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Cornell University Athletics

2014 Football Senior Day

Football

Emotional Finale, Senior Day On Tap For Football vs. Penn

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CORNELL INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics I History and Records

PENN INFORMATION
Roster I Schedule & Results I Statistics

GAME INFORMATION
Game #10: Penn at Cornell
Date: Saturday, Nov. 22, at 12:30 p.m.
Site: Schoellkopf Field (25,597), Ithaca, N.Y.
2014 Records: Penn (1-8, 1-5 Ivy); Cornell (1-8, 1-5 Ivy)
Series Record: Penn leads the series 69-46-5
Last Meeting: Cornell won 42-41, Nov. 23, 2013, in Philadelphia, Pa.
Television: N/A
Radio: WHCU 870 AM, Jason Weinstein (play-by-play), Buck Briggs '76 (color)
Live Video: www.IvyLeagueDigitalNetwork.com
Live Stats: www.CornellBigRed.com
Tickets: Available by calling (607) 254-BEAR or online here

HEAD COACH DAVID ARCHER '05
David Archer '05, the Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football, is in his second season at the helm of the Big Red (4-15 overall, .211; 3-10, Ivy, .231) ... Archer is the youngest Division I head football coach in the country ... he had been an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator at his alma mater for six years ... Archer was hired as head coach on Jan. 3, 2013.
STORY LINES
• Two teams looking to close out the 2014 campaign on a positive note will meet in an emotion-filled matchup when Cornell and Penn square off today at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Big Red will attempt to close its season with consecutive wins in trophy games for a second consecutive season while honoring their senior class, while the Quakers will be looking to send legendary head coach Al Bagnoli out with a victory.
• The Big Red overcame prosperity and adversity in retaining the Empire State Bowl with a 30-27 victory at Columbia last weekend, capturing its first win against the Lions in New York City since 2004.
• Junior running back Luke Hagy had his second consecutive 100-yard rushing game (148 yards on 19 carries) and scored three total touchdowns, while freshman safety Nick Gesualdi had a pair of interceptions, forced a fumble, had a key fourth quarter sack, broke up a pass and made a team-high seven tackles in the win.
• Gesualdi was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week and was co-Ivy Rookie of the Week after his performance against the Lions.
• With one game remaining, Hagy's 623 rushing yards is already the most by a Big Red running back since Luke Siwula '08 ran for 885 yards in the 2006 season. It already is the fifth-highest total since 2000.
• The Big Red snapped an eight-game losing streak by jumping out to a 21-0 lead, rallying from a 27-21 deficit and securing a victory with a Taylor Betros blocked PAT returned for a two-point conversion by Jarrod Watson-Lewis, and a 63-yard scoring run by Hagy, the longest by a Cornell player since 2010.
• Betros was named Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week for producing the big play.
• The game will serve as a farewell for 14 Cornell seniors who will be playing their final collegiate game. Cornell's seniors are RB Ahmad Avery, ILB Taylor Betros, FB Evan Brovender, LS Dylan Chayes, DL Justin Harris, S Rush Imhotep, TE Andrew Johnson, OL Shane McManamon, WR Javier Rodriguez, WR Lucas Shapiro, CB Michael Turner, OL Andrew Weber, PK John Wells and OL Cadell Williams.
• With a win over the Quakers, Cornell would finish sixth in the Ivy League standings — a spot ahead of its preseason predicted finish.
• Freshmen accounted for all three of the Big Red's defensive turnovers against Columbia, as Gesualdi picked off two passes and rookie Sean Scullen had his first career interception.
• Sophomore Robert Somborn was an efficient 9-of-14 passing for 162 yards and two touchdowns, including a 70-yard bomb to classmate Collin Shaw.
• Sophomore punter Chris Fraser, who leads the Ivy League in punting average, was again outstanding with an average of 41.4 yards on five kicks, with a long of 51. His last punt, a 44-yard effort, flipped field position and made Columbia have to go 82 yards for the game-tying or winning score. The Cornell defense forced Columbia to turn it over on downs.
• Penn will be playing its final game under legendary head coach Al Bagnoli. In 23 seasons on the sidelines for the Quakers, Bagnoli has won nine Ivy League titles and ranks second among active FCS coaches in career wins (238) and third in winning percentage (.719).
 
