PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- With its season on the line, record-breaking Penn senior wide receiver Justin Watson made a big play. When Cornell answered with its two-minute offense to send the game to overtime, the Quakers defense held the Big Red a yard short and escaped with a 29-22 victory on Saturday afternoon at Franklin Field.
Watson, Penn's all-time leading receiver, had a monster senior day, catching 13 passes for 192 yards and a 22-yard touchdown, but it was the 34-yard reception that he laid out for on a third-and-1 with under three minutes left that led to the game-winning touchdown for the Quakers.
The Big Red offense marched downfield after taking over with 2:01 remaining and 73 yards in front of it, making it all the way to the 1-yard line with seconds to play. Cornell got two cracks at the tie, with a leap falling just short, then after junior quarterback
Dalton Banks spiked the ball, his pass into the flat intended for senior
Mac Pope was broke up by Jacob Martin to end the game.
Sophomore
David Jones became the sixth player in school history and first since 1995 to record three interceptions in the game (see
interception 1,
interception 2,
interception 3), while senior
Nick Gesualdi had his 14th career pick on an acrobatic tip-drill play to himself (
see it here). Gesualdi ends his stellar four-year career second on the school's all-time list for interceptions and had nine tackles in his swan song performance, giving him 250. Senior
Seth Hope had eight stops in his final collegiate game with a half-tackle for loss.
Cornell rallied from a 21-10 halftime deficit to take a 22-21 lead with 13:46 remaining on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Banks. The junior signal caller ended the day 19-of-28 passing for 242 yards and a touchdown pass of 35 yards to senior
Collin Shaw. Shaw had five catches for 98 yards, recording his 10th career score in the process. He ended his career with 14th on the school's career receiving list with 1,387 yards and 10th in touchdown receptions.
Sophomore
Harold Coles had his second career 100-yard game, registering 21 carries for 122 yards, both career highs. He also had a 51-yard reception. Senior
Mac Pope had his first career rushing touchdown with a 3-yard bull run into the end zone. Junior
Lars Pedersen had a career-best six catches for 57 yards.
Besides Watson's big day, Karekin Brooks had 146 rushing yards and two touchdowns on the ground to lead the Penn offense. In all, the Quakers piled up 546 yards of offense - 279 yards through the air and 267 on the ground. Quarterback Nick Robinson entered the game on the final drive and completed 5-of-7 passes for 75 yards in rallying the Quakers to the win.
Nick Miller, who had 12 tackles and forced and recovered a fumble for the Big Red's lone turnover on the day, led the Penn defense, while Colton Moskal had 12 tackles and a sack.
Despite the loss, Cornell improved its Ivy win total from a year ago and will return eight starters on offense and nine on defense.
Notes to Know
• Senior
Nick Gesualdi's 14 career interceptions ranks second all-time to Hillary Chollet '50, who had 15.
• He became the 13th player in school history to register 250 career tackles with nine stops.
•
David Jones is the sixth Cornellian to intercept four passes in a game.
• The 546 yards allowed by the defense was a season high.
• The Big Red committed just one penalty for seven yards.
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• The 2017 season is complete.
