October 28, 2010

Championship Remains in Sight for Sprint Football Team

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The sprint football team squares off against CSFL foe Navy at Schoellkopf Field tonight at 7 p.m. Both squads sit at 4-1 overall and 2-1 in league play, with each team’s sole loss coming at the hands of Penn.  With two more games left on the season, the Red is looking to finish strong and stay alive in the championship hunt.

While Cornell’s game against Penn, during which the Red came up a yard short of the go-ahead touchdown in the final minute of regulation, may still be an open wound, the team has pushed any emotions aside and maintains its sole focus on beating Navy.

“You’re always going to think about it, but at the end of the day you have to move on,” said senior defensive lineman Kevin Schmidt, who led the team with eight tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble last week against Penn. “We’ve never beaten Navy in the four years that I’ve been here and a championship is still possible for us, so we’ve got to leave the past in the past and focus on the present.”

The Midshipmen are coming off of a pair of wins in which they beat bottom dwellers Mansfield and Princeton by a combined score of 112-0, holding the two squads to 28 total yards of offense.  Last year the Red traveled to Annapolis to lose in a low-scoring 18-13 dogfight. Navy is always a very physical team, and Cornell knows that it will have to fight for every yard.

“You know what you’re going to get with Navy,” Schmidt said. “They’re going to try and power you. They have a really good running game but you still always have to account for the pass on the defensive side.”

With undefeated Penn hosting Army this week, a share of the championship is still a possibility for both the Red and the Midshipmen with a win.  An Army win would drop Penn into a tie with whoever comes out victorious at Schoellkopf tonight.  On the other hand, a loss will all but shut the door for the team on the other side of the scoreboard.

“We know we still have a shot, anything can happen,” Schmidt said. “You have to have a short memory in sports. Week to week, play to play, you’ve got to forget about the past and focus on your task at hand. What we need to do right now is beat Navy; whatever happens after that, happens. It’s out of our control so we’re not going to worry about it.”

Original Author: Ware Cady