ITHACA, N.Y. – John Wells was able to walk off the field a hero. Jeff Mathews, Luke Tasker, Grant Gellatly and an opportunistic defense made sure of it.

Wells', who earlier in the day had missed both a field goal and an extra-point kick that looked like it might be the difference in the game late into the fourth quarter, drilled a 23-yard attempt with 50 seconds left in the game to give Cornell a 37-35 shootout victory over Princeton on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. With the win, the Big Red improved to 4-3 (2-2 Ivy), while the Tigers suffered their first Ivy League loss to slip to 4-3 (3-1 Ivy).

Mathews posted his third career 500-yard passing game and threw four touchdowns without a turnover, a stat that proved to be decisive as Princeton committed four on the day, including to end each of its final two drives in the fourth quarter. Senior Luke Tasker posted his second 200-yard receiving day in three weeks with 10 catches for 201 yards and two scores, while junior Grant Gellatly hauled in 12 passes for a career-high 215 yards and a 76-yard touchdown while becoming the 19th player in Big Red history to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards. Entering the 2012 season, there had been only one 200-yard receiving game in school history.

In a game that featured more than 1,100 yards of offense, the Big Red defense made some of the biggest plays of the day. None were bigger that when Brian Gee separated Dre Nelson from ball at the Cornell 29 with under three minutes to play and Tre' Minor recovered, giving the ball back to the Big Red offense for its game-winning, 11-play, 66-yard drive. Unless you count the time Gee forced a Will Powers fumble in the red zone that was recovered by the Big Red inside the 10 late in the third quarter. Gee ended the day with eight tackles, two forced fumbles, a tackle for loss and a pass breakup.

Taylor Betros made four tackles, recovered the first of Gee's two forced fumbles and intercepted a pass in the final minute to seal the win for the Big Red. Andrew Nelso had a team-high 12 tackles and posted an interception and both Rush Miller (11 tackles) and Kendall Brown (10 tackles) each reached double figures in tackles.
 
Princeton did everything it needed to do to win the football game except protect the ball. It piled up 549 yards of offense itself, just shy of Cornell's total of 566. Quarterback Conner Michelsen completed 29-of-35 passes for 390 yards and a touchdown, with his favorite target being Roman Wilson (six catches, 162 yards, touchdown). The duo connected on a 72-yard touchdown pass. Michelsen's timeshare teammate, Quinn Epperly, also ran for two scores and threw for another.

With his 201 yard receiving effort, Tasker became the third Big Red receiver to surpass 1,000 yards in a season and increased his career total to 2,292 yards to jump past Eric Krawczyk '98 for third place all-time. Mathews' 525-yard day moved him to 7,431 yards and to within 279 yards of Ricky Rahne's school record of 7,710. He moved into fifth on the Ivy League's passing charts, surpassing Princeton's Doug Butler.

Freshman Luke Hagy continued an already impressive rookie season by running 14 times for 58 yards and catching three passes for 37 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown on a screen pass. Classmate Silas Nacita ran for his sixth touchdown this season with a short 2-yard run in the third quarter.

Cornell dominated time of possession in the first quarter, but ended the first 15 minutes with nothing to show for it. It held the ball for 12:05, outgained the Tigers 78-29 (116-29 when you take out sack yardage) and ran 23 plays to Princeton's seven, but it was the visitors who scored first. Wells missed a 37-yard field goal attempt at the end of a 15-play drive to open the half, then the Big Red punted after another nine play drive to give Princeton the ball with nine seconds left in the quarter. The Tigers cashed in on the arm of Michelsen, who completed all four passes on the drive, as well as a couple of Big Red penalties that extended the drive. In the end, Roman Wilson ran it in from three yards out to give the visitors a 7-0 lead with 11:19 showing on the clock before halftime.

Cornell answered right back, scoring just 2:23 later after going 74 yards in five plays. The big play came on a crossing route when Mathews hit Tasker, who shedded a tackler to go 54 yards for the score. Wells' put through the PAT to tie it at 7-7.

Lightning struck twice, as another crossing pattern and a missed tackle resulted in a long Cornell touchdown on its next possession, this time when Mathews hit Gellatly in stride for what would turn out to be a 76-yard score.  But with five minutes exactly remaining on the clock, the Tigers had plenty of time to knot it up. And they did.

