ITHACA, N.Y.—Columbia intercepted a season-high five passes, overcame an early 13-0 deficit, then took the lead with 20 unanswered points and held off the Big Red the rest of the way in claiming a 34-26 win over Cornell in the Empire State Bowl.
 
Columbia captured the Empire Cup for the third time in the last four years, finished its 2021 season with a 7-3 overall record, and placed fourth in the Ivy League with a 4-3 slate. In addition, Columbia's seven wins rank as the third-most overall wins in school history since the institution joined the Ivy League in 1956.
 
The five interceptions—two by Will Allen and one each by Cameron Brown, Jordan Colbert, and Ben Mathiasmeier—were one shy of the school-record. Two of the interceptions led directly to Columbia points, while Cornell was limited to just one touchdown on 1-5 red zone opportunities and 2-12 on third down conversions. Penalties on both sides played a major role in the game as Columbia set a school-record for most penalties in a single-game with 17. In the end, the two teams combined for 29 penalties for 315 yards.
 
Patricia and Shepard Head Coach of Football Al Bagnoli said he was proud of his team but noted that the number of penalties and mistakes were frustrating.
 
"We knew this was going to be a really difficult game as Cornell had 51 seniors playing in their last game and we knew they were going to put every single bullet in the chamber that they had," Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football Al Bagnoli said. "I give our players a lot of credit, Cornell is not an easy place to play. We've to play a little bit more consistent earlier. The volume of penalties that were self-inflicted, dropped balls, and negative plays—if we're ever going to get really good, we've got to minimize those errors."
 
"But at the end of the day, you've got to give our kids credit. They've got some moxie, and they hang in there and they make plays. When you challenge them, most of the time, they respond. We tried to challenge them at halftime. The message was 'let's just make routine plays, that's all it is. Let's not complicate things, just make routine plays, routine throws, routine catches, routine tackles, know where your leverage is. We did it better in the second half than we did in the first."
 
Bagnoli also put the entire season in perspective.
 
"I'm as proud of this team of any group I've ever been around just because everything that's happened to them," Bagnoli said. "We went 14 months without seeing any of our players. It's been unprecedented. To go out the way they did with a win, I couldn't be more proud of them. It gives us some really positive momentum going into the offseason. All the hurdles and obstacles that were put in front of them, and all the regulations that they had—it was just remarkable that they can go through all that and turn around and win seven games. Ironically the three teams that beat them were all good teams."
 
Columbia quarterback Joe Green threw two touchdown passes to Wills Meyer (29 yards) and Bryson Canty (six yards) respectively, Dante Miller broke free for a 42-yard touchdown run, en route to 67 rushing yards, Mike Roussos led the Lions with 88 all-purpose yards, and Ryan Young finished with 50 all-purpose yards (47 rushing).
 
Trailing 13-0, Columbia got rolling in the second quarter when Gabriel Hollingsworth burst through the line on a quarterback sneak for a 37-yard run. After a 15-yard penalty on Cornell was tagged on after the play, the Lions later took advantage of a pass interference call which gave Columbia a first down and 10 at the 20-yard line. Alex Felkins put Columbia on the board and trimmed the deficit to 13-3 with a 41-yard field goal.
 
On Cornell's ensuing possession, Cameron Brown intercepted a Richie Kenney screen pass that gave the Lions possession on the Cornell 25-yard line. Following a pass interference call on Cornell, Felkins converted his second field goal of the game, a 25-yard attempt to cut Cornell's lead to 13-6. The kick set a new season school record with his 16^th field goal of the year.
 
After Columbia's defense forced a three-and-out, a roughing the kicker penalty gave Cornell the ball back. But Columbia rose to the challenge again as Jordan Colbert picked off a pass over the middle and returned it to the Cornell 42-yard line.
 
A Mike Roussos 21-yard punt return set up Columbia with favorable field position at the Cornell 46-yard line with three minutes to play in the first half. After Green scrambled for a first down on a nine-yard run, he threw a perfect fade pass to a streaking Wills Meyer, who hauled it in for a 29-yard touchdown down the sideline. That play tied the score at 13-13 heading into halftime.
 
With the score tied 13-13, Columbia opened the second half with the ball and immediately took advantage of a pass interference call. On the next play, Dante Miller took a handoff and burst through the left side of the line for a 42-yard touchdown run and 20-13 Columbia lead. It was Columbia's first lead of the day following a six-play, 75-yard drive. It was a lead the Lions would not relinquish.
 
But Cornell was not finished. Lance Blass intercepted a Columbia pass and Cornell took over at the Columbia 23-yard line. The Lions defense held the Big Red to a field goal attempt when Paul Akere and Cam Dillon combined for a 12-yard sack. After Richie Kenney completed a 15-yard pass to Alex Kuzy, the Big Red settled for a 40-yard field goal by Lees to cut Columbia's lead to 20-16. Five minutes later, Cornell cut the lead down to one point at 20-19 when Lees converted his fourth field goal of the game, a 34-yarder with 2:55 left in the third quarter. A 21-yard pass from Kenney to Thomas Glover down the middle of the field set up the score.
 
The Lions answered the call. On the ensuing possession, Columbia took advantage of a personal foul call after a Miller rush. After another pass interference penalty, Columbia had a first-down-and-10 at the Cornell 34-yard line. Young then bulled his way for a first down on a nine-yard run down to the 21-yard line. A 13-yard Green pass to Luke Painton gave the Lions a first and goal at the 2-yard line. Hollingsworth finished the drive off with a 2-yard touchdown run up the middle for a 27-19 advantage with 14:56 to play.
 
On Cornell's ensuing possession, Will Allen picked off the Lions' fourth pass of the day and motored 47 yards down through the maze of Cornell defenders to advance the Lions to the Cornell 11-yard line. On a third down play, Green hit Bryson Canty for a one-handed diving catch in the end zone to give the Lions a commanding 34-19 fourth quarter lead with 12:21 to play.
 
Cornell added a 23-yard touchdown pass from Ben Mays to Curtis Raymond to pull within eight, but an onside kick was recovered by CJ Brown and the Lions ran out the clock for the win.
 
It was all Cornell in the first quarter as the Big Red built a 10-0 lead, outgained Columbia 195-21 in yardage, and registered nine first downs to Columbia's one. Cornell grabbed a 7-0 lead just four minutes into the game as it took the opening kickoff and drove 75 yards in nine plays culminating in a 2-yard touchdown run by when Devon Brewer. Key plays in the drive included back-to-back passes from Kenney to Kuzy and a 26-yard run by Brewer.
 
Cornell (2-8, 1-6 Ivy League) took a 10-0 lead with 3:12 left in the first quarter on a 25-yard field goal by Scott Lees. The score was setup when Christopher Sontich gave possession to Cornell after he recovered a fumble at the Big Red 44-yard line. Jameson Wang rushed for 24 yards and then completed a pass to Kuzy for seven yards to setup the field goal.
 
The Big Red then tacked on another Lees field goal to take a commanding 13-0 lead with 13:27 to play in the second quarter. SK Howard ran for 30 yards, then Wang connected with Matt Robbert for a 30-yard pass play and Kenney followed with a 12-yard pass to Howard to set up the kick.