ITHACA, N.Y. — Junior quarterback
Dalton Banks passed for 239 yards and the football team had more total offense than Colgate on Saturday, but the visitors' defense came up with four interceptions and nine sacks to power the Raiders to a 21-7 victory at Schoellkopf Field.
Banks accounted for the day's lone touchdown from Cornell (0-3) on a 1-yard keeper. He set up the play with a completion to senior tight end
Hayes Nolte on a second-and-24, and the extra point after the score cut the Colgate (2-3) lead in half with 1:25 to play in the third quarter.
But Colgate answered right back with a 15-play drive in which it soaked up nearly seven minutes and restored its two-touchdown lead after a 7-yard pass to the end zone from Grant Breneman to Malik Twyman. Breneman was limited to 119 yards in the air, but he passed for two of the Raiders' touchdowns and rushed for the other.
Cornell forced a Colgate three-and-out on the game's first drive, punctuated by a sack on third down from from sophomore defensive tackle
Jordan Landsman. After the Big Red turned the ball over on downs in its first possession, the defense came up big again on the next Raiders drive. With Colgate working on a fourth-and-six from the Cornell 41, senior linebacker
Kurt Frimel knocked down a pass attempt on a crossing route.
The Big Red threatened on the next drive. Banks completed a pair of third-down receptions to senior wide receiver
Collin Shaw (14 yards) and sophomore wide receiver
Owen Peters (nine yards) to set up Cornell with a first down on the Colgate 24. The drive then resulted in a 41-yard field goal attempt from junior
Zach Mays that had plenty of distance, but it sailed wide right and kept the game deadlocked after 15 minutes.
The first play of the second quarter brought Cornell to the visitors' 29-yard line on a 12-yard screen pass to junior running back
Chris Walker into the right flat, but the drive stalled from there and the Big Red turned the ball over on downs.
Working with the wind for the first time on the day, Colgate's offense found traction with the addition of the aerial threat. In just a little over 3 minutes, the Raiders passed for 70 yards on the next drive, culminating in a 7-yard touchdown pass from Breneman to Thomas Ives.
After the Big Red's next drive ended in an interception, Colgate marched right back down the field for another 12-play scoring drive. Breneman scrambled for an 8-yard touchdown run to the left pylon, and the extra point pushed the Raiders' lead to 14-0.
Cornell threatened on its final drive of the half, with a pass from Banks to Nolte setting up the Big Red on the Colgate 20 in the final minute. But a pair of sacks ensued and Cornell came up empty.
The Big Red's defense turned up the heat in the third quarter, recording three sacks. Frimel had a pair of sacks in a three-play span, and junior defensive end's
Cyrus Nolan's first career sack on a third-and-long stunted another Colgate drive. That set up Cornell's scoring drive.
Banks distributed the ball evenly on the day, with six different receivers hauling in at least three of the quarterback's 22 completions. Senior running back
Jack Gellatly and Walker each had 41 rushing yards.
Notes To Know
• Senior
Collin Shaw had five receptions for 60 yards, enough to move him into the school's career top 20 list with 1,163 yards - good for 19th in Cornell history.
• Senior
James Hubbard had three catches for 37 yards, reaching the 50-catch milestone.
• Colgate cut the deficit in the series to 49-47-3 in a series that dates back to 1896.
• Senior
Kurt Frimel had a pair of sacks over a span of three Colgate plays from scrimmage, giving him his first career multi-sack contest.
• Junior linebacker
Reis Seggebruch tied a career high with 15 tackles, matching his performance against Brown in 2016. He upped his career total to 99 stops.
• Senior
Justin Solomon made five tackles, surpassing 100 for his career (102)
• Junior
Cyrus Nolan had his first career sack.
• Sophomore
Owen Peters, who earned his first career start, made a career-high five catches for 50 yards.
• Also earning a first career start was sophomore offensive lineman
Matt Wells.
• The 270 yards allowed was the fewest by a Big Red defense since 2009, when Cornell surrendered just 238 yards in a 33-9 victory over Bucknell.
• It was also the best defensive performance against the Raiders since a 2007 game that Colgate mustered just 265 yards in a 17-14 Big Red win.
Cornell, Colgate Participate in "Coach To Cure MD"
• For the 10th year in a row, college football coaches nationwide will join together in support of the Coach To Cure MD program.
• The annual effort has raised more than $1.5 million dollars to battle Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (Duchenne).
• On the weekend of September 30th, American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) members will wear Coach To Cure MD patches on the sidelines and college football fans will be asked to donate to research projects supported by Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD), the largest, most comprehensive nonprofit organization in the U.S. focused entirely on Duchenne.
• Football fans can help support the fight to end Duchenne by either going online to CoachtoCureMD.org or by texting the word CURE to 50555 to make a $10 donation in honor of this year's anniversary.
• Last year, more than 11,350 college coaches at more than 620 different institutions participated in Coach To Cure MD events.
• Duchenne muscular dystrophy is the most common fatal genetic disorder diagnosed during childhood and primarily affects boys across all races and cultures.
• People with Duchenne develop progressive muscle weakness that eventually causes loss of mobility, wheelchair dependency and a decline in respiratory and cardiac function.
• Currently, there is no cure for Duchenne and limited therapeutic options exist.
Sights and Sounds
Next Up
• Cornell returns to Ivy League play with its second of four consecutive home contests when Harvard visits Schoellkopf Field on Saturday, Oct. 7 at 1:30 p.m.
• The teams will be meeting for the 82nd time dating back to the first meeting in 1890.
• Harvard leads the all-time series 47-32-2 and has won 14 of the last 16 contests.
• The Big Red's last win came during the 2005 campaign, a 27-13 victory at home.
