NEW HAVEN, Conn.—Quarterback Nolan Grooms threw for 279 yards and two touchdowns and Spencer Alston ran for two scores and caught another as Yale won a hard-fought, closely-contested 37-30 decision over Columbia on a rainy Saturday at the Yale Bowl.
 
With the loss, Columbia drops to 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Ivy League play, while Yale improves to 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the Ivy League. The loss also snapped Columbia's three-game win streak and two-game road win streak.
 
For Columbia, Ryan Young scored a career-high three touchdowns and totaled a team-best 132 all-purpose yards (team-high 92 rushing yards, 40 receiving yards), quarterback Joe Green completed 22 of 44 passes for a career-high 223 passing yards, Dante Miller finished with 85 all-purpose yards (35 rushing and 85 on kickoff returns) and Scott Valentas led the Lions defense with 10 tackles, 2.0 sacks and 3.0 tackles for loss.
 
Columbia held a 23-14 third quarter lead before Yale scored touchdowns on three consecutive possessions. The Lions totaled 344 offensive yards, a season-high 223 passing yards, and won the turnover battle with two fumble recoveries, but had to settle for three field goals and scored touchdowns on two of their four trips into the red zone, along with finishing 4-19 on third down conversions.
 
"We made major mistakes today in all three facets today," Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football Al Bagnoli said. "It's hard to go on the road and play a really good team and expect to come out on the winning side. It wasn't offense or defense. We made mistakes in the kicking game, we allowed too many explosive plays on defense, we didn't convert in the red zone enough times on offense, and we had to settle for too many field goals. When you keep doing that and you're on the road against good teams, it catches up to you."
 
"We attempted four field goals today. If we score touchdowns on two of those, it's a whole different game. It's disappointing for our players because they played their tails off. We had numerous opportunities today and unfortunately, we didn't capitalize. We had our chances and we didn't capitalize."
 
Trailing 23-14, Grooms led Yale on a 75-yard, five-play scoring drive which ended in a 9-yard touchdown pass to Alston. The drive featured back-to-back Grooms passes of 32 and 36 yards to Mason Tipton respectively that set up the Bulldogs at the Columbia seven-yard line. After scrambling on a third down play, Grooms found Alston for a 9-yard touchdown pass. On the two-point conversion attempt, Grooms completed a forward shuffle pass to Carrington and Columbia held a 23-22 lead.
 
After Columbia missed a 40-yard field goal attempt, Yale took the lead, 30-23, when Grooms hit Carrington for a diving 10-yard touchdown pass with 3:32 to play in the third quarter. Grooms then found Tipton for a two-point conversion. The plays culminated a 78-yard, seven-play drive which was highlighted by a 43-yard pass to Tipton and a fourth-and-three conversion by Alston.
 
Yale went up 37-23 when Alston broke a tackle and ran 54 yards for a touchdown with 11:05 to play.
 
Columbia was not finished as the Lions took the ensuing possession and drove 65 yards in six plays and 1:59 and scored on a 1-yard run by Young. On a fourth-and-goal play from the 1-yard line, Young jumped over the pile for this third touchdown and pulled the Lions to within 37-30 with 9:01 to play. The scoring drive was highlighted by a 31-yard pass from Green to Bryson Canty and a 28-yard pass to Young who weaved his way down to the Yale 16-yard line.
 
The Lions had one more possession and chance to score with four minutes to play, but couldn't convert. The Lions drove deep into Yale territory on a series of Green passes, but Yale's lone two sacks of the game and an incomplete pass ended the contest.
 
"You've just got to keep playing," Bagnoli said. "It's not always going to go the way you want it to. We responded well to the stress and made it interesting at the end, but we couldn't make enough plays and had some things go against us. We were very close to making this an overtime game."
 
Yale took a 6-0 lead when Spencer Alston scored on a 1-yard touchdown following a 71-yard, 10-play drive. The Bulldogs missed the ensuing extra point. The score was setup by a 34-yard pass from Grooms to Melvin Rouse. Another Grooms to Rouse hookup for 17 yards put the Bulldogs at the Lions' 1-yard line, where Alston scored.
 
Columbia immediately answered on the ensuing possession when Young burst through the middle of the line and beat everyone down the field for a 60-yard touchdown run. Alex Felkins converted the point after attempt for a 7-6 Columbia first quarter lead. The touchdown run was reminiscent of his 65-yard touchdown run at SFU in the 2019 season opener.
 
The Lions then made it 14-6 with 10:25 to play in the second quarter when Young scored his second touchdown of the day on a 1-yard second-effort run. Columbia needed to drive only 16 yards for the score after a botched snap on a Yale punt attempt sailed over the punter's head for a 34-yard loss. The play gave the Lions first down and 10 at the Yale 16-yard line. Green connected with Young for an 8-yard pass down to the five-yard line.
 
Minutes later, Columbia added a 30-yard field goal by Felkins at the 7:21 mark of the second quarter. The score was setup when Green lofted a pass to Marcus Libman who caught it and raced down to the 14-yard line for a 37-yard gain. After two runs by Miller, the Lions settled for the field goal and a 17-6 commanding lead.
 
But Yale scored on an 86-yard punt return by Melvin Rouse, which cut Columbia's lead to 17-14. Rouse caught the ball in the middle of the field, sped past four Lions defenders and proceeded down the sidelines for the score. The Bulldogs added a two-point conversion when Grooms found Darrion Carrington open in the end zone.
 
On the ensuing possession, the Lions quickly answered with an 11-play, 48-yard scoring drive that ended in a 25-yard Felkins field goal as Columbia took a 20-14 lead into halftime. After Miller returned a short kickoff 25 yards and gave the Lions favorable field position, Green found Libman for a 14-yard pass and then the Lions converted a fourth-and-four play when Green found Luke Painton for a 6-yard pass to keep the drive alive. Another Green pass to Painton for 12-yards set the Lions up on the Yale 19-yard line and a pass interference call on Yale gave the Lions a first-down-and-goal from the 4-yard line. Felkins hit the field goal with 11 seconds to play before the break.
 
Columbia pushed its advantage to 23-14 when Felkins kicked his third field goal of the game, a 40-yarder, with 12:07 to play in the third quarter. The Lions gained possession deep in Yale territory when Rouse tried to field a punt off the turf but the ball bounced off his chest and into the arms of a diving Aaron Brebnor. Columbia's second fumble recovery of the game set the Lions up at the Yale 33-yard line.
 
Alston finished with 146 yards rushing on 17 carries and three touchdowns, Tipton caught four passes for 112 yards, and Grooms finished with 319 total yards on the day (279 passing/40 rushing).
 
Columbia hosts Harvard (5-2, 2-2 Ivy League) next Saturday in New York City. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at Robert K. Kraft Field at Lawrence A. Wien Stadium.
 
"We've got to bounce back," Bagnoli said. "We've still got three games left to play. We've got to play the games to the best of our ability, try to improve. You have to be able to face adversity and failure, you've got to be able to bounce back from all that stuff. That's reality, that's sports. We are playing three really good teams back-to-back-to-back. It's hard for anybody to play that schedule. We've just got to continue to work, stay together, and keep pushing it forward."