Football Celebrates Seniors When Reigning Ivy Champ Dartmouth Visits Saturday

David Archer '05
The Roger J. Weiss '61 Head Coach of Cornell Football

STREAKS, STORYLINES & SIDEBARS
• The Cornell football team will honor its senior class and attempt to close the season strong when it meets defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at Schoellkopf Field. 
• The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Barry Leonard on the call.
• Cornell will honors the program’s 18 seniors who will be playing their final game at Schoellkopf Field.
• Cornell’s fifth-year seniors are WR Jayden Day, S Demetrius Harris, WR Colton Kotecki, DL Max Lundeen, QB Ben Mays and DL Joe Shepard. 
• The four-year seniors include TE Tyson Claeys, WR Javonni Cunningham, TE Hunter Delor, TE William Enneking, WR Thomas Glover, OL Joe Kelly, DL Onome Kessington, CB Paul Lewis III, OL Emmett McElroy, S Nate Roy, DL Wallace Squibb Jr. and LB Jake Stebbins.
• The group persevered through the COVID pause and have already led the Big Red to its winningest season since 2019 (with two games remaining) and its first 3-0 non-league slate since 1999.
The Big Red and the Big Green both are looking to climb the Ivy standings and build some momentum heading into the offseason after suffering narrow losses this past weekend to the Ivy leaders - Dartmouth by a 17-14 margin to unbeaten Princeton, Cornell by a 28-21 score to 6-1 Penn. 
• Cornell has played one of the toughest schedules in the country, and its four losses have come to the four Ivy leaders who have a combined record of 26-6 (.813) this season, including 16-4 in conference action.
• The Big Red dropped its second Ivy game of the year by a touchdown or less despite three touchdowns courtesy of Jameson Wang, the fourth kick block in four weeks by Manny Adebi and a defense that limited the Quakers to 272 yards.

LOOKING FORWARD, LOOKING BACK
• The Big Red finished the 2019 season with a 2-8 overall record (1-6 Ivy). 
• Four of its losses came to nationally ranked opponents and three others came by a touchdown or less.
• The Big Red’s wins over Colgate (first win on a Friday since defeating Manhattan Athletic Club on Nov. 18, 1892) and Penn (first victory for the Trustees’ Cup since 2013) were both memorable victories. 
• Its last win at home on a day other than Saturday came on Monday, Oct. 9, 1916 vs. Gettysburg. The 26-0 Big Red win was the seventh game ever played on Schoellkopf Field.
• Cornell is dealing with the departure of 46 letter winners, 21 starters and five all-league players from 2021 due to graduation, with a number of those players competing at the BCS and FCS level as graduate transfers.
• Among the losses are second-team All-American offensive lineman Hunter Nourzad (Penn State) and linemates Jack Burns (Duke) and Will Swope (Buffalo), all-league corner Michael Irons (Tarleton State), starting safety Eric Diggs and running back Devon Brewer (Stetson), kick returner Eric Gallman (Duke), safety Isiah Hogan (Cal Poly) and wide receiver Curtis Raymond III (TCU). 
• In addition, corner Kenan Clarke is playing in the CFL after being a sixth-round pick of Edmonton in 2021.
• The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This year’s version of the Big Red returns six position starters (two offense, four defense), as well as its punt returner (Thomas Glover) from 2021. 
• Returning to the roster is first-team All-Ivy League picks Thomas Glover (WR) and Jake Stebbins (LB). 

A WIN OVER DARTMOUTH WOULD...
• improve the Big Red’s record to 5-4 overall.
• send its senior class out with a win in their final game on Schoellkopf Field.
• snap a two-game losing streak.
• up its Ivy record to 2-4.
• clinch the program’s first .500 season since 2011.
• narrow the Big Green’s lead in the all-time series to 62-42-1.
• be the second in the last three meetings with the Big Green after losing 10 consecutive from 2009-18.
• give Cornell a 235-227-15 (.508) record all-time in the month of November.
• be the 653rd in program history (15th-most in the Football Championship Subdivision). 

FINAL HOME GAME FOR BIG RED SENIORS
• The Cornell football program’s 18 seniors will be playing their final game at Schoellkopf Field this weekend.
• Cornell’s fifth-year seniors are WR Jayden Day, S Demetrius Harris, WR Colton Kotecki, DL Max Lundeen, QB Ben Mays and DL Joe Shepard. 
• The four-year seniors include TE Tyson Claeys, WR Javonni Cunningham, TE Hunter Delor, TE William Enneking, WR Thomas Glover, OL Joe Kelly, DL Onome Kessington, CB Paul Lewis III, OL Emmett McElroy, S Nate Roy, DL Wallace Squibb Jr. and LB Jake Stebbins.

