ITHACA, N.Y. -- Brown jumped out to a three-touchdown lead less than 10 minutes into Saturday's contest at Schoellkopf Field, but Cornell kept coming, inch-by-inch. The Big Red rallied to within 10 points early in the fourth quarter thanks to an impressive game on the ground from its offense, but the Bears' air attack ultimately lifted them to a 44-24 victory.

A long touchdown pass a little more than 30 seconds in for the Bears came when the Big Red defense stopped play after seeing a penalty flag. After a 1-yard touchdown dive by Johnny Pena made it 14-0 with 6:26 left in the quarter, Cornell fumbled at their own 1 and Pena capitalized a play later and just 29 seconds of game action after his first.

It was an uphill climb from there, but Cornell was able to scrape back in thanks to its ground-and-pound offense. The Big Red piled up 260 rushing yards despite missing all-league candidate Luke Hagy and backup Chris Walker due to injury. Sophomore fullback Jack Gellatly led four rushers with at least 30 yards on the ground with 93 yards on just 12 carries. Sophomores Josh Sweet (six carries, 60 yards) and Jake Jatis (four carries, 48 yards) and junior Dane Brown (six carries, 33 yards) were also highly effective. The rushing total was the highest in a game for a Big Red team since the 2009 squad piled up 284 yards against Fordham. The Big Red's offensive line of seniors Zach Wilk and Daniel Cunningham and juniors Dan Morin, Alex Emanuels and John Foster continuously opened holes that allowed players to average 7.3 yards per carry.

Cornell's three touchdowns all came through the air however, with senior Ben Rogers hauling in two as part of a five-catch, 109-yard effort. Junior Robert Somborn completed 18-of-38 passes for 205 yards and three touchdowns without committing a turnover. Junior Matt Sullivan also hauled in a touchdown reception.

Defensively, Miles Norris had eight tackles and forced a fumble, Sophomore Sean Scullen had four stops, broke up a pass and recovered a fumble, while semior Jarrod Watson-Lewis forced a second fumble and broke up one of four passes for the Big Red defense. Freshman Mason Banbury,seeing his first action on the defensive line, had four tackles and a sack.

Pena led Brown with his 112 rushing yards and four short touchdowns, while quarterback Marcus Fuller tossed for 312 yards and two touchdowns. Alex Jette was his favorite target, hauling in nine passes for 157 yards and the 59-yard score in the game's first minute. Quintin Rizek had a game-high 12 tackles, including one sack, and Michael Walsh made seven stops, including one for a loss and one fumble recovery.
 
Cornell rallied within 34-24 with 14:15 remaining in regulation when Somborn found Rogers wide open for a 49-yard score off play action to complete a six-play, 86-yard drive to get back all of the momentum, that coming on the back of a 76-yard scoring drive late in the third quarter that ended in Somborn finding Sullivan from 4 yards out that was the only scoring of the period.

Brown answered the Big Red's momentum stealing touchdown with a Grant Senne 32-yard field goal to push the advantage to 37-24 with 8:20 left after taking nearly six minutes off the clock. Cornell couldn't continue its march after two successful running plays picked up a first down, and an incompletion on fourth down turned the ball over to the Bears, who drove 37 yards to score six minutes later to put the final touchdown on the board.

Notes to Know
• Cornell's 260 rushing yards is the most by a Big Red team since posting 284 yards on 50 carries in a 38-27 loss to Fordham at home on Oct. 17. 2009.
• Jack Gellatly (93 yards), Jake Jatis (48 yards) and Dane Brown (33 yards) all posted career rushing highs.
• In all, the Big Red had eight rushes of at least 10 yards.
• Robert Somborn tossed three touchdown passes, giving him 17 for his career. That puts him ninth all-time at Cornell.
• It was Somborn's third career three-touchdown game.
• His 205 passing yards brings him to 2,312 yards, up to 14th all-time for the Big Red.
• Senior Ben Rogers posted his second career 100-yard receiving game and his first career game with two touchdown catches.
• With 158 all-purpose yards, Rogers increased his career total to 1,757 yards.
• Gellatly's 145 yards were not only a career high, but were also his first varsity yards.
• Senior Ardian Sahinovic averaged 61.2 yards on his five kickoffs with three touchbacks.
• Freshman Mason Banbury, a late addition to the travel roster, posted four tackles and his first career sack on the defensive line.
• Senior captain Rush Imhotep's two tackles give him an even 150 for his career.
• Sophomore Trey Duncombe had a career-best six tackles.
• Senior captain JJ Fives had 1.5 tackles for a loss, while junior captain Miles Norris had eight stops, one pass breakup and a foced fumble.
• Junior Joe Pierik connected on a 27-yard field goal and hit all three PAT attempts.
• Cornell's 486 yards of offense was the most in a game since the 2013 season finale when the Big Red piled up 506 yards in a 42-41 win at Penn.
• The last time Cornell bested 200 yards both rushing and passing in a game came against Fordham in 2009 when the Big Red had 284 rushing yards and 268 yards passing.

Quotable


Streaks
• Brown extended its lead in the all-time series to 36-26-1.
• The Big Red's losing skid in the series stands at eight games.
• Overall, Cornell has dropped seven straight contests and nine consecutive home contests.
• Cornell hasn't been shut out in 55 straight games, and its 24 points trailed only the 26 points it scored against Yale as the most this season.

Picture This


Ivy Champs of 1990 Return To Schoellkopf Field
• Cornell honored its last Ivy League championship football team, the 1990 squad, on Friday and Saturday at Schoellkopf Field.
• Chris Cochrane and Rob Ryder, two of the three team captains in 1990, joined current Big Red captains JJ Fives, Luke Hagy, Rush Imhotep and Miles Norris for the coin toss.
• The team enjoyed a reunion dinner on Friday evening.
• The Big Red posted a 6-1 Ivy League record to claim a share of the conference crown under first year head coach Jim Hofher '79.
• The Big Red led the league in rushing (249.2 ypg.) and total offense (375.0 ypg.) while outscoring conference opponents 180-95.
• Three of the team's offensive linemen — Jay Bloedorn, Greg Finnegan and Chris Field — earned first-team All-Ivy honors, as did running back John McNiff and defensive lineman Tim Cronin.
• In all, 13 players received All-Ivy recognition.



Next Up
• Cornell will play three of its final four contests on the road beginning with its visit to Princeton on Saturday, Oct. 31 at 3:30 p.m.
• The game will be televised by NBC Sports Network.
• Princeton leads the all-time series 59-36-2 and has won two straight contests.
• The Tigers have outscored the Big Red 91-47 over the last two seasons, including a 38-27 triumph last season at Schoellkopf Field.