Box Score (PDF)

ITHACA, N.Y. – The sprint football team ran into a potent Navy offense in its season opener on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field, ultimately falling, 40-7, to the Midshipmen.  

Navy (1-0) struck first when, less than five minutes into the first quarter, quarterback Nick Deterding hit Miles Whitlow for a 49-yard touchdown pass and Jules Murphy converted the point-after-attempt for the 7-0 lead. Deterding connected with Brandon Clement for a 16-yard touchdown 10 minutes later and Murphy converted again for the 14-0 Navy lead.

Led by senior running back Kevin Nathanson, the Big Red (0-1) offense responded, though, and put together a five play, 68 yard scoring drive.

Nathanson started off the drive by taking a handoff from Cornell's 32-yard line 27 yards into Midshipmen territory. After runs of 15 yards - from both Nathanson and quarterback Rob Pannullo - to get even further into the redzone, Nathanson punched the ball in from the Navy six-yard-line for the touchdown. Ben Finkelstein converted on the extra point to cut the deficit in half.

The Navy defense then shutdown the Big Red offense for the remainder of the game and the Navy offense tacked on 14 points in the second quarter and another 12 in the third quarter to put the game out of reach. Deterding accounted for six Midshipmen touchdowns on the day.

Nathanson put up 81 yards on 12 carries from the backfield while Pannullo had eight rushes for 34 yards out of the shotgun.

Despite the score, the Cornell defense and special teams kept plugging away. With Deterding leading the Navy offense into Cornell territory midway through the second quarter, Conrad McCarthy intercepted the ball and returned it all the way to the Navy 29. McCarthy and Alfonso Nazzaro led Cornell with seven tackles each. The special teams united also blocked  two Navy field goals in the third quarter to keep some points off the board. Big Red punter Ryan Jackson showed his strong leg on five occasions in the game, averaging 35.8 yards per punt with a long of 46.

Navy outgained Cornell on the ground (268 to 117 yards) and in the air (191 to 51 yards), and totaled 459 to 168 yards in the game.

Cornell will head to Mansfield University on Saturday, Sept. 24, for the start of a three game slate away from Schoellkopf.