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Bladt's fumble recovery saves Rams in thrilling home opener, 35-34

One wild win after another, the resilient Cornell Rams pulled off another last-minute decision Saturday, escaping with a 35-34 victory over Alma (Mich.) in the home opener at Ash Park Stadium.

Cornell sophomore safety Don Bladt (Shelby/AHST) recovered a fumble that halted a Northwestern drive at the Rams’ 8-yard line with four seconds remaining in the game. Bladt’s big play came a week after Chris Gustafson ( Lakewood, Colo./Bear Creek) blocked a game-tying extra point in the final minute that propelled Cornell to a 31-30 squeaker over Northwestern ( Minn.).

The Rams are 2-0 this season and have outscored their opponents by two points.

“We’re excited to be 2-0,” second-year head coach Matt Dillon said. “We could easily have been 0-2.”

Senior quarterback Anthony Kobler ( Brentwood, Mo./ Brentwood) capped a career-high, 391-yard passing day with a 52-yard touchdown strike to Kyle Krogmann (DeWitt/Northeast) that put the Rams ahead by a point with 1 minute, 39 seconds left to play.

Alma answered with what looked to be a game-winning drive to the Cornell 5 when the Scots faced second-and-goal with 13 seconds left. Quarterback Mackenzie McGrady rolled out to his right, lost control of the ball and Bladt came out of the pile with the game-saving turnover.

“The first thing I thought (after Cornell scored) was I hope we didn’t leave them too much time,” Dillon said. “They had an awful lot of time left. I knew it would be a tough road to hoe. We needed to make a play. We finally got a bounce go our way, obviously at the most opportune time.”

The Rams improved to 7-1 in home openers since 2000 and start the season 2-0 for the second consecutive year.

Cornell’s offense racked up 552 total yards, in large part thanks to Kobler. The fourth-year letterwinner completed 18-of-30 passes with three touchdowns and one interception. Kobler threatened the school’s single-game passing yards record of 425, set by Chuck Hoover in 1985. He also rushed for a team-high 86 yards with a touchdown.

“Kobler had a helluva day,” Dillon said. “This was clearly the best game he’s had since I’ve been here.”

Senior Josh Youngblood (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Davidson) caught six passes for a career-high 191 yards, highlighted by an 88-yard touchdown in the second quarter. He topped the 1,000-yard receiving mark for his career with his first reception of the game. Youngblood now has 86 grabs for 1,187 yards.

Krogmann also enjoyed his best day as a Ram, catching a team-high eight passes for 161 yards and a touchdown.

The Rams trailed 20-14 at halftime and didn’t take their first lead until Kobler hit Krogmann with under two minutes to play. Gustafson led Cornell’s defense with 12 tackles, including his third blocked kick in two games. Jared Sanches (Lake in the Hills, Ill./Huntley), Leif Goleman ( De Soto, Kan./ De Soto) and Bladt each had 10 stops.

The Rams play host to Loras at 1 p.m. Sept. 15 in the Iowa Conference opener.