ABOUT PENN
• Like Cornell, Penn brings a 1-8 record (1-5 Ivy) into the contest and the winner will take sixth place in the final Ancient Eight standings.
• The Quakers gave Ivy champ and 17th-ranked Harvard all it could handle last weekend at Franklin Field before dropping a 34-24 decision. Penn took leads of 10-7 in the first and 24-17 in the third, but couldn't hold on for the win.
• Sophomore quarterback Alek Torgersen completed 27-of-43 passes for 211 yards and a touchdown and also ran for one score. For the season, Torgersen has passed for 2,358 yards (second in Ivy League) with 11 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
• Senior linebacker Dan Davis had a game-high 12 tackles. The two-time first-team All-Ivy League selection has 174 career tackles entering his final contest.
• The Quakers rank sixth in the conference in both scoring offense (19.9 ppg.) and scoring defense (32.6 ppg.), .
• Penn has played more college football games than any other school, with today being its 1,353rd game.
• The Quakers were picked fourth in the Ivy League Preseason Media Poll, the 22nd straight season it was predicted to finish in the top half of the standings.
• Saturday's game will be the last in the storied career of Penn head coach Al Bagnoli, who will retire after this season. Bagnoli has spent 23 seasons on the sidelines for the Quakers, winning nine Ivy League titles and winning more games than any coach in conference history except Yale's legendary Carm Cozza. He ranks second among active FCS coaches in career wins (238) and third in winning percentage (.719).
 
THE CORNELL-PENN SERIES
• This will be the 121st meeting between Cornell and Penn, with the Quakers holding a 69-46-5 lead in the series.
• The series is the fifth-most played in college football history.
• The two teams first met in 1893, a 50-0 Penn win.
• Nine years ago, Cornell claimed a 16-7 win at Franklin Field for the 600th victory in program history.
• Last season, the Big Red used a huge effort from record-breaking quarterback Jeff Mathews and a late PAT block from Tre' Minor for a 42-41 win over the Quakers at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pa.
 
FINAL GAME FOR BIG RED SENIORS
• The Cornell football program's 14 seniors will be playing their final collegiate game this weekend in front of the home fans at Schoellkopf Field.
• Cornell's seniors are RB Ahmad Avery, ILB Taylor Betros, FB Evan Brovender, LS Dylan Chayes, DL Justin Harris, S Rush Imhotep, TE Andrew Johnson, OL Shane McManamon, WR Javier Rodriguez, WR Lucas Shapiro, CB Michael Turner, OL Andrew Weber, PK John Wells, OL Cadell Williams.
 
THE TRUSTEES' CUP
• Since 1995, the winner of the Cornell-Penn football game has been awarded the Trustees' Cup.
• Alumni from Penn and Cornell gathered at the New York Penn Club on Sept. 6, 1995 for the dedication of the Trustees' Cup, which thereafter has been presented to the winner of the annual football game.
• The idea evolved from a series of discussions between officials and alumni of both universities, focusing on what would be the best way to honor one of college football's most celebrated rivalries.
• The decision was made to establish an award to be presented at an annual luncheon, with the winning team taking the prize home and displaying it for a year.
• Penn leads the Trustees' Cup series 12-7, though Cornell has won two of the last three matchups.
 
A WIN OVER PENN WOULD ...
• allow Cornell to finish in sixth place in the final Ivy League standings, one spot ahead of preseason predictions.
• close with consecutive wins for the second straight season.
• narrow Penn's lead in the all-time series to 69-47-5, including 12-8 in games played for the Trustees' Cup.
• retain the Trustees' Cup in Ithaca for the second straight year and the third time in the last four seasons.
• make head coach David Archer 4-0 in trophy games against Columbia and Penn, including 2-0 at home.
• be the 632nd in program history (12th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision).
 
