November 4, 2002

Army Blanks Lightweights

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Last Friday night in West Point, N.Y., the Cornell sprint football team suffered its second shutout of the season against the CSFL-best Black Knights of Army.

In the sprinters’ last game of the season, the Red once again struggled to stop the run and failed to get its offense going in a 31-0 defeat.

Cornell’s biggest trouble seemed to be stopping the run, and run is exactly what Army did all night against the Red. Starting Army quarterback Clay Bibb ran for 191 yards on the night, including a scramble that resulted in a 52-yard touchdown — one of three rushing touchdowns on the night.

Overall, the Black Knights were able to put the lights out with a phenomenal 354 yards of ground game against the Red sprinters.

On the other sideline, Cornell seemed to be haunted by its inability to stop the run. Defensive leader and standout Eric Eisenhart was once again on top of his game with nine tackles, bringing his season total to a remarkable 74 in just six games.

Despite Eisenhart’s awesome performance, the Red was unable to back up his efforts on the defensive end, although fellow senior standout Adam Romeiser was able to pick off one of Clay Bibb’s passes to get his second interception of the year.

After coming back from a daunting 24-point halftime deficit, the Red seemed ready to charge back and mount a second half comeback. To kick off the half, senior quarterback Charlie Tam, starting from his own 16-yard line, led the Red on a 83-yard drive that only culminated in a turnover in the red zone, on the one-yard line, when the Red failed to convert on fourth and one.

The defense only allowed one touchdown for a total of seven points in the whole second half, but that was too little, too late as the nails were drilled into the offensive coffin by the Black Knights’ stellar defensive unit.

The Black Knights look to take home a league championship next week in an Army vs. Navy showdown, while the Red’s 2002 season came to a conclusion Friday, resulting in a 2-4 record overall and a 1-3 record in CSFL play.

Archived article by Adam Zwecker