ITHACA, N.Y. — Columbia football jumped out to a big lead and held off Cornell to finish the 2023 season with a 29-14 victory over Cornell Saturday. With the win, the Lions (3-7, 1-6) retained the Empire State Bowl Trophy for the third consecutive season.

Columbia picked off four passes, including a 71-yard pick-six by Hayden McDonald to seal the victory in the fourth quarter. The Lions racked up a season-high 247 rushing yards, led by Malcolm Terry II's 90, and held the Big Red (3-7, 2-5) to just 33 yards on the ground.

"I was hoping our offense would get it going and we did in the first half and when we hit a lull in the second, the defense picked it up," interim head coach Mark Fabish said. "These guys have worked their tails off and deserve to celebrate a win. It's a by-product of all the work they've done."

After both teams missed field goals on their opening drives, the Lions got the scoring started with a 10-play, 78-yard drive. Edan Stagg picked up 28 yards on a reverse to begin the drive and Joey Giorgi punched it in from three yards up to put the Lions in front, 7-0, with 2:21 left in the first.

Aaron Brebnor came up with the first interception of the game on the next possession. The junior coraled a tipped ball to halt the Cornell drive near midfield and Columbia took advantage of the short field when Hugo Merry converted from 33 yards out early in the second to make it a two-possession game.

A 31-yard rush up the middle by Malcolm Terry II set up another Merry field goal, this time from 20 yards to cap a 63-yard scoring drive with 5:55 before the break. The Lions' defense continued to pin its ears back and forced a three and out to set up a 65-yard touchdown designed run by Caden Bell to extend the lead to 19-0. The Lions were stopped while going for two after an offsides penalty on the initial extra point put the ball on the 1.

Cornell opted to pass three times after the kickoff to give Columbia another drive with 13 seconds on the clock. Bell connected with JJ Jenkins for a 33-yard gain down the right sideline on first down, giving Merry a chance from 45 as the clock wound down, and the first-year sent it through the uprights to give the Lions a 22-0 advantage at the midway point.

The Big Red scored on its first drive of the third quarter when Jameson Wang went read-option to the left pylon.

Cornell threatened to pull even closer before the Lions forced back-to-back turnovers. The first came on a Carter McFadden interception on the goal line to give the ball back to the Lions on its 33. Next came a head's up play by Rocco Milia, who scooped up a ball that popped out of a Big Red receiver's hands to wrap up the third quarter.

A roughing the passer call on Columbia aided Cornell's final scoring drive, which ended on a 48-yard touchdown from Wang to Davon Kiser to make it 22-14 with 10:14 on the clock. Columbia held firm the rest of the way and McDonald's touchdown return put the game out of reach.

McFadden led the defense with 10 tackles and Justin Townsend posted a pair of sacks, three tackles for a loss and forced a fumble.

For the latest on the Columbia football team, follow @CULionsFB on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.

POSTGAME NOTES

- Townsend posted 7.5 sacks on the year, which is the sixth most for a Columbia player in a single season. His 13.5 career sacks put him alone in fourth place on the Lions' all-time list.

- William Hughes averaged 46.0 yards on five punts, including a long of 59. His season average of 43.9 yards/punt is No. 2 for Columbia. His career average of 43.8 is the all-time benchmark for the program.

- Columbia had just one takeaway in its previous four games before registering four on Saturday

- Mark Fabish picked up his first career Ivy League win as a head coach