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Sprint Football Comes From Behind to Beat Visiting Mansfield

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In the last game of the season, the Red sprint football team won a surprisingly competitive and hard-fought game Friday against Mansfield University, but was unable to bring home a CSFL championship due to Navy’s win against Army in Annapolis.
In the last game of their careers, quarterback Zak Dentes, receiver Mike Brennan and the rest of the senior class led Cornell (5-2, 3-1 CSFL) to a 38-28 victory at home. Meanwhile, the Midshipmen (7-0, 4-0 CSFL) finished off a perfect season with a 24-0 shutout against their longtime rival and claimed their 26th CSFL title.
On Sept. 27, the Red dominated Mansfield offensively and defensively, crushing the sprint football newcomer, 35-0. On Friday however, a much improved and competitive team arrived in Schoellkopf Field.

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Sprint Hosts Mansfield for Last Game in 2008

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Tonight, the Red will take Schoellkopf Field for its final game of the year against Mansfield University in a non-conference battle. Despite it being the final game of the season, and the final game for the team’s 22 seniors, the team will be more anxious to hear from Annapolis, Md., where Navy and Army are set to face off in the game that will determine if Cornell wins a CSFL championship — although Cornell will have no say in the matter.[img_assist|nid=33163|title=Still counts|desc=In a non-conference matchup with Mansfield tonight to close out Cornell’s season, senior sprint football captain Michael Brennan (10) will be one of the 22 seniors to take the field for the last time.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]

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Seniors' Legacy Is Unmatched

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Twenty-two men, three of whom will be earning their fourth varsity letter. Two thousand five hundred and thirty-three passing yards for captain Zak Dentes, the most in school history. Eleven conference wins. Three years without losing a game at Schoellkopf Field. Three consecutive winning seasons — the first consecutive seasons over .500 since 1988. One undefeated season, and one CSFL championship. These highlight reel takes were all accomplished by one senior class.
The 22 senior members of the sprint football team will take the field for the final time tomorrow against Mansfield, a team new to the CSFL. Mansfield isn’t the only new thing the current seniors will have seen come to Schoellkopf — the class also shepherded in Cornell’s recent winning tradition Cornell.

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Dentes Breaks Red Record in Victory at Army

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On Friday, the sprint football team pulled-off a come-from-behind win against Army and kept its hope of a CSFL title alive, despite an unfortunate turn of events more than 250 miles away.
With only 39 seconds left, senior quarterback Zak Dentes found junior wideout Upal Sarker on a 10-yard pass for the go-ahead score, and put the Red (4-2, 3-1 CSFL) possibly in a position to capture a share of the National title, depending upon the outcomes of games around the league next week.
Navy’s (5-0, 3-0 CSFL) victory over Penn in Annapolis this weekend puts the Midshipmen in the driver’s seat to win the CSFL championship if they can defeat Army this Friday.

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Red Needs Win, Help for Title

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This morning, the sprint football team took off for West Point, N.Y., to face CSFL rival Army, with a title-shot and a prominent team record both on the line.
Cornell (3-2, 2-1 CSFL) is coming off a big win against formerly undefeated Penn. Senior quarterback Zak Dentes threw for a season-best 286 yards and sophomore linebacker Clay Hemminger notched a team-high four sacks.
The Black Knights (2-3, 1-1 CSFL) meanwhile, have not played a game in two weeks.
The matchup represents a chance for the Red to achieve, with a little bit of luck, its undisputed season goal: a conference championship.
If the Red can pull-off the win, and if Navy (5-0, 2-1 CSFL) loses its matchup against Penn, the CSFL title will head back to Ithaca.

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Smith Stands Out in Rookie Sprint Season

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Just because opportunity knocks, that doesn’t mean you’re always going to hear it.
Sprint football senior running back Ryan Smith almost learned that the hard way.
“[Senior quarterback] Zak [Dentes] had asked me to join in the spring of my sophomore year, but I didn’t, which is actually a decision I regret now,” Smith said.
But he wasn’t to make the same mistake again.
“He asked me again last spring,” Smith said, “so I joined during the off-season.”
Several months later, Smith has now become an unexpected leader and ground-game workhorse for a Red backfield that has been decimated by injuries.
As a two-sport athlete at Musak High School in Monroe, Conn., football wasn’t even his focus.

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Sprint Gets Revenge on Rival Penn

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It was almost as if red wasn’t only the color of Cornell’s jerseys, but also the color of their ruby slippers on Friday night. After losing to the Quakers at Franklin Field to start the 2008 season, the Red took on Penn at Schoellkopf Field this weekend and followed the yellow brick road to a 23-20 victory.
In a back-and-forth battle with four lead changes, Penn (4-1, 2-1 CSFL) got on the board first with a nine-yard touchdown pass from Michael D’Angelo. Cornell (3-2, 2-1) responded quickly with a three-yard quarterback scramble by senior captain Zak Dentes to tie the game at 7-7 at the end of the first quarter.

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Sprint Football Hopes to Avenge Loss to Penn

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Last year, Cornell opened its season with an exciting 23-18 win over Penn, only to lose by one score in the teams’ second meeting later in the season — the game that counts toward the CSFL record. After dropping this season’s opener to the Quakers, the Red will be looking to return the favor tonight at Schoellkopf.
In this year’s opener against Penn — counted as a non-conference game — Cornell’s offense was unable to pick up where it left off at the end of a record-breaking 2007, and the Red (2-2, 1-1 CSFL) fell to the Quakers (4-0, 2-0 CSFL), 17-3. Four weeks later, Cornell finds itself with a chance to win the game that really matters.

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Backups Shine in Sprint Football’s Win Over Tigers

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With the senior quarterback and starting running back both on the bench with injuries, the sprint football team notched its first conference win on Friday with a dominating 40-14 victory over Princeton at Powers Field.
The theme of the night was the breakout performance of sophomore backup quarterback Elliot Corey, who started for senior captain Zak Dentes.
“At the beginning of [last] week, Zak texted me and let me know he wasn’t going to be starting,” said Corey.
Dentes and the Red coaching staff did not disclose before game time that the usual signal-caller’s nagging foot injury would keep him from, which might have thrown off the opposing defense.

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On your toes.

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Quarterback Zak Dentes (11) needs just six pass yards to move into second place in Red history. The Sprint Football squad will be looking for its first conference victory against Princeton this weekend.