Athletics - News

Access the News Release archive

Cornell’s defense dominated for three-plus quarters, but Coe spoiled the Rams’ upset bid by scoring 14 points in the final eight minutes of regulation and escaped with a 17-6 Iowa Conference victory Nov. 10 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 young Rams played their best ball down the stretch against the elite teams in the league. Cornell fought fourth-ranked and IIAC champion Central (10-0, 8-0) to a 12-point game late in the third quarter, battled 12 th-ranked and runner-up Wartburg (8-2, 7-1) to a two-possession game in the fourth quarter and led third-place Coe (7-3, 5-3) midway through the final period.

“We played our best three games of the season in the last three games,” second-year head coach Matt Dillon said. “The shame of it is, we played the first, second and third-place teams in the league and have nothing to show for it. We proved that we can compete with the best teams in the league, battling all three into the fourth quarter. From a team stand point, that’s all we can ask. Next year, we need to win some of those games.”

The Rams put forth one of the best defensive halves in school history Saturday. Cornell forced seven three-and-outs to start the game and stymied Coe’s offense to minus-11 total yards and no first downs in the first half. The Rams totaled 193 more yards and 10 more first downs and owned a nine-minute advantage in time of possession to take a 6-0 lead into intermission. 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.

A Coe field goal made the score 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 pass with 7 minutes, 57 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Coe’s defense forced a 3-and-out on the next possession and the Kohawks put the game away with an 8-yard touchdown pass with 2:49 left to play.

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.

“The first half was incredible. Our guys played outstanding,” Dillon said. “But we put our defense in a disadvantage the whole second half with five turnovers. It was just unfortunate. We had a touchdown and long pass play called back and we missed a field goal. We had opportunities, but just didn’t take advantage of them.”

Gus leaves legacy – Senior Chris Gustafson (Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) closed his record-breaking career in fitting fashion Saturday, notching Cornell’s final tackle of the season. The 6-foot, 243-pound middle linebacker finished with 10 tackles, two pass breakups and one tackle-for-loss. It was the 17th straight game and 33rd time in his career that Gustafson collected double-digit tackles.

Gustafson set school records for solo tackles in a game (14 at Central, Oct. 27, 2007), tackles-for-loss in a season (20.0, 2007) and solo tackles in a career (219, 2004-07). He ranks second all-time at Cornell with 472 total tackles, just nine shy of the record held by John Crane (481, 1998-2001). Gustafson ranks in the top 10 in Division III this season in solo tackles per game (fifth, 7.3), total tackles per game (seventh, 13.5) and tackles-for-loss per game (ninth, 2.0).

Big day for Day – Senior defensive lineman Jeremy Day (Carrollton, Texas/Creekview) spent most of Saturday’s game in Coe’s offense backfield. He recorded seven tackles, four tackles-for-loss and three sacks for minus-22 yards. Day set career highs in both tackles-for-loss and sacks.

2 x 700 – Hardman went over 700 rushing yards for the second straight season with a 60-yard effort Saturday. He led the Rams with 705 yards on 135 carries, averaging 5.2 yards per attempt. Hardman has totaled 1,871 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in 30 career games.

Foundation for the future – The Rams return 48 players in 2007-08, several of which played quality minutes this season. Thirty-one of those players were listed in the team’s two-deep for the season finale. Against Coe, the Rams played four freshmen and a junior in their offensive backfield.

“We have a lot of young guys who gained valuable playing experience for us,” Dillon said. “We need another great recruiting class and a great offseason. We’re definitely headed in the right direction.”

Gone to graduation – The Rams will lose 15 seniors and 10 starters from this year’s squad. Among the departures are the team’s top two receivers in Josh Youngblood (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) and Kyle Krogmann (DeWitt/Northeast), leading passer Anthony Kobler (Brentwood, Mo./Brentwood), leading tackler Gustafson and starting offensive linemen Shane Eaglin (Fort Worth, Texas/Brewer), Alex Wellman (Larkspur, Colo./Douglas County), Steven Murray (Marshalltown/Marshalltown) and Heath Sienknecht (Clutier/North Tama.)

Ace (attitude, character, effort) awards – Defense: Day; Offense: Alex Macey (Oceanside, Calif./Vista); Special Teams: Wacenske; Scout Team Defense: Cody Backhaus (New Boston, Mich./Huron); Scout Team Offense: Stanhope Denegre (Dallas, Texas/Shelton).