ITHACA, N.Y. — John Burdick kicked a school-record four field goals, including three in the decisive third quarter, and Bucknell's defense held strong to knock off Cornell 26-18 on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red fell to 1-4, while the Bison evened its record at 3-3.
Burdick kicked field goals of 38, 33 and 28 yards in the second half to snap a 10-10 tie. Cornell scored late and added a two-point conversion in the final minute, but the Bison recovered the on-sides kick and ran out the clock to earn the win.
Bucknell limited Cornell to 287 yards and took advantage of the home team's poor field position all day. Cornell's average field position was at its own 20 (its own 14 in the first half), while the Bison used a recovered fumble and a blocked punt to gain a 20-yard advantage on its own starting field position (Bucknell 40).
The Bison offense was opportunistic, putting points on the board three times on drives of 25 yards or fewer. Two came on consecutive drives after the Big Red tied the game early in the third on a 9-yard pass from
Jake Jatis to
Davy Lizana. It was the sophomore's first career touchdown catch and seemingly stole momentum away from the Bison.
Less than six minutes of game action later, Bucknell was back in control. The ensuing kickoff return of 49 yards set up a short field for the Bison, and despite gaining just 25 yards, Burdick banged home a 38-yard effort to regain the lead. Cornell went three-and-out and Bucknell blocked the punt, recovering it at the Big Red 24. Four plays and eight yards later, Burdick hit a chip-shot 33-yarder to make it 16-10.
Bucknell extended the lead to 23-10 in the final minute of the third, as John Chiarolanzio found Alan Butler from 22 yards out on a third-and-14 play.
The Big Red was climbing uphill throughout the fourth, with Bucknell intent on killing clock. Cornell finally broke through with 38 seconds left when
Dalton Banks hit
Owen Peters from 4 yards out, then found an open
Jack Gellatly on the two-point conversion. The visitors successfully recovered the on-side kick attempt to close out the game.
Chiarolanzio, who was 11-of-16 passing for 176 yards and two touchdowns, led an offense that registered just 306 yards itself. Both Butler and Jack Horan, who had a 64-yard catch-and-run touchdown in the first quarter, hauled in touchdowns and Joey DeFlorio carried 20 times for 99 yards. Defensively, Ben Richard had a game-high 11 tackles, Simeon Page recorded a pair of sacks, Bryan Marine had eight tackles with one for a loss and a forced fumble, and Jared Morse blocked the punt.
Cornell's defense got 11 tackles from first-time starter
Maxwell McCormick, with reigning Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week
Cyrus Nolan added six tackles, a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Banks completed 17-of-28 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown, while
Jake Jatis had a 9-yard scoring toss. Freshman
SK Howard, earning his first varsity playing time, carried 18 times for 73 yards.
Josh Sweet ran 10 times for 37 yards and
James Hubbard caught eight passes for 53 yards.
Notes To Know
• Sophomores
Davy Lizana and
Owen Peters each scored their first career touchdowns in the loss.
• Freshman
SK Howard had 18 carries for 76 yards in his first varsity appearance.
• Making their first career starts were
Cyrus Nolan (DL) and
Maxwell McCormick (LB), who ended as the team's top two leading tacklers.
• Senior
Jake Jatis' touchdown pass in the third quarter was the first since his freshman season (2014).
• With two tackles, senior
Nick Gesualdi jumped into the top 20 in school history (216).
• Senior
Collin Shawn moved up to 18th on the school's all-time receiving list with 1,200 yards.
• The Big Red defense allowed just 306 yards and has surrendered just 799 yards total in its last three contests - the fewest a Big Red team has allowed in a three-game stretch since the final three games of 2005 (615 yards).
Sights and Sounds
Next Up
• The Big Red will celebrate Homecoming with a contest against Ivy League foe Brown on Saturday, Oct. 21 at 3 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• The contest will complete a rare four-game home stand.
• It will be the 65th meeting between Cornell and Brown, with the Bears holding a 37-26-1 advantage.
• Brown has won 14-of-16, including nine straight, and took last season's meeting 28-21 in double overtime in Providence, R.I.
