Box Score Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y – Franklin Pierce may have been playing its first ever sprint football game on Saturday, but the Ravens gave Cornell all it could handle and nearly pulled the upset.

Cornell (2-0) got a touchdown pass from Brendan Miller to Charles Clausner with just 2:13 remaining in the game and held on for a 26-21 victory at Arthur Hurd Field in Ashburnham, Mass.

The Ravens came out of the gate strong, eager to open their program with a victory. Tyler Mathews scampered into the end zone from 19 yards out to put the home team ahead 7-0.

The Big Red, though, showed their resilience throughout the contest. After last week's game went to six overtimes against Penn, Cornell again proved it is capable of pulling out victories in high-pressure situations.

Down 7-0, Cornell got on the board with a 39-yard field goal by John Rodriguez with 9:33 remaining in the first quarter. As the quarter wound down, Spenser Gruenenfelder caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Miller to put the visitors ahead 10-7.

Cornell's control of the game continued in the second quarter when Rodriguez booted a 49-yarder to put the Big Red up 13-7. Cornell followed that with a touchdown drive to open the second half, concluding with a one-yard run from Miller that ended a run of 20 unanswered points.

The lead was far from safe, though, as Franklin Pierce played strong in the third and fourth quarters to eventually take a 21-20 lead. Mathews found Jahill Dean for a 38-yard touchdown pass with 1:49 showing on the clock in the third quarter, and the Ravens took the lead on a three-yard run by Tyler Lussier with 7:26 left in the fourth quarter.

That's when the Big Red went marching down the field with an 11-play, 58-yard drive that ate up 5:13 of clock. With first-and-goal on the one, the Big Red was called for holding and had to back up 10 yards. But that didn't stop the team either, as Miller hit Gruenenfelder for a 7-yard pass to make it second-and-goal at the 8. Clausner finished off the drive with his 8-yard touchdown reception, and Cornell had its 26-21 advantage.

Franklin Pierce was not done, though, as the Ravens got the ball with 2:13 to play on their own 39-yard-line. The Big Red defense held firm, forcing a one-yard completion on first down and then three consecutive incompletions as the Ravens turned it over on downs. From there, Cornell took three knees and the clock expired.

Chris Sitko led the way on defense with nine tackles, while Jared Meicher, Evan Zittel and Michael Monahan had eight each.

Abe Mellinger had another receiving day of more than 100 yards, catching four passes for 102 to again lead Cornell. Gruenenfelder ended the afternoon with four catches for 90 while Clausner had only the one game-winning touchdown. Miller wound up with 214 yards passing and two touchdowns. On the ground, Jake Michaels had 10 rushes for 49 yards.

The Big Red is back in action on Friday night when Princeton visits Ithaca at 7 p.m. in a league contest.