LAST WEEKEND VS. COLUMBIA
• As the Cornell football team was heading off the field after singing Cornell Victorious with the Big Red marching band, head coach David Archer '05 stopped senior Andrew Johnson and handed the reserve tight end the Empire State Bowl to carry to the locker room.
• The two embraced, and Johnson proudly carried the trophy into the locker room to start the celebration. It was a small gesture to one of the leaders on a team that suffered through tough times in 2014, but it was a punctuation mark on where the program is headed. 
• In a game full of intrigue, the Big Red overcame both prosperity and adversity on its way to a 30-27 victory over Ivy League rival Columbia at Wien Stadium.
• Junior Luke Hagy carried 19 times for a career-high 148 yards and two touchdowns and also caught a touchdown pass to highlight the offense.
• Freshman Nick Gesualdi had two interceptions, forced a fumble, had a huge sack on Columbia's final drive and broke up a third down pass to force a punt.
• In the end, however, it was senior linebacker Taylor Betros who made the biggest play of the day. Just moments after the Big Red threw an interception that led to the go-ahead score for the Lions in the third quarter, Betros broke through on the PAT attempt and blocked it cleanly.
• Junior Jarrod Watson-Lewis scooped up the ball and raced to the end zone for two points for the visitors, cutting the new deficit to 27-23. Those points loomed large late in the game.
 
NOTES TO KNOW
• Junior Luke Hagy is the 29th player in school history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards and the first to hit the century mark in both rushing and receiving at Cornell.
• Hagy sits 13th all-time at Cornell in receiving yards (1,315 yards on 118 receptions) and is 15th in rushing yards (1,511 yards on 354 carries). His 2,906 all-purpose yards puts him 12th all-time at for the Big Red.
• With his 17-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter against Princeton, Hagy became the sixth player in school history to throw, pass and catch touchdown passes in their career. He joined Derrick Harmon '84, John Tagliaferri '86, Steve Lutz '89, Luke Siwula '08 and Ryan Houska '12 on that exclusive list.
• Hagy posted his second career 100-yard game with 110 yards on 18 carries against Dartmouth and his third last weekend with 148 yards on 19 carries at Columbia.
• Hagy's 48-yard touchdown run against the Big Green was the longest by a Cornell ball carrier since Grant Gellatly ripped off a 63-yard run at Wagner during the 2010 season, more than four years ago. That stood for a week — he ripped off a 63-yard touchdown run in the win over Columbia last weekend.
• Freshman quarterback Jake Jatis earned the start at Bucknell, becoming just the second rookie to start a game under center. He joins good company, as two-time All-American Jeff Mathews '14 - the Ivy League's all-time leading passer - started the final nine games of the 2010 campaign to become the first. Jatis opened five consecutive games.
• Senior receiver Lucas Shapiro became the 21st player at Cornell to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards with his 12-catch, 165-yard effort against Princeton. He ranks 20th in school history with 1,090 receiving yards.
• Shapiro's 12 catches against Princeton set a career high, while his 165 receiving yards was a new best and is tied for 16th best all-time at Cornell.
• With his 10 career receiving touchdowns, Shapiro moved into ninth on the school's all-time list.
• Cornell had a string of 23 consecutive games with a touchdown pass snapped against Dartmouth. The Big Red has thrown for at least one touchdown in 40 of its last 42 contests.
• The Big Red offense hasn't been shut out in 49 games, with the last coming against Penn (34-0 to close out 2009).
• Sophomore Collin Shaw had his first career 100-yard receiving game against Lehigh with four catches for 119 yards, the most yards by a sophomore since Keith Ferguson '03 had 164 vs. Princeton in 2010.
• In Cornell's loss to Lehigh, all 27 rushes and all 44 passes were attempted by freshmen. In all, 15 of the team's 17 receptions were by first or second year players and the top three tacklers were either freshmen or sophomores.
• Freshman quarterback Kyle Gallagher threw his first career touchdown pass against the Mountain Hawks, a 2-yarder to junior Matt Doneth. The touchdown catch was the first of Doneth's career. The following week against Brown, sophomore Robert Somborn completed a pair of touchdown passes to Chris Lenz, the first scoring throws of Somborn's career.
• Four Cornell quarterbacks have thrown touchdowns this season, the first time that has happened in school history. The last time four players at any position threw touchdowns in the same season was in 2007 when quarterbacks Nathan Ford, Stephen Liuzza and Ben Ganter and running back Randy Barbour all completed scoring passes. In all, five different Cornell players have tossed touchdown passes, a school record.
• Sophomore Chris Fraser has averaged at least 40 yards per punt in eight of the team's nine games and at least 42.0 yards in six of them.
• The Big Red defense held Harvard scoreless in the first half, the first time the high-powered Crimson offense was held scoreless in a half since 2010.
• Cornell forced five turnovers against Harvard, the most by a Big Red defense since forcing six against Bucknell in the 2013 opener.
• Cornell has had nine Ivy League performers of the week in the first nine weekends of the season, including five of nine Rookie of the Week picks. Jake Jatis (Sept. 29, Oct. 13) and Nick Gesualdi (Oct. 6, Oct. 20, Nov. 17) have each captured Rookie of the Week honors, while Chris Fraser (Oct. 6) and Taylor Betros (Nov. 17) have each taken home Special Teams Player of the Week once. Gesualdi (Nov. 17) and Rush Imhotep (Oct. 13) have been named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week.
• A pair of former Big Red football players were inducted into the Cornell Athletics Hall of Fame on Nov. 7.
• Clarence Fauntleroy '54 won letters in football as a first string left tackle/left guard in 1951 and 1952, but was better known for his lacrosse exploits, where he was a two-time All-America selection in.
• Ricky Rahne '02 was a three-year starter at quarterback who set 33 Cornell passing and total offense records. His 7,718 passing yards ranked third all-time in Ivy League history.
 