A pass interference call and a 10-yard gainer to Matt Costello and a 13-yarder to Connor Kelly put Princeton in the red zone. It would cash in four plays later when Epperly kept it himself, going in from 2 yards to make it a 14-14 game at the half.

The third quarter started all Cornell. The Big Red kicked off and a decision to bring the ball out of the end zone by talented Tiger freshman Anthony Gaffney proved to be unwise. He was trapped at the 6, but a holding call on the play brought it back to the 3. On third-and-5 from the 8, Michelsen's pass was intercepted by Andrew Nelson, who returned the ball to the 3. Three plays later, Mathews hit Tasker for their second connection of the day. It would just be the start of the second half fireworks.

Just a little more than two minutes later it was again tied at 21. Then 2:34 after that it was Cornell 28, Princeton 21. Then less than a minute after it was tied at 28-28. Less than halfway through the third quarter, each team had scored twice. Less than 10 minutes in, the teams had traded scores five times and the Big Red led 34-28.

It started for Princeton with an Epperly 6-yard run, then Cornell answered with a 23-yard screen pass to Hagy that went the distance. A 72-yard pass from Michelsen to Wilson tied it momentarily, but Cornell responded with a 6-play, 67-yard drive for the go-ahead. Mathews found Tasker for 15 and 37 yards after a strong 30-yard kickoff return by Conner Armstrong, and it ended with two big rushes by Nacita, one for 9 yards to the 2, and then another for the final distance. Wells' kick sailed wide after a bad snap, and all of a sudden Princeton seemed to have the edge even though it trailed by six.

The Tigers looked to be taking advantage of that opening, marching down the field to the Cornell 12 while searching for the go-ahead score. That was when Gee met Poiwers. The ball squirted loose and Betros fell on it for the Big Red at its own 8.

Cornell ran 10 more plays and used up a little more than four minutes of clock, but after a punt pinned the Tigers at their own 9,they got right back to work. Twelve plays and 91 yards later, Princeton had taken the lead. Epperly found Mark Hayes for a touchdown that completed a drive that included Michelsen completions of 23 yards to Kelley and 31 yards to Wilson. Epperly took over in the red zone to give the Tigers another dimension and rewarded head coach Bob Surace with his third score of the day. Nolan Bieck's extra-point kick was true and the Big Red trailed 35-34 with 8:49 left.

Now trailing for the first time since 7-0, Cornell quickly got back on the move, as Mathews found Tasker for 30 yards on a perfectly placed ball, then hit Tyler Bostain for 20 more down to the Princeton 28. The drive stalled there and eventually consecutive incompletions on third and fourth down gave the ball back to the Tigers with 6:17 left.

Looking for more points while taking time off the clock, Princeton advanced the ball from its own 23 to the Cornell 31 and was threatening before Dre Nelson was hit by Gee, then fumbled. Junior defensive captain Tre' Minor pounced on the ball and the Big Red was back in business with 2:57 left needing a field goal to take the lead.

The junior quarterback hit Tasker for 9, then Hagy picked up a tough yard on third down to move the chains. After a pair of incomplete passes, Mathews then found Tasker for a 15-yard gainer, followed by a Big Red timeout. Out of the stoppage, Mathews hit Gellatly with a perfectly thrown 35-yard bomb down to the 11 on a pass that was well defended. A roughing the passer penalty on Princeton gave the Big Red a first-and-goal from the 8.

The Big Red tried a little trickery, as wildcat quarterback Silas Nacita rolled back and attempted a pass, and despite heavy pressure was able to complete a ball to Jake Allyn. Though the play lost two yards, he didn't take the sack, and that allowed Cornell to run the ball twice to force the Tigers into taking their final two timeouts. Now at the 5, Wells lined up on fourth down for a 23-yard field goal. The junior split the uprights, giving the Big Red a 37-35 advantage with less than a minute to play.

Princeton, needing to go the length of the field with no timeouts and 50 seconds to play, attempted to make something happen on first down. The Tigers tried to force in a pass that Taylor Betros stepped in front of, effectively ending the game with Princeton's fourth turnover of the night.

Cornell returns to action on Saturday, Nov. 3, when it plays host to Dartmouth at 12:30 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field.