Box Score
NEW YORK -- In a driving snow storm at Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium, Yale built a 16-0 fourth-quarter lead and withstood a furious comeback by the Columbia football team to take a 16-13 win on Saturday afternoon.
Junior quarterback Sean Brackett tossed for a pair of touchdowns, including a four-yard pass to senior Mike Stephens that pulled the Lions to within a field goal with 4:04 remaining in the fourth quarter.
After Yale drove to Columbia's 20-yard line on the ensuing possession, the Lion defense forced a turnover on downs with a little more than two minutes left in the contest.
But Columbia's last-ditch effort would fall short as Brackett's fourth-down pass with just under a minute remaining was intercepted by Nick Okano to seal the Bulldog victory.
After a scoreless first quarter as the snow got heavier, Yale's Phillppe Panico booted a 38-yard field goal with the wind at his back to give the Bulldogs a 3-0 edge.
The score remained 3-0 at halftime and Yale made it 10-0 on its first possession of the second half. Mordecai Cargill rushed four straight times for 15 yards and converted a key fourth and two with a three yard run that moved the ball to the Columbia 19.
On the next play, Cargill chugged 19 yards into the end zone to give the Bulldogs a 10-point advantage.
Yale made it 16-0 early in the fourth quarter when Cargill ran it in from four yards out. Chris Groth blocked the ensuing extra point and it remained a two-possession game with 12:03 left in the game.
Columbia received the next kickoff at its own 41-yard line and sophomore Griffin Lowry ran 11 yards on two carries to move the ball into Yale territory.
On third and one from the 26, Sean Brackett converted a beautiful play-action fake and fired a 26-yard strike to Zack McKown, who found the end zone to get the Lions on the board. Columbia's two-point conversion was no good and the Lions trailed 16-6 at the 8:51 mark.
With five and a half minutes left, Paul Delaney unleashed a punt with the wind at his back that rolled down to the five-yard line. Gio Christodoulou muffed the return deep in Yale territory and Mike Murphy pounced on the fumble to give the Lions possession at the Yale five-yard line.
Three plays later, Brackett found Stephens from four yards out to cut the deficit to three.
Yale churned out 276 rushing yards on the day, including 230 by junior running back Mordecai Cargill. Defensively, senior Neil Schuster was all over the field for the Lions and finished with nine tackles and three pass breakups.
The Lions are back in action at home next Saturday, November 5 vs. Harvard for a 12:30 p.m. game. Tickets are available online or by calling 888-LIONS-11.
