Coming into Friday night’s game with hopes of still competing for a conference title, the sprint football team suffered a tough home loss to Navy, 31-12, at Schoellkopf Field.
The loss drops Cornell to 4-2 (2-2 CSFL), and will likely put the CSFL championship out of reach. The Midshipmen improved to 5-1 (3-1 CSFL).
The Red run defense, as per usual, was stellar all night. Cornell held Navy to 44 yards on the ground, and no rushing touchdowns. Leading Navy rusher Jordan Foley was able to pick up only 32 yards on nine attempts. Senior linebacker Clay Hemminger was dominant in continuing his great season, and recorded 16 tackles and a half sack.
Although the Navy rushing attack was kept under control, Cornell’s defense was torched through the air. Navy quarterback Tyler Terronez threw for 331 yards on 24-of-44 passing, with four touchdowns and no interceptions. Terronez was successful all night on both short and deep routes, as well as spreading the ball around; before the final whistle, 11 Midshipmen had caught a pass.
Despite a decent game statistically for the offense, the Red was unable to score until the fourth quarter, when sophomore wide receiver Spenser Grunenfelder caught two touchdown passes of eight and 40 yards, respectively. Grunenfelder finished the game with seven catches for 100 yards, as well as the two scores.
Senior quarterback Elliot Corey passed for 154 yards on 17-of-39 attempts, two touchdowns and one interception. Junior running back Douglas Famularo ran for 95 yards on 18 carries, but was held out of the end zone.
“We moved the ball on them all night,” Corey said, “but we had a couple of things not go our way, and a couple of inopportune penalties.”
“I felt like we had a pretty sound game plan, and we just ended up not catching a couple of breaks that we needed,” he added.
For the second straight game, Cornell’s opponent was able to come out strong and score early. Less than five minutes into the first quarter, Terronez found receiver Erik Erlandson for 21-yard touchdown strike. Navy would go on to score again in the second and twice in the third, oft-utilizing the “big play” through the air.
After a promising first four games of the season, the second consecutive loss packs an extra sting for the Red.
“We all felt that we had the talent to do it this year and it was right there, but we just couldn’t covert it,” Corey said.
Although there is definitely some disappointment, the strong class of seniors is helping keep the team mentality positive as Cornell closes out its season this week.
“We’ve got a big senior class and have been playing together for a long time, and now it’s just about us coming out as winners,” Corey said. “We’re not going to let a couple of losses get between us.”
Original Author: Holden Steinhauer