NEW HAVEN, CONN. – Sometime in the middle of the third
quarter, the Columbia Football team kicked into another gear. The Lions scored
21 unanswered points, but in a game with nine combined turnovers, Columbia came
up just short in a 31-28 loss on the Class of 1954 Field at Yale Bowl.
Trailing 31-7 late in the third quarter, Columbia started a
drive on the Yale 43. Seven plays
later, Columbia quarterback Sean Brackett found Andrew Kennedy for a 23-yard
touchdown pass. First-year kicker Luke Eddy converted the point-after, his
second of four on the day. By
going 4-for-4 on extra points on the day, Eddy extended his streak of
consecutive PATs to 23, a new Columbia single-season record.
The two teams each traded short drives, but on Yale's first
drive of the fourth quarter, Adam Mehrer intercepted Patrick Witt's first pass
at the Columbia 41-yard line. Leon
Ivery rushed for 18 yards to the Yale 41 and on the next play, Brackett found
Nico Gutierrez in the in the back of the end zone for a 41-yard touchdown
pass. Eddy tacked on the extra point to make it 31-21 Yale.
After a Yale three-and-out, Columbia took over at its own 31
and marched down the field to the Yale eight. After a Columbia holding penalty, Brackett was back to pass
at the Yale 16, but Yale's Jordan Haynes intercepted the pass and returned it
four yards to the Yale 17.
On the very next play, Yale's Alex Thomas fumbled after a
nine-yard gain, and Mehrer recovered.
The Lions did not let the field position to waste. After Zack Kourouma's 24-yard burst up
the middle, Brackett again found his tight end in the end zone for a five-yard
touchdown. With the score, Kennedy became the first player since Bill Reggio in
1982 to have three touchdowns receiving in a game. Eddy's fourth PAT made it
31-28.
Matt Stotler, Ben Popeck and Adam Mehrer came up with big
tackles to force a three-and-out for Yale and Columbia got the ball on its own
eight-yard line with just over four minutes to play. Columbia picked up three two first downs, but on third and
five, Brackett was sacked for a loss, forcing a fourth and 10 with less than a
two minutes left to play.
Brackett's fourth down attempt fell incomplete, intended for Kennedy.
Yale had 356 yards of total offense to Columbia's 334. After a first half in which he only
completed four passes, Sean Brackett finished 16 for 35 for 198 yards, with
four touchdowns and two interceptions.
Gutierrez finished with four catches for 87 yards, including a touchdown,
while Kourouma had 81 yards rushing.
In a bright spot for the Lions, first-year linebacker Zach
Olinger finished with a game-high 10 tackles, with a sack and three tackles for
a loss. Gross finished with nine
tackles, one sack, two tackles for a loss and one interception. Craig Hamilton also added a
career-best eight tackles.
With the loss Columbia falls to 3-4, 1-3 Ivy League, while
Yale improves to 5-2, 3-1 Ivy League.
Columbia returns to action on November 6, when they travel
to Cambridge to face the Harvard Crimson. Kickoff is at noon.
