84 yards on the ground and two touchdowns on offense, while also tallying three tackles and an interception at safety. He finished second on the team in rushing for the day, however, as starting quarterback Josh Hasenberg recorded 127 yards on 18 carries and two scores before leaving with an injury in the second half. The Raiders as a team completed just 3-of-10 passes with a pair being intercepted. Colgate totaled 343 yards of offense, with 291 and all five touchdowns coming on the ground.
Cornell went into the first half break trailing 14-10, but were right in it against their Patriot League foe for the first time in four seasons. The Raiders, despite playing without leading rusher Nate Eachus and starting quarterback Gavin McCarney, answered each Big Red score with one of their own. Cornell, missing six injured defensive linemen, picked up the pace with a pair of forced turnovers in the first half. Neither team could break 200 yards of offense in the intermittent rain and consistent gusts that reached 30+ miles per hour.
After a slow start that saw the offense only move into positive yardage on the last play of the first quarter, the Big Red amassed 134 yards and 10 points by the break. Mathews shook off the weather and a number of drops to end the half 8-of-14 passing for 121 yards and a touchdown. Savage caught three passes, including a pair of highlight-reel receptions, for 77 yards, and Ondash hauled in an 18-yard score on a tremendous reception in the corner over a defender.
Cornell won the toss and deferred to the second half, and after hitting the returner inside the 10, Colgate's Jimmy DeCicco, who would later come in at quarterback, bounced off the tackle attempt and was able to return it to near midfield. Instead of being a bad omen, Cornell's defense fed off of it. The Raiders nearly avoided disaster momentarily when Josh Barut hit Hasenberg with a shot to force a fumble that was recovered by the home team. Just moments later, the junuior quarterback's pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage by sophomore Kevin Marchand and snatched out of the air by Emmitt Terrell. The pick was the first of his career. Cornell took advantage of a pass interference call to move into field goal position, and after stalling at the 29, celebrated as Greenway's 46-yard kick was true giving the visitors a 3-0 lead just 3:16 into the game.
Freshman Aaron Hancock broke up a fourth down pass to end a 10-play Colgate drive that kept the home team off the scoreboard. Cornell's defense nearly stopped another fourth down, but the measurement gave the Raiders a first down by an inch, and the home team took advantage. Hasenberg delivered with a great 10-yard scoring run after fooling everyone with a fake handoff.
After the Big Red was forced to punt, Colgate looked to be taking advantage of a short field before senior Nick Booker-Tandy made a play in the end zone, intercepting his first career pass. He returned it to near the 30, but a penalty brought it all the way back to the 6 after a penalty. A strong run by freshman Ahmad Avery for 7 yards on the final play of the quarter finally pushed the Big Red into positive yardage territory, ending the first 15 minutes with just five total yards on nine total plays.
With the wind to start the second quarter, Mathews hit Ondash for a first down. Two plays later, Mathews went over the top to Savage for a 52-yard gain on a missile toss. On third down, Mathews again went over the top for Ondash, who made an acrobatic catch over a defender in the end zone to make it 10-7 with 11:51 left in the second.
Against the wind, Greenway put the kickoff into the end zone, but the Raiders marched the ball right back downfield. The big blow came on a wide-open pass play from Hasenberg to Daniel Cason for 34 yards down to the 2-yard line. After a penalty brought the ball back to the 7, Lewis went over on the first play for the score. The extra-point made it 14-10 Colgate with 6:24 left before halftime.
On Cornell's last possession of the first half, Savage made an acrobatic catch over the middle for 23 yards. Two plays later, Mathews found Shapiro over the middle to pick up a big third down, but the offense bogged down just outside the red zone. Greenway attempted the 38-yard field goal and went wide left by inches into the wind. The Raiders took possession with just over a minute left, Colgate made a first down and ran out the clock to go into the break leading by four.
