Box Score ITHACA, N.Y.  – Jeff Mathews became just the second Ivy League quarterback to ever throw for 8,000 career passing yards, but it wasn't enough to secure a comeback over Penn at Schoellkopf Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Quakers completed a late touchdown drive to break a 28-28 tie, and late penalties hampered the Big Red's frantic attempt to re-tie the game in the final minute as Penn held on for a 35-28 and the outright Ivy League title.
 
After Cornell (4-6, 2-5 Ivy League) tied the game at 28-28, Penn (6-4, 5-1) got the ball back with 2:56 on the clock at its own 37-yard line. Spencer Kulcsar completed a well-run offensive series for the Quakers, running it in from three yards out.
 
Cornell got the ball back with exactly one minute showing on the clock at its own 28, and Mathews got the Big Red down to the Penn 8-yard line with a 51-yard strike to Luke Tasker. But on the next play, with 17 seconds remaining, Cornell committed a chop blocking penalty that moved the ball back to the 23 and brought the clock down to nine seconds. One final completion went to Kurt Ondash, but the pass was over the middle and the clock expired before Cornell could take another snap.
 
Mathews ended the afternoon with 445 passing yards – the fifth-highest total in his career – to finish the season with over 3,000 passing yards for the second consecutive year. He had one passing touchdown on the day, while Grant Gellatly had six catches for 141 yards and that touchdown.
 
Luke Hagy was also important for the offense, racking up 69 rushing yards and 83 in the air. Senior Luke Tasker, playing in his final game for the Big Red on Senior Day, went over 100 yards receiving, catching six balls for 110 yards.
 
Though the game was close late, Penn started out the afternoon in command.
 
Early in the first quarter, Cornell attempted a swing pass to the right, but Gellatly was unable to reel the ball in. Since the pass went backward, the ball was live and Penn pounced on it to give the Quakers possession just 35 yards from goal. On the first play, a pass went right for 34 yards to Greg Schuster, setting up a one-yard touchdown run by Jeff Jack to put Penn up 7-0.
 
Cornell didn't wait long to get itself on the board. On its next possession, Hagy rushed for 13 yards for a Big Red first down, and Mathews found Gellatly wide open over the middle for a 65-yard touchdown on the ensuing play. The extra point went wide, and Penn led 7-6.
 
Neither team was able to score on its next drive, which resulted in punts. On third-and-7 of Penn's next possession, Cornell safety Bobby Marani sacked signal-caller Andrew Holland with a leaping tackle on third down to make the Quakers punt again. On the punt, Cornell got a solid return from Tasker and started its drive on the Quakers' 30-yard line. Five plays later, Hagy gave Cornell its first lead of the afternoon with a three-yard run.
 
The rest of the first quarter and almost all of the second saw both teams struggling on offense and excelling on defense. Neither side was able to sustain a long drive until the Quakers got possession with just over a minute left in the half.
 
Going 89 yards in six plays, Penn capped a perfectly executed two-minute drill with a 41-yard bomb to the end zone from Holland to Jason Seifert. The extra point made it a 14-13 advantage for the visitors at the break and foreshadowed how the Quakers would end the second half as well.
 
Penn wasted little time getting its offense going in the third quarter. On the fourth play of the half, Lyle Marsh broke off a 55-yard run down the left sideline for a touchdown. With the extra point, the Quakers extended their lead to 21-13 just 1:51 into the half.
 
A muffed punt midway through the quarter set up Penn's next scoring drive. The Quakers got the ball at the Cornell 17, and after one play had the ball nine yards from the end zone. A defensive pass interference call refreshed Penn's downs, and on third-and-goal the Quakers converted on a one-yard rush from Holland to make it 28-13.
 
The Big Red responded well, going on a long drive to bring the score to 28-20. Hagy completed the drive with a two-yard run after earning 30 yards total on the possession.
 
Marani ended Penn's next drive with his second sack of the game, this one for a six-yard loss, and the Big Red took over on the 20 following a Quakers punt. The Big Red went eight plays and 80 yards for the game-tying score with Hagy rushing from eight yards out for the score. Cornell tied the game with a two-point conversion from Mathews to Tasker.
 
The Big Red was saved twice by penalty flags on the drive. On a fourth-and-10 from the 31, a pass into the end zone fell incomplete but automatic first down came thanks to defensive pass interference. On the very next play, Mathews threw an interception that Penn returned 75 yards the other way, but Cornell got a first down on a roughing-the-passer call. That set up Hagy's touchdown run and the two-point conversion to tie the game at 28-28 with 2:56 to go.
 
Penn responded almost instantly, aided by a very short kickoff that began their next drive just 63 yards from the end zone. The Quakers ran six plays in under two minutes, and Kulcsar's rushing touchdown would prove to be the game-winner.
 
With exactly one minute to go, the Big Red took over at its own 28-yard line. Cornell used a 12-yard pass to Gellatly, an 11-yard pass to Ahmad Avery and the 51-yarder to Tasker to get set up inside the 10. But with only one timeout at the start of the drive, Cornell ran out of time in the end.