ITHACA, N.Y. -- Seniors made plays all over the field and the Cornell sprint football team sent them off Schoellkopf Field for one final time with a victory, knocking off Chestnut Hill 28-14 on Friday evening. The Big Red upped its record to 1-4, while the Griffins fell to 0-5.
Senior quarterback
Xavier Martinez accounted for all four touchdowns (one rushing, three passing) and hit classmates
Colton Kotecki for a pair of scores and
Cooper Wise for another as the Big Red passing attack accounted for 174 yards. Kotecki hauled in four passes for 116 yards and the two scores, with Martinez ending the night 12-of-18 passing.
Ralph Fleuranvil rushed for 68 yards to lead Cornell.
The defense caused 10 negative plays with four sacks, recovered two fumbles, intercepted a pass and made six pass breakups in holding Chestnut Hill to 229 yards on 70 plays.
Ross Halpern posted 10 tackles with 2.5 for a loss and a sack and
Zac McPherson added 3.5 tackles for loss with nine total stops.
Michael Mosier made three stops with an interception, a fumble recovery and two pass breakups,
Cooper Wise forced a fumble with a sack and
Jaden Queen had a pair of pass breakups in the win.
Cornell led 7-0 at the break, the only score coming on a 1-yard plunge by Martinez late in the second quarter after Wise, who also caught a touchdown pass, strip-sacked Chestnut Hill quarterback C.J. Small and Mosier recovered at the visitor's 36. Four plays later, including a 21-yard hookup with Kotecki and 13 more to
Luke Verzella, Martinez broke through the push-pile on first-and-goal from the 1.
After combining for seven points and 181 yards of offense between the teams over the first 30 minutes, the Big Red scored twice in the first 8:41 of the second half to build its lead to 21-0.
After the defense forced a quick punt from midfield, the Big Red took advantage of a roughing the kicker penalty to extend a drive. On the very first play after the flag, Martinez connected with Kotecki, who broke a tackle and raced 65 yards for the score. The defense then forced another turnover with a fumble, setting up a short field. Three plays into the drive, Martinez put a ball in the air that
Cooper Wise came down with for a score, his first career touchdown.
Chestnut Hill answered with a six-play, 70-yard drive to get one touchdown back, but pushed the lead back to 21 after Martinez found Kotecki for a 26-yard touchdown to all but seal it. A late touchdown by the visitors cut the lead to 14, but Cornell recovered the on-sides kick and ran out the clock for the win, then celebrated the seniors in the end zone.
Cornell closes the season on the road with a pair of contests beginning with a matchup with Caldwell on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. in Caldwell, N.J. The Big Red leads the all-time series 2-1.