On the very first play from scirmmage after halftime, Adam Lock came free on Mathews' blind side for a vicious sack. The sophomore lost the ball on the hit, which was recovered by the home team at the 6. Mathews stayed down for several minutes before walking off the field under his own power. The Raiders scored on the second play, as McCord found the end zone and the extra point made it 21-10 less than a minute into the second half.
After events seemed to turn on the visitors, Campbell turned the game around. After nearly breaking one several times and having a 103-yarder called back earlier in the year against Yale, Campbell fielded the ball at the 15 on a short kick, ran into a scrum at about the 30, broke two tackles and outraced the coverage team for an 85-yard touchdown return. it was the Big Red's first kickoff return for a touchdown since Shane Kilcoyne went 94 yards against Columbia in 2007.
The Raiders marched down the field again, this time with the big play coming on a keeper by Hasenberg for 37 yards on a key third-and-1. Hasenberg, who went over 100 yards rushing on the drive, kept it for the final three yards for the score to increase the lead to 28-17.
Another solid kickoff return, this time by Nick Mlady, gave the Big Red offense a start at their own 42. With Mathews back under center, Houska took the ball on first down and marched 19 yards, including a big stiff arm to finish the run. A penalty for an illegal formation wied out another 8-yard run by Houska, but a 15-yard facemask penalty on Colgate moved the Big Red inside the Colgate 30. On the next dropback, Mathews pass intended for Savage was intercepted in the endzone by Jordan McCord.
Imhoff nearly missed an interception, breaking up a pass after Brandon Lainhert hit Hasenberg on an all-out blitz on the ensuing possession. Roberts dropped a Colgate ballcarrier for a loss, and then Imhoff got in for a sack to force a punt. The Big Red nearly blocked the punt, as freshman Andrew Boseman missed the ball by the length of a fingertip.
Ondash adjusted to a ball that was just underthrown and made a tough catch for an 11-yard gain, getting the Big Red into field goal range on the ensuing possession. After going backwards three yards, Mathews hit Ondash as he was getting hit for another first down to the 14. Mathews' pass into the end zone on first down was intercepted by Chris DiMassa and returned to the 17 and a horse collar tackle tacked on 15 yards to the 32.
With its top two quarterbacks injured, Colgate turned to freshman Ryan Smith to run the offense. As it became totally reliant on the run, Cornell's defense teed up on the run. Three straight handoffs led to just six yards of offense and a punt. The Big Red weren't able to do anything with their possession and punted it back. Colgate answered by bringing in freshman DiCicco, but he wasn't able to do much more. It was three plays and out, giving Cornell the ball back with just under 11 minutes remaining.
After drops on the first two downs, Mathews hit Savage for a first down to move the chains. He then hit Houska, who fumbled forward before Savage quickly pounced on it for another first down. Houska burst through the middle for 10 yards, then crossed midfield with another 15-yard carry. After Mathews got away from a 12-yard sack to get back to the line of scrimmage a no-call on a pass play downfield forced a fourth down. The Big Red threw a jump ball to freshman Lucas Shapiro, but the pass was broken up by Chad Frey to give the ball back to the home team with seven minutes remaining. A first down by the Raiders helped them take nearly three minutes off the clock before stopping a fourth-and-4 to give the Big Red the ball back on downs at the Cornell 29 with 4:28 remaining. Mathews hit Ondash, who broke a tackle and slipped down the sidelines for a 16-yard gain on first down. After consecutive pass attempts were broken up and Ondash caught an 8-yard out, Mathews hit Mlady across the middle for another set of downs. A near-sack, a sack and a dropped pass, along with a penalty for a flase start, brought up another fourth down, this time a fourth-and-23. Mathews was hit as he threw and Colgate took over on downs with just over two minutes remaining.
Little did either team know that the suspense was still to come.
The Big Red returns home next weekend to face Brown on Saturday, Oct. 22 at 12:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. The Bears have won the last three meetings between the teams and leads the all-time series 31-26-1.
