Cornell football pulls off historic upset
The first few weeks of the season have been nothing short of the gauntlet for Cornell football. Of their five games played, four have seen them battle nationally-ranked. The most challenging of those tests took place this past Saturday against #4 Lehigh. Not only did the Mountain Hawks enter the contest perfect on the season at 6-0, they were riding a 23-game regular season winning streak.
You’d be forgiven to chalk this up for a loss for the Big Red. After all, it had been an astonishing 87 years since they had last beaten a top-five opponent. That came against #4 Ohio State in 1939, which was also the last time Cornell won a national championship. Suffice to say, it’s been a very, very, very long time since they have managed to secure an upset of that magnitude.
But droughts are meant to be broken, and Lehigh learned that the hard way on a chilly afternoon at Schoellkopf Field.
If the Big Red wanted to shock the FCS world, they were going to have to play as close to a flawless game as possible. It would most likely to require a shootout of a game knowing that the Mountain Hawks came into the contest averaging 33 points per game. Luckily for Cornell, Garrett Bass-Sulpizio and company were on their A-plus game.
Cornell wasted no time in ensuring they meant business. All it took was two minutes to get on the board with a five-play, 75-yard drive. That opening drive could have gone very wrong with Bass-Sulpizio fumbling the ball. He got back onto it and faced a 3rd-and-13 situation. They would convert thanks to a deep shot for JaVon Broussard, and Jordan Triplett ran in it from 17 yards out on the following play for the Big Red to draw first blood.
After a Lehigh three-and-out, Cornell got the ball back and drove down to the Mountain Hawks’ 37-yard line. The Big Red rolled the dice on 4th and 8, and it paid off as Bass-Sulpizio connected with Broussard again, this time to double the advantage to 14-0.
The Mountain Hawks’ offense stalled again with another three-and-out, Cornell tore through Lehigh’s defense again and seemed poised to make it 21-0. But as Bass-Sulpizio took off for the end zone, he fumbled the ball away and the Mountain Hawks returned it 100 yards for a much-needed scoop-and-score to slice the deficit in half.
That could’ve easily been the beginning of the end for Cornell. It could’ve gone similar to last week where they allowed 41 unanswered points to Harvard after taking an early 10-0 lead. Instead, they kept a goldfish-life memory, moved on, and got back to work.
17 more points in the fourth quarter thanks to a pair of one-yard rushing scores from Bass-Sulpizio and Brendan Lee helped them maintain their advantage heading into the halftime break up 31-17.
The second half turned into a heavyweight boxing match where both high-flying offenses went blow for blow. Lehigh gets another touchdown pass from Derek Morgan to start the half? Cornell responds with Bass-Sulpizio finding Lee for a three-yard score. The Mountain Hawks start the fourth quarter with a three-yard TD run? Triplett responds with a three-yard TD of his own. Lehigh gets into the end zone to make it a seven-point game again? With only four minutes left, it felt like the Big Red just needed a field goal in order to come out on top. Alan Zhao delivered in that regard, comfortably knocking through a 32-yarder with 1:50 remaining to put them up 48-38. A Cornell defense that bent multiple times throughout the game but did not break sealed the deal with a Tyler Gibson end zone interception, and that was all she wrote.
In case you were wondering about final stats for the offense, the Big Red put up exactly 600 total yards. Bass-Sulpizio made up 469 of those yards (366 passing and a team-high 103 rushing) and accounted for three touchdowns in what was by far his best performance in a Big Red jersey.
It’s not hyperbolic to say that was one of the greatest victories in program history. At the very least, it’s certainly the best win the Big Red has enjoyed in quite some time. It’s also an era-defining victory for Dan Swanstrom in his third season as head coach. If Cornell hasn’t put the Ivy League (and the whole FCS) on notice—especially with two of their victories now coming against ranked opponents—the 3-2 Big Red did so in a big way.
While they’ve had time to celebrate, it’s back to work and back into Ancient Eight play on Saturday with a trip to Brown.
IAC, STAC soccer champions crowned
The Section IV postseason is finally upon us with a ton of championship soccer last week. The IAC and STAC held their title games, and multiple local teams took part.
