A number of noteworthy Ivy League seniors excelled in their last games in front of their home crowds this weekend.
Cornell senior wide receiver and special teams ace Bryan Walters reached two offensive milestones.
The Bothell, Wash., native caught a game-high six passes for 89 yards and moved into fourth place in career receptions (142) while becoming the fourth player in Big Red history to surpass 2,000 career receiving yards.
Walters amassed 260 all-purpose yards in front of the Senior Day crowd, increasing his career total to 5,689, the second-highest mark in Ivy League history. He already holds the Ivy records in career kick and punt return yardage at 2,715 and 970, respectively.
But Walters’ efforts Saturday against Columbia were not enough to overcome the miscues of a much less successful senior. Quarterback Ben Ganter threw five interceptions in the game, including two on the last two possessions of the game, to seal Cornell’s 30-20 loss to the Lions.
Stellar Seniors. Two seniors led the way for Brown in its 14-7 overtime victory over Dartmouth.
In his last ever game at Brown Stadium, senior wide receiver Buddy Farnham came up with the game-winning play in overtime. On third and three from the 17-yard line, Farnham ran a flag route which faked out the safety and left him wide open for junior quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero.
And after his classmate gave the Bears a lead, senior defensive end Jimmy Develin sealed the win. The Big Green faced fourth and two from the 16-yard line and called the number of freshman quarterback Greg Patton. Fresh off a record-setting 243 rushing yards last week against Cornell, Patton took the snap in the wildcat and tried to move the chains himself, but Develin stuffed him for a loss of two as the Bears rushed the field in celebration.
“I couldn’t imagine it any better,” Develin told The Brown Daily Herald. “Senior Day, last game, just going out like that, making a play, it’s just — it’s everything I dreamed for at Brown.”
“What a way to end your careers at home,” Brown coach Phil Estes added. “Pretty damn good for two — not just great seniors — but two of probably the best that I’ve ever coached.”
Look who he’s got his Haynes on now. Tempers flared before the opening kickoff between Yale and Princeton and escalated afterwards.
After the coin toss both benches stormed the field in emotional tirades. The referees separated the squads, but on the opening kickoff Yale sophomore linebacker Jordan Haynes got back into the fray. The kick sailed out of bounds, but Haynes still wound up on top of Princeton sophomore defensive end Mike Catapano and began punching him in the head.
Haynes was promptly ejected, and so were the Bulldogs chances. They fell to the Tigers, 24-17, for the first time in three years.
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