WEST CALDWELL, N.J. – The Cornell sprint football team opened its 2018 campaign with a 28-11 win on the road over Caldwell. This marks the second-consecutive season that the Big Red have powered past the Cougars in its season-opener.
The Big Red fell behind early as Caldwell's Christian Cornelius knocked threw a 34-yard field goal attempt just over five minutes into the contest. The Big Red responded by putting up 28 consecutive points.
After the Cougars took the 3-0 lead, The Big Red marched the ball down the field 71 yards on eight plays, capped off by four yard quarterback-keeper by
Connor Ostrander into the end zone.
The Big Red added to their lead with a powerful three-yard touchdown run by
Connor Young with 6:15 left in the first half.
Cornell proved that it was a threat in the passing game as well. Ostrander threw touchdown heaves of 38 yards to
Brooks Panhans and 46 yards to
Reed Fratt. The senior captain finished the game with 191 yards in the air on 15 of 22 passing.
Led by
Brooks Panhans, who had five receptions on the afternoon, and
Joseph Welsh, who had four, eight different Big Red players caught a pass.
On the defensive end, the Big Red forced six turnovers with three interceptions and three fumble recoveries. It also held the Cougars to just 18 yards rushing.
Perhaps the most impressive defensive stop of the day came in the fourth quarter following a blocked punt. The Cougars took over on the Cornell three-yard line. On the first play, Cornell pushed Caldwell back eight yards as
Conrad McCarthy came up with the tackle for a loss. After an incompletion on second down,
Nicholas Harrison jumped in front of the ball for the timely interception.
Alfonso Nazzaro led the pack with 10 tackles and was closely followed by McCarthy who had eight.
With just over three and a half minutes of play remaining in the fourth quarter, the Big Red had the ball on inside its own one-yard line on fourth down. The Big Red optioned to take the safety and Caldwell scored a touchdown on the ensuing possesion.
The Big Red returns to action next Friday as it travels down to Philadelphia to take on Penn at 7 p.m.
