ITHACA, N.Y. – Senior
Nickolas Null's 39-yard field goal in the final 10 seconds lifted Cornell to a 37-35 win over Brown in a wild Saturday afternoon Ivy League football showdown on Schoellkopf Field. The Big Red (2-4, 1-2 Ivy) snapped a four-game losing streak, while the Bears fell to 1-5 (0-3 Ivy) with the loss.
In a game that featured 991 yards of offense and a pair of lead changes in the final 4:17, it was the Big Red that made the key plays late in all three phases in the final minute to lift the team to victory.
The defense forced a turnover on downs, stopping the Bears on a fourth-and-6 from the Big Red 12 when senior
Jake Watkins broke through the Brown line and sacked Brown's EJ Perry for a huge 16-yard loss to keep the score at 35-34. Starting at the Big Red's own 28 instead of the 12 or closer, junior quarterback
Richie Kenney went to work. He found Eric Gallman for a 15 yard completion, followed by a 26-yard connection to
John Fitzgerald to get Cornell into field goal range. Cornell took a quick 7-yard pass to
Owen Peters to get a little closer for Null, whose third field goal of the day hit the left goalpost and bounced through for the game winner.
Kenney completed 23-of-35 passes for a career-best 332 yards and a touchdown to Fitzgerald. The senior tight end hauled in four passes for 68 yards and was one of four receivers to surpass 50 on the day.
Owen Peters led the way with eight catches for 110 yards, his second career 100-yard receiving game. He also became the 24th player in school history to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards. Junior
SK Howard ran 21 times for a career-high 121 yards and two touchdowns in the lead tailback role in place of the injured
Harold Coles. In all, Cornell had 470 yards of offense and the line didn't allow a sack in 36 dropback attempts.
Null added field goals of 38 and 29 to his 41-yard winner, while also connecting on all four extra-point kicks. He averaged 42.0 yards on three punts as well. Defensively, senior captain
Jelani Taylor had nine tackles, an interception and three other pass breakups, while rookie
Jake Stebbins posted a game-high nine tackles with 1.5 for a loss, a sack and a pass breakup. Watkins had eight stops, the game-changing sack and a pass breakup. Sophomore
Eric Stoxstill-Diggs notched seven tackles, including a sack, and returned a punt that bounced off a Brown player 46 yards for a touchdown.
Gallery: (10/26/2019) Football vs. Brown 10.26.19
Cornell held a 20-6 lead at the break and entered the fourth with a 34-25 lead before Brown scored twice to take the lead, with Dawson Goepferich connecting on a 35-yard field goal with 4:17 left to give the visitors their first lead since 6-3 midway through the first quarter. The Big Red took over and turned it over on downs after a long run by Howard was erased by a penalty and two incompletions gave the Bears the ball at the 29.
With 2:41 left, the Bears picked up a first down after two plays, but a loss and a short gain back to the line of scrimmage erased Cornell's final timeouts. Cornell stopped a third-and-10 with Perry picking up a short gain before Brown elected not to try a 29-yard field goal to make the Big Red have to go the length of the field to score a touchdown, and instead Watkins' sack to set up the game-winning drive..
Brown's offense piled up 521 yards and 31 first downs, with Perry accounting for 463 yards of offense (372 passing, 91 rushing). Perry ended the day 32-of-48 passing for 372 yards and three touchdowns, with Jakob Prall (seven receptions, 73 yards), Demitri Jackson (seven receptions, 67 yards) and Scott Boylan (five receptions, 89 yards) each hauling in a score. Allen Smith and Omari Garry added a rushing touchdown. Goepferich connected on the late go-ahead touchdown, punted twice for a 40.0 yard average and had six touchbacks on seven kickoffs.
First Quarter
• The Big Red drove the field to open the game, but a penalty on an apparent
SK Howard touchdown run eventually forced Cornell to settle for three points on a Null 38-yard field goal.
• Cornell's defense got the ball right back, with
Jelani Taylor stepping in front of a Brown receiver for his second interception of the season.
• The Big Red couldn't do anything with the ensuing possession, but after punting it, Brown strick back.
• The Bears went 70 yards on just seven plays to take its first lead of the game on a 29-yard pass from Perry to Scott Boylen.
• Brown went for a two-point conversion, but
Jelani Taylor broke through into the backfield and tackled Michael McGovern in the backfield to keep the score 6-3.
• A 63-yard completion from Kenney to
Owen Peters on the first play of the next possession set up what ultimately would be a game-tying field goal by Null, this time from 29 yards out with 3:30 to play in the quarter.
