ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell sprint football will travel to West Point, N.Y. to compete against Army on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:00 p.m.

The Big Red are coming into this match-up 2-3 after winning in its last time out against St.Thomas Aquinas (STAC) in a slim 24-23 victory. 

Evan Nicholas started at quarterback for the Big Red in the game against STAC. Nicholas went 14-for-20 for 120 yards, one passing touchdown, two rushing touchdowns and two interceptions. Nicholas also led the team in rushing with 17 attempts for 77 yards. Colin Boyle led the team in receiving with five receptions for 78 yards and a touchdown. 

Cornell was able to take this victory due to key plays made by its defense, including Ian Applegate who earned CSFL Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against STAC. Overall, the Big Red defense had four sacks, seven tackles for loss and three interceptions in the game which proved to be pivotal. 

In the third quarter, Cornell was losing by a score when the defense forced and recovered a fumble at the Spartans 19-yard line which led to a Nicholas touchdown and earned Cornell the lead for the first time since the first drive of the game with a score of 18-17.In the fourth quarter, the Spartans started off strong regaining the lead after a touchdown, but Cornell blocked the extra point making the score 18-23 in favor of STAC. After a Cornell three and out, STAC got the ball off of a punt, but as they marched down the field, Big Red's Ian Applegate had an interception off of a Ryan Kenny pass. Cornell's offense rode that momentum to the end-zone as Nicholas scored another rushing touchdown. The Big Red then went for two, but were unable to successfully complete the conversion making the score 24-23 in favor of Cornell with less than two minutes left. The Spartans started off their final drive and Kenny dropped back to throw and the pass was picked off by Applegate with one minute of play left in the game which would end up being the final blow and earning Cornell its second win of the season, moving its record to 2-3. 

The Big Red then had a bye week before heading to competition on Friday against Army.

Army West Point comes into this contest with a 5-0 record after defeating Mansfield 42-21 in its last time out. Army's starting quarterback, Kyle West went 13-for-22 for 162 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Arthur Lavalais led the team in rushing with 14 attempts for 122 yards and two touchdowns and Parker Williams led the team in receiving with two receptions for 60 yards. Army's defense had three interceptions and one sack in the game.

Cornell and Army have met 83 times since their first match-up in 1957. Army is currently leading the series 65-18. The Big Red is 7-27 at Army and are currently on a 12-game losing streak to the Black Knights. Cornell has an average of 9.58 points against Army over their 83 games.

The last time the Big Red and Black Knights played, Army won 63-0. Senior quarterback Mikal Willeke paced the Black Knights, completing 10 of his 13 passes for 201 yards with two scores. Two other Army quarterbacks, Kyle West and Seth Brown also threw two touchdown passes.  Kyle West is currently the starting quarterback for Army this season. Returner Henry Beck also put up points for the Black Knights with two receiving touchdowns on the night. Cornell returning defensive backs Ian Applegate and Alexei DiDonato set career highs in tackles with 11 and eight, respectively and returning defensive lineman Zach Glenn recorded his first career sack. The Big Red's defense forced one turnover in the contest, as safety Drew Altemose forced and recovered a fumble. 

These two teams will clash in West Point, N.Y. on Friday, Nov. 1 at 7:00 p.m. to see who will come out with the win in the 84th game of the series.