JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Something about Cornell brings out the best in the Illinois College rushing game. In last season's shocking overtime loss to the Rams in Mount Vernon, Iowa, the Blueboys went for 363 yards on the ground. On Saturday, the IC rushing attack chewed up 345 yards and helped the team get its revenge with a 30-23 win that delivered the Midwest Conference South Division title on Senior Day at England Stadium. After a 5-0 South Division season, Illinois College (7-2) will battle North Division champions Macalester next weekend at England Stadium with a NCAA Division III playoff berth on the line.
The Illinois College offense sputtered in the opening stages of the game, allowing Cornell to take a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter even though IC forced a turnover on the opening possession of the game and took over inside the Cornell 25-yard line to start. Senior defensive tackle Rob Brown recovered the fumble to set up the Blueboys in outstanding field position, but the offense went backwards and turned the ball back over to the Rams on downs.
Starting its new drive on its own 28-yard line, Cornell drove 72 yards in nine plays to take the early edge in the contest. Preston Ritchie busted off a pair of big runs on the drive, ultimately accounting for 67 yards on six carries and taking it in the final five yards to paydirt.
The second IC drive would go three-and-out and the third would result in a Cornell interception in its end zone for a touchback. After Cornell missed on a 44-yard field goal attempt late in the first quarter, the Blueboys began with the ball on their own 27-yard line and started a seven-play, 73-yard drive that would bridge the first and second quarters and get the team on the scoreboard. Senior Michael Bates connected with freshman Logan Uyetake for the 16-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-6, but the extra point was missed and Cornell would retain the lead.
Following a three-and-out from the Rams, IC would embark on another successful drive, going 55 yards in 12 plays and taking a 9-7 lead on a Uyetake field goal from 31 yards out. Bates had the key play on the drive with a 3rd-and-10 run of 31 yards into Cornell territory. That small two-point margin would carry into halftime as the defenses took command the rest of the half. The Blueboys had one excellent chance to extend their late in the closing moments of the half, but Cornell stuffed two straight rushing attempts inside the 10-yard line and forced a turnover on downs.
Taking possession for the opening drive of the third quarter, Illinois College ratcheted its offense into gear, going 70 yards in less than two minutes to make it a 16-7 game. The tandem of Bates and Bo Davis on the ground did much of the damage for IC with Davis supplying two runs of more than 10 yards on the series and Bates ripping off a 28-yard run that put the Blueboys in the red zone, followed by a 14-yard scramble into the end zone.
Cornell responded to IC's opening touchdown drive with a chip-shot field goal from 22 yards out to close to within six at 16-10. Neither team would score on their next possessions and Illinois College took over from its own 36 with 5:38 remaining in the third quarter. Calling running plays on six of the first seven plays of the series, the Blueboys brought the Rams up to the line then hit them with the home run ball. On a third down, Bates completed a 36-yard touchdown to Uyetake to put IC on top, 23-10.
On the opening play of the fourth quarter, Bates completed a pass to Bryce Heaton, but as Heaton fell to the turf, the officials ruled that he lost possession of the ball before being down. Cornell was in need of a score to get itself back in the game, but its drive lasted all of one play. Dylan Ringhausen stepped in front of a Daniel Brown pass, giving the Blueboys possession back on the 33-yard line of the Rams. Two plays later, Bates found Kyle Obertino completely uncovered in the left side of the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown to extend to a 30-10 lead with less than 14 minutes remaining.
Cornell refused to go quietly. The Rams answered back with a 68-yard scoring drive keyed by the play of Brown and Ritchie to close to within 30-17. Starting another drive at the 4:15 mark of the fourth quarter, the Rams went 80 yards in 18 plays to make it a one-possession game in the final minute. The extra point attempt that followed was no good.
The Blueboys put their hands team on the field for the onside kick, but as it turned out, it wouldn't have mattered if they did or not. The last gasp for Cornell ended up hitting a player illegally within five yards of the kick, automatically giving the ball to Illinois College. The Blueboys were able to end the game in the victory formation and improve to 5-0 at home this season.
Bates ended the day 15-of-32 through the air with three touchdowns, but his real damage to the Cornell defense came on the ground. The senior captain ran 20 times for 191 yards and a touchdown, again and again breaking containment and finding open areas of the field to run into. Davis had a career day with 106 yards on 17 carries. Heaton had five catches for 77 yards, while Uyetake added four receptions for 71 yards.
Defensively, Ringhausen had a team-high 13 tackles (nine solo) in addition to his interception. Darius Jones added 11 tackles (nine solo) and James Dambacher had nine (seven solo). The secondary limited Cornell receiving threat Ben Knake to just four catches for 45 yards.
In the North Division, Macalester had the title sewn up by halftime due to tiebreakers, but left no doubt by defeating St. Norbert, 21-13, and winning the division outright. The Scots (8-1, 5-0 MWC North) will make the trek to Jacksonville – the longest road trip possible in the MWC – to decide the conference champion on Nov. 15 with a 1 p.m. kickoff from England Stadium.
Football Rushes Past Cornell for MWC South Division Crown
/seasons/2014/boxscores/20141108_7njo.xml
2014
Cornell
23
Illinois College
30
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cornell (5-3) | 7 | 0 | 3 | 13 | 23 |
| Illinois College (7-2) | 0 | 9 | 14 | 7 | 30 |
Nov 08, 2014