Second Quarter
• Brown started a drive late in the first that ended less than a minute into the second when Cornell stopped a fourth-and-1 at the Cornell 35, with Taylor and
Eric Stoxstill-Diggs in on the stop.
• The Big Red took advantage of the momentum, marching 65 yards on nine plays, including a 12-yard run by Howard and three completions from Kenney to Fitzgerald for a total of 42 yards, including the last a 12-yard touchdown strike to the senior tight end.
• Brown picked up a first down on the ensuing drive, but after feinting a fourth-down attempt on a fourth-and-4 from midfield, Perry's quick-kick punt hit one of his teammates, fell into the arms of Stoxstill-Diggs and was returned for a 46-yard convoy touchdown.
• The PAT made it 20-6 with 6:57 left before the half.
• Consecutive punts led Brown to take back over at its own 2 with 83 seconds left before the break, but the offense found its rhythm.
• The Bears ran 10 plays over the next 79 seconds, including three of more than 15 yards, before Perry finished the half out with a 5-yard strike to Jakob Prall.
• The snap went awry and Dawson Goepferich was tackled in the backfield to send it into halftime with Cornell in the lead at 20-12.
Third Quarter
• Both teams scored twice in the third, with Perry getting the quarter going by executing an eight-play, 75-yard drive that ended with a Omari Garry 1-yard scoring run, thought the two-point conversion was again missed to get the visitors back within 20-18.
• Cornell answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive of its own to extend the lead back to 27-18 after Howard broke through the middle for a 7-yard touchdown.
• The big plays came on an acrobatic 28-yard catch by
Phazione McClurge and a career-long 18-yard run by
Dez'mond Brinson to set up the score.
• Brown came right back wby driving its 75 yards on 10 plays, making it 27-25 with 4:35 remaining in the third when Allen Smith scored from 1 yard out.
• A game Cornell offense made it a perfect 4-for-4 on touchdown drives in the third, going 79 yards on nine plays with Howard going the final 40 to send the home team into the fourth up 34-25.
• After the Big Red lost 9 yards on a bad snap,
Owen Peters made a key 17-yard reception that included avoiding three tacklers at the line of scrimmage to set up a third-and-short.
Fourth Quarter
• Brown owned a majority of the fourth quarter, outgaining the Big Red 107-17 before the final drive and possessing the ball for 10:36 in the quarter.
• The Bears turned the ball over on downs early in the fourth when
Jake Stebbins stopped McGovern for a 1-yard gain on fourth-and-2 from the Brown 23, setting up the Big Red offense in a short field situation.
• The Big Red, however, turned it right back over, falling short on a fourth-and-3 effort from the 17 to give the Bears the ball back with 12:43 to play.
• Brown put on a methodical 13-play, 83-yard touchdown drive to narrow the Big Red lead to 34-32, with Perry hitting Jackson with a 9-yard score to cap the drive.
• After Cornell punted it away, the defense seemed to get a stop, but the punt was muffed and recovered by Brown at the Cornell 17.
• Four plays and zero yards later, Brown settled for a 35-yard field goal by Goepferich that gave the Bears their first lead since the first quarter.
• That set up the crazy ending, beginning with Cornell turning it over on downs with 2:41 left.
• Brown picked up a first down, then made the Big Red exhaust all three of its timeouts before facing a fourth-down decision at the home team's 12.
• Instead of electing to kick the field goal and made Cornell need a touchdown to win, the Bears attempted to put the nail in the coffin.
• A roll-out play for Perry was well-defended, and
Jake Watkins finished Perry for a 16-yard loss to give the home team new life.
• With 72 yards ahead of it, Kenney hit Gallman for a 15-yard gain, then just missed the junior on a deep shot.
• Facing second-and-10 from the 43, Kenney expertly dropped in a perfect 26-yard pass to Fitzgerald to get Null in field goal position.
• The Big Red tried one more pass, hitting Peters on a quick out for 7 more to reduce the attempt to 41 yards, and the senior delivered.
The March To Schoellkopf Field
Next Up
• Cornell will have a chance to pull an epic upset to close its three-game home stand when it plays nationally-ranked Princeton under Friday Night Lights on Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Tigers, who enter the week riding a 15-game win streak and sitting in the top 20 nationally, lead the all-time series 62-37-2.
• Princeton dominated last season's matchup in New Jersey, 66-0, after the Big Red had rallied from a 12-point deficit the prior season for a 29-28 road win.
• Played within a few days of Halloween every year since 2000, the series has become must-see for close finishes, wild story lines and amazing individual performances.