ABOUT DARTMOUTH
• Defending Ivy League champion Dartmouth has struggled through injuries in starting 2-6 (1-4 Ivy) with four losses coming by a field goal or less or in overtime.
• The Big Green is 1-6 in its past seven games, with the lone win a 27-24 triumph at Columbia.
• Dual-threat quarterback Nick Howard paces the team in rushing (424 yards, seven touchdowns) and combines with Dylan Cadwallader to throw for 1,222 yards and four touchdowns.
• Howard is joined by Zack Bair (366 yards,, two touchdowns) and Q Jones (366 yards, one touchdown) in splitting carries for an offense averaging 155.0 yards per game on the ground.
• Scott Paxton (32 receptions, 383 yards, two touchdowns) and Jonny Barrett (18 catches, 194 yards, three touchdowns) are the favorite targets in the passing game.
• Joe Heffernan paces the Ancient Eight in tackles (79) and has 5.0 tackles for loss, while Macklin Ayers has been credited with 66 stops and leads the league in tackles per game (11.0), just ahead of his teammate (9.9). 
• Shane Cokes leads the team in tackles for loss (6.5) and sacks (3.5), with Robert Crockett breaking up six passes, intercepting a pass and blocking a kick.
• Dartmouth has been one of the most disciplined teams in the country, being whistled for just 5.0 penalties and 39.8 yards per game.
• Dartmouth grad Buddy Teevens in his second go-around as head coach at his alma mater and sports a 116-100-2 record in those 22 seasons and 150-177-2 in 33 years at four schools (Dartmouth, Maine, Tulane, Stanford).
• Teevens helped the Big Green win a share of the 2015, 2019 and 2021 Ivy League titles.

THE SERIES
• This will be the 105th meeting between Cornell and Dartmouth, with the Big Green holding a 62-41-1 lead in the series.
• The two teams first met in 1900, a 23-6 Cornell win. 
• The two teams have been fairly evenly matched in the last quarter-century, with 13 of the last 28 meetings being decided by a touchdown or less (Dartmouth leads 17-11 during that stretch).
• The Big Green had won 10 straight meetings in the series, prior to 2019, when Cornell spoiled its undefeated season with a 20-17 victory in Hanover, N.H. 
• Dartmouth returned to its winning ways against the Big Red last fall in Hanover with a 41-7 victory.

THE FIFTH-DOWN GAME
• The 2022 meeting between the Big Red and Big Green is also the 81st anniversary of the famed Fifth-Down Game.
• Played on Nov. 16, 1940 in Hanover, N.H., top-ranked Cornell improved to 6-0 with a 7-3 victory over Dartmouth, scoring on the game’s final play.
• After reviewing game film on Monday, Coach Carl Snavely and acting athletic director Robert J. Kane wired Dartmouth officials to tell them Cornell scored on an inadvertent fifth down.
• Though there were no rules compelling the outcome to be changed, in an unprecedented act of sportsmanship, the Big Red relinquished claims to the win. The Big Green accepted the forfeit, winning the contest 3-0.
• It remains the only time a collegiate sporting contest has been decided off the field after the completion of a game.

THE LAST MEETING WITH DARTMOUTH
• The last time they met, a nationally-ranked Dartmouth team let Cornell hang around and watched the Big Red pull out a 20-17 win to spoil its Senior Day. 
• The Big Green didn’t make the same mistake at Memorial Field, putting the Big Red away early in a 41-7 victory. 
• Dartmouth outgained the Big Red 499-187, dominated time of possession (36:51-23:09) and never allowed the visitors to feel comfortable on either side of the ball.
• Dartmouth led 28-0 at the half, and except for a brief offensive spurt to open the second half, never threatened the defending Ivy champs. over the final 30 minutes.
• Nick Howard ran for 172 yards and four touchdowns as the Big Green posted 292 yards and five scores on the ground. 
• At the same time, a balanced Dartmouth squad also completed 17-of-22 passes for 207 yards and a touchdown, with Derek Kyler hitting on 14-of-18 passes for 182 yards. 
• Dale Chesson caught seven passes for 106 yards and a touchdown.
• Jake Stebbins led the Big Red defense with nine tackles, including two for a loss and a sack, while Demetrius Harris had eight. 
• Holt Fletcher and Onome Kessington each were credited with sacks. 
• On the offensive end, Eddy Tillman had a career-high 36 rushing yards on six carries, while Devon Brewer scored the lone touchdown for Cornell en route to 19 yards on four carries. 
• Thomas Glover hauled in four passes for 64 yards in the loss.

