ITHACA, N.Y. — There’s a moment of excitement and anticipation before the start of every football game when both teams are equal — at least on the scoreboard.
At Cornell on Saturday, that moment was quickly shattered.
The Big Red fumbled on their first play from scrimmage and Penn’s Erik Rask recovered inside the Cornell 20-yardline. Though the Quakers were forced to settle for a field goal from Andrew Samson, the rout was on.
The Penn defense put on a dominating performance and the offense held up its end of the bargain on their way to a 31-7 victory.
With the victory, Penn clinched the outright Ivy title while tallying an undefeated Ivy record for the second year in a row — marking the third time a Red and Blue squad has achieved that feat.
“Every championship is sweet,” Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. “This is probably the one that’s the sweetest.”
The Quakers also finish the year at 9-1, their best record since their perfect season in 2003. Penn’s sole loss came at the hands of a then-No. 1 Villanova squad.
Against the strongest defense in the Ancient Eight, Cornell struggled to make inroads into Quakers territory with the exception of a late fourth-quarter scoring drive against the second-team Penn defense.
Sophomore back Brandon Colavita ran for 103 yards and three touchdowns on a day when the Penn offense controlled the line of scrimmage in dominating fashion.
But Colavita was quick to credit the rest of his team for his rushing success.
“Most of the time when I end up scoring it’s the O-line, it’s the fullbacks, it’s the wideouts that are doing the job,” he said.
Freshman Ryan Becker saw significant playing time in the game’s first half and was able to move the Quakers up and down the field effectively. The quarterback and transfer from Florida State was impressive throwing the ball, completing 8-of-9 pass attempts for 58 yards.
Sophomore Billy Ragone also put forth a strong effort, running 45 yards and passing for 43, while senior Keiffer Garton closed out the game for the Quakers behind center.
After the final whistle sounded, the team lifted the Ivy League trophy and a celebration ensued — albeit a more subdued one than the celebration last week after the victory over Harvard.
“There’s just so many things that happened to us,” Bagnoli said, reflecting on the season. “So much that happened coming off the suicide [of defensive lineman Owen Thomas], preseason injuries.”
“They’ve thrown about as many things as you can throw at this team and that’s a credit to the kids’ resolve,” he added. “The kids just refused to fold.”
Senior Zach Heller also had Thomas in his thoughts on Saturday.
“As a senior class, we lost one of our brothers. It took a lot for all of us to come out and keep working and keep going at it,” Heller said. “To work hard at something and to achieve it and to do it the way we wanted to do it, it’s unreal.”
Replay our live blog for more details:
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