ITHACA, N.Y. — Trailing 42-20 in the final minutes, sophomore quarterback Dalton Banks hit senior Ben Rogers for a 39-yard gainer down to the Penn 5. Rogers dragged two Quaker defenders for the final 6 yards. It was indicative of the 2016 Big Red season. Lots of fight and forward progress. Ultimately, the Big Red was kept out of the end zone and watched the Quakers celebrate the win and its second straight league title, but not without seeing where this year's stepping stone season could lead them.

Banks threw for 322 yards and two touchdowns and three trick plays netted another 116 yards through the air to give Cornell 438 passing yards, good for the 12th-highest total in school history. Seniors Collin Shaw and Marshall Deutz each reached the end zone, as did sophomore Chris Walker on a 58-yard wheel route on a fake reverse from Rogers. On Senior Day, Matt Sullivan caught six passes for 70 yards, Rogers had 84 yards on five catches, Deutz had two catches for 27 yards, Shaw netted 65 yards on four receptions and Nick Bland had two receptions for 44 yards. In all, the Big Red piled up 477 yards of offense.

With the win, Penn (7-3, 6-1) earned back-to-back Ivy League titles, while Cornell finished its season 4-6 overall and 2-5 in the Ivy League - a three-game improvement over the 2015 campaign. Alek Torgersen completed 24-of-31 passes for 284 yards and a score and junior Justin Watson had 11 catches for 106 yards, but it was Tre Solomon's 173 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries that proved to be the difference in a game that saw the Quakers hold the ball more than 38 minutes. Torgersen added 58 rushing yards and two touchdowns.

Defensively, Big Red senior Jackson Weber closed his career with 11 tackles to give him 226 in his four-year career, good for 16th on the school's all-time list. Sophomore DJ Woullard had an interception, his third of the season, to go along with eight tackles, while junior Geno DeMarco had eight stops. Junior Nick Gesualdi had seven tackles, including one for a loss, and backup offensive lineman J. Edward Keating, after moving to the defensive line a week ago after a slew of injuries, had a sack.

Penn got on the scoreboard midway through the first quarter on a 1-yard scoring run by Solomon, but the Big Red answered back 50 seconds later. Walker found Bland for a 35-yard gain on a halfback option, followed by Banks completions of 10 yards to James Hubbard and a perfectly thrown 35-yard strike to Collin Shaw for the touchdown. The Big Red missed the PAT, but the home team was back within 7-6.

The Quakers got those points back and more on a 14-play, 79-yard drive that culminated in a 22-yard pass from Torgersen to Christian Pearson for a touchdown. Cornell was intercepted in the end zone on the ensuing possession after a strong 13-play drive that netter 71 yards and Penn went back to work. This time, the Quakers used 10 plays to go 80 yards and Torgersen took it the final 5 yards himself. With 5:43 left before halftime, Penn took a 21-6 lead.

Cornell again answered back quickly, this time using less than two minutes to fo 83 yards. The big play put seven points on the board with Rogers using some trickeration to find Walker from 58 yards away to get within 21-13.

For the fourth time in the first half, Penn used a drive of at least 10 plays, this time 10 plays for 70 yards, to extend the halftime lead to 28-13. Solomon scored with two seconds remaining in the half on an option pitch after the Big Red couldn't hold on fourth-and-2 two plays earlier.

The Big Red gave Penn a short field after its first possession of the second half and the Quakers capitalized. Banks was intercepted at the Cornell 42, and four plays later Penn's lead was 35-13. Penn used a trick play of its own, throwing back across the field for offensive lineman Nick Demes, who rumbled into the end zone from seven yards out. That would be enough to ensure it would have a second Ivy title in as many years.

The home team made a run of it early in the fourth, scoring on a 17-yard pass play from Banks to Deutz one play following Rogers' second completion of the game, a 23-yarder that junior backup quarterback Jake Jatis made a sensational play on. The Big Red defense immediately got the ball back down 35-20 and 13:43 left on the clock when Woullard picked off a pass and returned it to the Penn 20, but an unsportsmanlike penalty pushed it back 15 yards, and Banks was intercepted on the first play. From there, Penn took control with a methodical 16-play, 74-yard drive that ended when Torgersen found a gap and went in from 1 yard out after three plays holding goal-to-go from inside the 2.

Notes
• Senior Chris Fraser will graduate as the Ivy League's all-time leading punter in terms of average, as his 216 punts (fifth all-time) went for 9,234 yards - an average of 42.75 yards per punt (previous record was 41.6 yards per punt by Penn's Rob Sims).
• Fraser also graduates with Cornell records for punting average, punting yards, punts inside the 20 (69), punts of 50+ yards (48) and punts fair caught (52).
• Senior Jackson Weber closed his career with 11 tackles to give him 226 for his career, good for 16th all-time at Cornell.
• Ben Rogers had five catches for 84 yards and ended his career 1,231 yards, the 17th-highest mark in school history.
• Collin Shaw also closed his career with 65 more yards receiving, giving him 1,073 yards.
• Sophomore Dalton Banks ended the year with 2,655 yards of total offense and 2,514 passing yards, both seventh in a single season at Cornell.
• His 18 passing touchdowns ranks sixth in a season.

Onward and Upward
• Cornell's four wins on the season doubles the Big Red's win total over the previous two campaigns (2-18).
• The Big Red started the season 3-0 for just the ninth time since the formation of the Ivy League in 1956.
• Its three road wins gave Cornell its first winning road record since 1994.

Trustees' Cup
• Penn extended its lead in the Trustees' Cup series to 15-7, including three straight victories.
• Head coach David Archer '05 is 1-3 all-time against the Quakers.