BIG RED INVOLVED IN STORIED RIVALRIES
• The Big Red is involved in three of the top 20 most-played rivalries in college football.
• The Cornell-Penn series ranks fifth in most games played, a total that will reach 121 this season.
• The 102 meetings between Cornell and Columbia ranks 12th, while the Cornell-Colgate rivalry stands 17th with 97 games played.
• The Cornell-Dartmouth and the Cornell-Penn series are the second-longest uninterrupted active series, as the teams have met every season since 1919, a span of 94 years. They trail only the Lafayette-Lehigh series, which has been played every year since 1897.
 
NEXT UP
• The 2014 season is complete. The Big Red will kick off 2015 with a home contest against Bucknell on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015.
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Players Mentioned

Grant Gellatly

#7 Grant Gellatly

WR
5' 10"
Senior
Jeff Mathews

#9 Jeff Mathews

QB
6' 4"
Senior
Tre

#56 Tre' Minor

OLB
6' 2"
Senior
Ahmad Avery

#32 Ahmad Avery

RB
5' 10"
Senior
Taylor Betros

#30 Taylor Betros

ILB
5' 11"
Senior
Evan Brovender

#83 Evan Brovender

RB
6' 4"
Senior
Dylan Chayes

#53 Dylan Chayes

LS
6' 3"
Senior
Matt Doneth

#88 Matt Doneth

TE/HB
6' 5"
Junior
Chris Fraser

#36 Chris Fraser

P
6' 2"
Sophomore
Luke Hagy

#25 Luke Hagy

RB
6' 0"
Junior
Rush Imhotep

#5 Rush Imhotep

S
6' 2"
Senior
Andrew Johnson

#31 Andrew Johnson

TE/HB
6' 5"
Senior

Players Mentioned

Grant Gellatly

#7 Grant Gellatly

5' 10"
Senior
WR
Jeff Mathews

#9 Jeff Mathews

6' 4"
Senior
QB
Tre

#56 Tre' Minor

6' 2"
Senior
OLB
Ahmad Avery

#32 Ahmad Avery

5' 10"
Senior
RB
Taylor Betros

#30 Taylor Betros

5' 11"
Senior
ILB
Evan Brovender

#83 Evan Brovender

6' 4"
Senior
RB
Dylan Chayes

#53 Dylan Chayes

6' 3"
Senior
LS
Matt Doneth

#88 Matt Doneth

6' 5"
Junior
TE/HB
Chris Fraser

#36 Chris Fraser

6' 2"
Sophomore
P
Luke Hagy

#25 Luke Hagy

6' 0"
Junior
RB
Rush Imhotep

#5 Rush Imhotep

6' 2"
Senior
S
Andrew Johnson

#31 Andrew Johnson

6' 5"
Senior
TE/HB