Sometimes the score simply belies the effort.
Playing its heart out in front of the hostile Philadelphia crowd, the Big Red sprint football team (0–1, 0–0 Collegiate Sprint Football League) was downed 20–0 by Pennsylvania (1-0, 0-0 Collegiate Sprint Football League), thereby insuring Cornell’s fourth-straight shutout.
The Red offense struggled to 57 total yards. While Cornell was able to move the ball in the first half, it began to unravel in the second half as junior quarterback Ryan Dwyer threw three interceptions. He finished 10–of–25 for 78 yards.
“In the first half we moved the ball well,” senior tri-captain Andrew Goodman (nine–for–13 yards) said. “Dwyer played well, but we kept shooting ourselves in the foot. Overall, it wasn’t as bad as it seems.”
The Penn defense completely shut down the Red’s running game, holding the offense to –21 yards of rushing. Senior Brian Allen led the way, rushing seven times for 15 yards.
“Their defense wasn’t that good,” Goodman said. “There was a bit of confusion in our the blocking assignments. It’s just something we have to work on this week.”
The defense was brilliant, once again, in defeat. Led by senior tri–captains Jon Krautmann and Imad Baggar, Cornell forced three interceptions and three fumbles while holding the high-powered Quaker offense to only seven points over three quarters. Finally, in the fourth quarter, the Quakers scored 13 points to pull away.
Penn running back Mark Gannon started the scoring near the end of the first quarter, with a three-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing possessions, the Red crossed the 50–yard line a number of times as Dwyer continually hit junior wideout Sunil Gupta and senior tight end Sam Walcott. After reaching the three-yard line but coming up with no points, the offense began to lose steam.
Gupta finished with four catches for 40 yards while Walcott had one catch for ten yards.
The defense gave the offense a number of chances to get on the board as Krautmann and junior cornerback Adam Romeiser recorded interceptions. Krautmann also led the defense with seven tackles.
The Quakers finally put the game away with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, as Gannon scored his second touchdown of the game and, six minutes later, Quaker fullback Joseph Smith scored on a 13–yard run.
“We’ve just have to get confidence and look forward to Princeton. We can’t dwell on this game,” Goodman concluded.
Cornell plays it first home game on Schoellkopf Field against Princeton, this Friday at 7:30.
Archived article by Sumeet Sarin