ITHACA, N.Y. — The sprint football team beings its 77th season of organized play on Saturday when it welcomes Navy, a team that it hasn't beaten since 2006, to Schoellkopf Field. Terry Cullen, The Terry Cullen Head Coach of Sprint Football, and co-head coach Bart Guccia are embarking on their ninth season together as co-head coaches and will look to a plethora of returners and a 25 newcomers to navigate the 2016 Collegiate Sprint Football season.

GAME INFORMATION
GAME #1: Cornell Big Red vs. United States Naval Academy Midshipmen
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016, 1 p.m.
WHERE: Schoellkopf Field — Ithaca, N.Y.
2015 RECORDS: Cornell 0-0, Navy 0-0
LIVE STATS: CornellBigRed.com
VIDEO: Ivy League Digital Network
 
ABOUT THE BIG RED
Cornell finished the 2015 season with a 4-3 record, its first season over .500 since 2012, and finished fourth overall in the CSFL standings. The team started last season with two straight wins over Mansfield and Franklin Pierce, marking the first time since 2012 that the team registered back-to-back wins. After dropping the next two games to Army and Penn, the squad sandwiched wins over Princeton and Post between a loss to their 2016 season-opening opponent, Navy. … Rob Pannullo returns at the quarterback position for Cornell and will look to build off of his junior year when he accounted for 1,045 yards, throwing for 605 and  running for another 440. He was fourth overall in the CSFL for total offense in 2015. … On defense, Cornell returns nine starters from 2015. Seven of the top 10 tacklers are back, including 2015 All-CSFL second team honoree linebacker Chris D'Ambrosio, whose 40 tackles and three sacks both led the Big Red last year, is back for his senior season.
 
ABOUT HEAD COACH TERRY CULLEN
Terry Cullen, The Terry Cullen Head Coach of Sprint Football, has been a coach with the sprint football program at Cornell since 1964, when he joined the staff his father, former head coach Bob Cullen. In his 53-year tenure, Cullen has an overall record of 233-213-11, and his record as a head coach is 174-148-7. Cullen has had two undefeated seasons (2006 and 1982) and won six league championships. His title was endowed in 2001 and, in 2008, he requested to relinquish some of his everyday coaching duties to co-head coach Bart Guccia.
 
ABOUT CO-HEAD COACH BART GUCCIA
This is Bart Guccia's 12th season as a member of the sprint football staff and his eighth season as a co-head coach. Since Guccia joined the Big Red staff in 2005, the program is a combined 43-32. As co-head coaches, Guccia and Cullen have amassed a 30-26 record.
 
BIG RED RUSHING RETURNERS
Cornell returns four of its top five rushers from 2015, all of whom gained at least 125 yards. Amongst the returners are last year's leading rusher, quarterback Rob Pannullo, and second-leading rusher, Kevin Nathanson. Pannullo led the Big Red last year with 557 yards on the ground and the tailback Nathanson contributed 370.
 
A CAPTAIN QUINTUPLE
Cornell will be led by five senior captains during the 2016 season. The offense will be represented by quarterback Rob Pannullo, running back Kevin Nathanson and lineman Caleb Minsky. On the other side of the ball, defensive back Ryan Jackson and linebacker Chris D'Ambrosio will lead the defensive charge. All five players have been members of the sprint football team every year since their arrival at Cornell in the fall of 2013.
 
FRESH FACES
The sprint football program may have graduated 23 seniors after last season, but it also added 25 new faces to the roster this fall. Co-head coach Bart Guccia says that the 14 freshmen, five sophomores, five juniors and one senior will be critical in filling out the depth chart behind the plethora of returning starters.
 
ALL-CSFL
Cornell had 11 players earn spots on CSFL teams at the conclusion of the 2015 sprint football season, and six of those players are returning in 2016. Senior running back Kevin Nathanson, senior offensive lineman Caleb Minsky, senior linebacker Christopher D'Ambrosio, and senior defensive back Ryan Jackson were all named to the All-CSFL second team. Senior quarterback Rob Pannullo and junior defensive back Rene Diaz were All-CSFL honorable mentions.
 
ABOUT NAVY
The Midshipmen, who last won the CSFL title in 2014, went 5-2 last year and enter the season poised to return to the top of the table. … Navy returns six starters on the defensive side of the ball and will look to reprise a 2015 unit that allowed just 73 points. Defensive backs Kendall Mackey, Devin Graves and Patrick McMahan all return to the secondary having earned All-CSFL honors a year ago. … Offensively, the team will turn to senior quarterback Nick Deterding to carry the load. Last season, Deterding earned second team All-CSFL honors on the strength of 1,064 yards passing and 543 yards rushing.
 
THE SERIES WITH NAVY
When these two teams met in October of last season, Navy came away with the 35-14 win on their home turf. Navy has a 56-13-2 all-time edge over the Big Red, with Cornell's last win against the Midshipmen coming on Oct. 6, 2006 in the form of a 16-10 overtime win.
 
UP NEXT
The Big Red hits the road next week to take on Mansfield University at 2 p.m. on Sept. 24.