Football News
Releases
Access
the News Release archive
Cornell dominated for three quarters, but Coe spoiled the upset bid by scoring 14 points in the final eight minutes of regulation and escaped with a 17-6 Iowa Conference victory Saturday in the season finale for both long-time football rivals at Clark Field in Cedar Rapids.
Cornell finished 2-8 overall for the fourth consecutive season and went 0-8 in IIAC play. The Rams put forth a fine defensive effort, holding the Kohawks (7-3, 5-3) to minus-11 yards and no first downs in the first half. Cornell led 6-3 midway through the fourth quarter before quarterback Andy TeKippe rallied the Kohawks with two late touchdown passes.
Coe took its first lead of the game, 10-6, on a 6-yard touchdown reception by Kelvin Lee with 7 minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Coe’s defense forced a 3-and-out on the next possession and then the Kohawks put the game away with an 8-yard touchdown reception by Nick Ratchford with 2:49 left to play.
The first half was controlled by the Rams, who totaled 193 more yards and 10 more first downs and owned a nine-minute advantage in time of possession. After a scoreless first quarter, junior running back Travion Hardman (Oak Park, Ill./ Oak Park River Forest) put Cornell on the board with a 1-yard touchdown plunge with 9:52 left in the second quarter. Adam Culberson (Montevallo, Ala./ School of Math and Science) had his extra point kick blocked, leaving the score at 6-0.
Cornell turned the ball over five times – four interceptions and one fumble – in the second half and also hurt itself with costly penalties in the third quarter. Cornell freshman quarterback Dallas Bush (Plano, Texas/Plano East) had a 58-yard completion to Jesse Struble (Colorado Springs, Colo./Wasson) called back for an illegal forward pass. Freshman Joe Wacenske (Davie, Fla./ Hollywood Hills) returned a kickoff 75 yards for an apparent touchdown late in the third quarter, but it was also negated because of an illegal block.
Hardman went over 700 rushing yards for the season with a 60-yard effort Saturday. Bush completed 11-of-25 passes for 161 yards with four picks and was sacked four times. Sophomore tight end Alex Macey (Oceanside, Calif./ Vista) led the receiving corps with five catches for 57 yards.
Senior linebacker Chris Gustafson (Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) capped a record-breaking career with a game-high 10 tackles, two pass breakups and a tackle-for-loss. He set the school’s single-season record for tackles-for-loss with 20, breaking the old mark of 19 held by Brett Murdock (2001). Gustafson registered 472 total tackles in his career, just nine shy of Cornell’s all-time mark owned by John Crane (1998-2001).
Senior Jeremy Day (Carrollton, Texas/Creekview) had a huge day on Cornell’s defensive front. He recorded seven tackles, four tackles-for-loss and three sacks for minus-22 yards. Freshman Joseph Barlow (Sedalia/Colo./Douglas County), sophomore Zach Zasada (Sauk City, Wis./Sauk Prairie) and senior Nick Creal (St. Charles, Ill./Burlington Central) had seven tackles apiece. Junior Leif Goleman (De Soto, Kan./ De Soto) intercepted a pass and returned it 23 yards.
|
