At the end of the first quarter, the football team trailed Cornell 7-0, after the offense had gained just nine total yards while failing to get a single first down. The Bears turned it around, though, and dominated the final three quarters to come away with a 27-7 victory.
On the first play from scrimmage, from the Brown 22-yard line, receiver Buddy Farnham '10 got open in the right slot. The throw from quarterback and co-captain Michael Dougherty '09 sailed off Farnham's fingertips. Dougherty got off to a slow start, completing only one of his six pass attempts in the first quarter.
"We had the wind going against us in the first quarter, which was causing a few of my balls to sail," Dougherty said. "After that, we got into a rhythm and spread them out a little bit."
On Cornell's first drive, the Big Red offense converted three third downs to move the ball to the Brown 33 before the defense came up with a stop through a pass deflection by safety Christopher Perkins '10, a tackle by lineman David Howard '09, and then an incomplete pass on third down.
But the Brown offense was unable to mount a successful drive, and the punt from kicker Robert Ranney '08.5 was returned 20 yards to the Brown 34. This time, the Big Red found the end zone in just four plays, with the touchdown coming on a 16-yard pass from quarterback Nathan Ford to receiver Jesse Baker.
The turning point for Bruno came early in the second quarter. With the Big Red facing a third-and-1 at the 18, the defense came up with a stop to force fourth down. Despite being in field goal range, Cornell opted to go for the first down, and defensive back Russell Leedy '11 read Ford's play fake and brought down the quarterback on his rollout to the left, giving the Bears the ball on downs.
On the ensuing drive, the offense finally got going, in large part due to the play of receiver Bobby Sewall '10. Dougherty completed four passes to Sewall, including completions of 17 and 26 yards, and Sewall added a run for a first down in a fourth-and-1 situation. Though the Bears couldn't get into the end zone, they got on the board with a 21-yard field goal from Ranney to cut Cornell's lead to 7-3.
The Bears got the ball back quickly, thanks to tackle Jake Powers '09. On first down, with receiver Stephen Liuzza lined up at quarterback for the Big Red, Powers broke through the line and wrapped up Liuzza for a six-yard loss. Powers then tipped Ford's pass at the line on second down to force Cornell into a third-and-16, which it was unable to convert.
The offense rode the wave of momentum in a big way. On the first play of the drive, Dougherty went over the top to Sewall along the left sideline for a 52-yard touchdown pass to give the Bears a 10-7 lead.
"That over-the-top play was big," said Head Coach Phil Estes. "When our receivers started making some big plays, all of a sudden we started to get our momentum back."
Sewall led all receivers with 11 catches for 181 yards and two touchdowns on the day, with 128 of those yards coming in the second quarter.
After the defense forced the Big Red to punt again, the Brown offense went back to work. Running back Dereck Knight '08.5 kept the drive alive with a 3-yard plunge on fourth-and-1 from the Cornell 40. On the next play, Dougherty found Farnham over the middle for a 28-yard gain, eventually setting up a 22-yard field goal for Ranney to give Bruno a 13-7 halftime lead. After the Big Red gained 119 total yards of offense in the first quarter, the Brown defense allowed just nine net yards in the second quarter.
On its first two drives of the second half, the offense looked out of sync, but once again the team got a spark from a big defensive play. Cornell looked to be in position to regain the lead with a first down at the Brown 19, but on a keeper by Liuzza, linebacker Miles Craigwell '09 jarred the ball loose, and Leedy dove on the ball, coming up with his second big play of the game. After two completions to tight end Colin Cloherty '09, Dougherty dumped the ball over the middle to Farnham, who cut to the outside and fought his way to the Cornell 20 for a 42-yard pickup.
"We knew their defensive backs were weak, and they like to play a lot of man-to-man," Dougherty said. "We like our match-ups whenever anyone tries to play man-to-man with us."
On third-and-goal from the 8, the Bears caught a break with a defensive pass interference call in the end zone. On the ensuing first down from the 2, Bruno showed off the versatility of its receivers. With Sewall lined up at quarterback, the offense ran a draw play to Farnham, who found a hole in the line and ran into the end zone for his third rushing touchdown of the season, giving Bruno a 20-7 lead with 14:52 remaining in the game.
On the next drive, the defense continued to stymie the Cornell offense. On first down, running back Randy Barbour was taken down by linebacker Jonathan May '09 and tackle Joseph McPhee '09 for a 1-yard loss, and on second down May laid a big hit on Baker to force a third-and-9. After an incomplete third-down pass, the Big Red punted again.
May led the Brown defense with eight tackles on the day, while Craigwell was close behind with seven tackles, including two tackles for losses and a forced fumble. The defense made eight total tackles for loss, including sacks by linebacker Steve Ziogas '09 and lineman Wale Adedokun '09, and held Cornell to just 52 yards on the ground.
"They did a good job," Estes said of the defense. "They wrecked that o-line, and they did their job today."
On their second drive of the fourth quarter, the Bears turned to Knight, who gained 31 yards on six carries on the drive. Knight finished the game with 80 yards on five carries.
"The last two weeks, Dereck has completely taken over the fourth quarter," Dougherty said. "When you have teams down and you're able to eat up that fourth quarter clock, you're going to win a lot of games."
But the big play, once again, came from Bobby Sewall, who turned and caught a lofted pass from Dougherty at the 5, then bounced off his defender to get into the end zone for a 32-yard touchdown, putting the final score at 27-7.
"It's at the point where I just throw it up and he'll go get it," Dougherty said. "I don't even have to worry about who's on him, or what the coverage is like."
After his miserable first quarter, Dougherty settled down and turned in a strong performance, completing 20 of 37 passes for 285 yards.
The win gives Brown its first 3-0 Ivy start in team history, but the Bears will face a tough test when they travel to Philadelphia next weekend to take on Penn, the only other undefeated team in Ivy play.
"This win means we're 3-0 in Ivy League play," Estes said. "It doesn't mean we're going to win it. It doesn't mean we're going to lose it. We're in control of our destiny, is what it means."