The first team in action was Ithaca boys soccer as they ventured to Vestal for the STAC Large School Championship. The Little Red came into the game as one of the most in-form teams in all of Section IV. After losing their opening game to Fayetteville-Manlius in overtime, they rattled off 13 straight victories. During that stretch, it was Vestal who gave them their biggest scare, also taking them to OT where the Little Red would prevail in a 5-4 thriller. While Thursday’s championship game wasn’t quite as dramatic, it still delivered an fast-paced, entertaining contest. Ithaca would face some more adversity against the Vestal, trailing 1-0 at the break after conceding with 92 seconds remaining in the first half. But as they have so often done this season, the Little Red had a response. It came just 2:45 into the second half off a Jasper Hall free kick that headed towards goal by Sebastian Pineros, and Sam Lima raced onto it and prodded it past the goalkeeper for the equalizer. 10 minutes later, Ben Susskind scored an absolute worldie to give the Little Red a 2-1 lead. The senior netted a trademark goal, cutting inside on his magical left and bent it over the goalie and in from well over 25 yards out for a surefire “goal of the season” candidate. Ithaca provided the dagger with 8:50 to go as Lima squared it for Felix Teschl for a tap-in to seal a 3-1 victory. It’s the first STAC title for the Little Red since 2019, and the way they’re playing this year, they might not be done with postseason hardware. They’ll face Elmira for the Section IV Class AAA championship on October 29 in Horseheads. The Little Red will hope third time’s the charm after losing the last two finals to the Express. If it’s any Ithaca team that can get the job done, it’s undoubtedly this one.
Over to the IAC on Saturday for its annual quadruple-header of IAC championships. Usually all four games take place at Tompkins Cortland Community College, but they instead held the opening two games. Up first was the boys Small School championship between Marathon and Odessa-Montour. In the third straight meeting at IACs for both teams, it was once again the Olympians’ day to celebrate with a 2-0 victory. All the damage was done in the opening six minutes. Colton Howe netted the opener just 46 seconds in, while Charlie Forkey doubled the lead off five minutes later, set up by a beautiful through ball from Aydan Brown. Credit to the Grizzlies for bouncing back from a tough start and keeping the Olympians from adding to their advantage and generating some decent opportunities in attack.
Up next was the Small School girls soccer championship featuring Southern Cayuga and Odessa-Montour. While the Falcons have been at TC3 before—winning its first-ever IAC last year in a 1-0 overtime decision over Tioga—it had been five years since the Grizzlies last played for an IAC title. Incidentally, they had to beat Tioga 3-2 in a tiebreaker game in order to win the IAC South Small Division title and punch their ticket to TC3. The overarching story of the game was that experience mattered, as the Falcons soared away with a 4-0 win. They netted two goals in each, starting with Haylee Young’s strike inside the box 11 minutes in. Later in the half, a long Young free kick was turned in by Rosie Glennon to double the lead. Young would then score two more times in the second half to complete the hat trick to power Southern Cayuga to back-to-back crowns.
Then it was over to Dryden High School for the both Large School championship games. While the wind died down compared to TC3, the cold persisted throughout both games. Lansing and Spencer-Van Etten/Candor boys soccer battled it out for the third time in five years. The Eagles prevailed 2-1 in 2022 while the Bobcats came out on top 1-0 in 2024. It wouldn’t prove to be a close out this time around as the Bobcats blitzed the Eagles throughout the first half, building up a 5-0 lead at the break. Lansing would add one more goal in the second half to come away with a commanding 6-0 victory for their third IAC title in four years. Deondre Smith led the Bobcats’ attack with two goals. The other scorers were Callan Fagan, Oscar Law (penalty kick), Ryan Hunter, and DeMario Smith (Deondre’s twin brother). It’s also important to know that two of their goals were from Jackson Tarbert’s patented long throw-ins. That’s quite the extra set piece weapon they have at their disposal for sectionals. Also of note, the Eagles beat Elmira Notre Dame 5-2 in their tiebreaker game to win the IAC South Large Division title.
Typically the nightcap of these IAC quadruple-headers tend to be the most competitive ones. There’s something about playing under the lights that brings out the best in both teams. That was certainly the case for Trumansburg and Spencer-Van Etten/Candor girls soccer in their Large School championship game. After a scoreless first half, the Blue Raiders broke the deadlock seven minutes after the break through Ellie Ouckama. The top scorer in program history and Division I UMass-Lowell commit fired the ball in practically from a near-impossible angle right on the end line, and that ultimately made the difference. The Eagles fought valiantly in their first IAC championship game since 2017 and created multiple chances late on. But the Blue Raiders held on for their third IAC title in four years.