LAST TIME OUT
RECAP I BOX SCORE I HIGHLIGHTS I GALLERY I POSTGAME NOTES
• Penn took advantage of short fields and Cornell mistakes to race out to a 28-7 lead, then held off a Big Red comeback to capture a 28-21 victory over the Big Red at Schoellkopf Field. 
• Cornell limited Penn to 272 yards of offense and 10 first downs and dominated time of possession (35:29-24:31), but two turnovers, two blocked punts and penalties at key junctures allowed the Quakers to put together three touchdown drives that totaled 80 yards. 
• Penn’s Trey Flowers gained 124 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries and Aidan Savin threw a pair of touchdown passes, a 47-yard pass to Sterling Stokes another for 38 yards to Joshua Casili. 
• The Quakers were credited with 11.0 tackles for loss and three sacks, with Garrett Morris adding 10 tackles, an interception and a pass breakup. 
• Jonathan Melvin made 3.5 tackles for loss and broke up a pass.
• Jake Stebbins and Connor Morgan each were credited with seven tackles, while Trey Harris had six stops, forced a fumble and had an interception wiped out due to penalty. 
• Anthony Chideme-Alfaro intercepted a pass and Manny Adebi, the reigning Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week blocked his school-record fourth kick of the season and third in two weeks. 
• Both Paul Lewis III and Noah Taylor broke up two passes apiece.
• Sophomore Jameson Wang accounted for three touchdowns, including throwing two scoring passes to fifth-year senior Thomas Glover. 
• Wang gained 84 rushing yards on 25 carries and scored once against the nation’s fourth-ranked rushing defense. 
• Penn entered the day surrendering just 54.0 rushing yards per game, though the Big Red piled up 134 yards without two of its top three running backs. 

The Class of 2023

• Schoellkopf Field has been an indelible mark of Cornell football since it opened in 1915. 
• Schoellkopf Field is the fourth-oldest FCS stadium, opening in 1915. Only Penn’s Franklin Field (1895), Harvard Stadium (1903) and the Yale Bowl (1914) are older. 
• A gift from Willard Straight ‘01 and the family of Henry (Heinie) Schoellkopf ‘02 made the construction possible for the current stadium. 
• The Big Red’s first year on the field was one of its best, going 9-0 and winning the national championship. 
• In 1915, General Electric Company completed work on a flood searchlight system for the field, and in 1924 a construction project was completed to bring capacity from 9,000 to 21,500 by adding the famed Crescent. 
• In 1947 that capacity was increased to 25,597 and a press box was added. 
• In 1971 a gift was made to put artificial turf on the field, and it was resurfaced three times, the last time in 1999. 
• A new press box was built in 1986.
• The 2008 season saw installation of FieldTurf synthetic grass to replace the artificial turf. 
• In 2016, the West Stands were demolished and the field was moved 15 feet toward the Crescent while replacing the FieldTurf to ready for more construction at the site, lowering the capacity to 21,500 in the process.
• The Big Red’s all-time record at Schoellkopf Field is 305-200-15 (.601).

Few collegiate football programs have the storied history of Cornell University. With more than 130 seasons of football in the books, the Big Red has collected five national titles, won 650 games and has had legendary players and coaches perform on historic Schoellkopf Field. Names such as Glenn "Pop" Warner and Heisman Trophy finalist and NCAA record-breaker Ed Marinaro have suited up for Cornell, while seven College Football Hall of Famers (including Warner, Gil Dobie and Carl Snavely) and multiple-time Super Bowl winner George Seifert have set the strategy as head coaches. Now, with David Archer '05 leading the program, there’s little doubt that history will continue to be made.

• The Big Red will close the 2022 season when it visits Columbia in a battle for the Empire State Bowl on Saturday, Nov. 19 at 1 p.m. at Wien Stadium.
• Cornell leads the all-time series 66-39-3 after the Lions topped the Big Red 34-26 in 2021 at Schoellkopf Field.
• The Lions have won three of the past four meetings.
• Since the introduction of the Empire State Bowl in 2010, Cornell leads the series 6-5.