Now it’s on to sectionals, beginning on Tuesday with first round action for girls soccer and Wednesday for boys soccer first round action.
Bills win twice out West
No matter the sport, it’s always a struggle for East Coast teams when they venture to the West. Yes, these are professional players, so no sympathy will be given to teams like the Bills flying out to Los Angeles their first-class chartered flights. Last Monday, Buffalo had the even more daunting task to take down the preseason Super Bowl favorite Rams. Even though LA started out slow at 2-2, they still provided a serious threat.
Speaking of slow, that’s exactly how the first half played out. It was just a 13-7 lead for the Bills after what was sluggish opening 30 minutes for both teams. Those woes continued into the third quarter with Buffalo maintaining a five-point lead. But all of a sudden, we finally got what was promised to us in this potential Super Bowl preview: a high-flying, back-and-forth fourth quarter where both teams combined for 35 points. Like the Cornell-Lehigh game, the two teams combined for five consecutive drives ending in touchdowns, the most crucial of which was a Kyren Williams one-yard rushing score to finish off an effective two-minute drill and send the game to overtime.
The Bills’ offense continued to hum along on the first possession of OT… until it didn’t. James Cook’s second fumble of the game ceded possession to the Rams, and all they needed was a field goal to win it. The way the Bills’ defense has conducted themselves this year, it seemed like it would be a piece of cake, right? Wrong. Greg Rousseau got his mitts on Harrison Mevis’ 48-yard field goal attempt and Buffalo miraculously got it back. A couple big scrambles from Josh Allen later, and that set up Tyler Bass for the game-winning 45-yarder.
Finally the “Josh Allen can’t win in overtime” narrative has eroded. Granted, he still has a 1-7 overtime record, but still, that will quiet his critics down just a tad. 331 total yards (including 121 on the ground) should’ve done that anyways, but I digress.
Allen would boost his MVP case yet again on Sunday with 255 yards through the air and two touchdowns, including an utterly ridiculous back-handed flip to Keon Coleman. Dare I say… that was a little Mahomey? Alright, I’ll stop. Sorry, Bills fans.
Allen and the Bills’ offense had to be on their A-game yet again as they outlasted the Raiders in a 33-30 shootout. The Bills enter the bye week at 5-1 and look like one of the top teams in the league. But it still feels like these victories are paper over the cracks on the overarching issue of their defense.
Buffalo is now allowing 28.2 points per game, the fifth-most in the NFL and the second-most passing yards (280.4). A lot of questions will be asked of first-year defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard as that side of ball seems to have regressed since he took over. While they have faced some strong offense like the Rams and Lions, it’s not a sustainable way to consistently win games with Allen having to play hero ball almost every week. #17 is capable of doing that, of course. But happens if they get into a rut? What happens if Allen gets a little turnover-happy? Luckily there’s still plenty of time before the playoffs to remedy these problems, but they’ll need to be fixed sooner rather than later.
It also doesn’t help the defense’s cause with C.J. Gardner-Johnson continuing to make headlines for all the wrong headlines. There was calling Patriots WR Efton Chism III a “practice squad player” after their 29-26 loss two weeks ago. He one-upped (or one-downed?) himself this week by spitting at Raiders TE Brock Bowers and getting ejected from the game. GM Brandon Beane likes to bring in veteran defensive players, but this has the makings of turning into a Von Miller-like flop if more of these incidents pop up.
Other things that caught my eye
- The Giants‘ game against the Saints had the makings of a trap game. The G-Men sitting at 3-1-1 were off to a surprisingly strong start even without Jaxson Dart under center, but New Orleans is a better team than what their 1-4 record shows. The “Jameis Winston Experience” resumed in the worst of ways. One week after spearheading a comeback tie against the Commanders, he went back to his old, turnover-prone habits with two interceptions. He was not helped out by a defense that allowed 34 unanswered points and a running game that was non-existent with Cam Skattebo not getting any touches as “punishment” for his recent fumbling issues. But J.J. McCarthy entered the game with Big Blue in need of a spark down 34-10… and he threw an interception on his fourth passing attempt. But a fumble recovery instead acted the spark as “Nine” led the Giants to 17 unanswered points and were driving down the field to tie the game. Surely they wouldn’t do it again, would they? Well, they wouldn’t. A failed fourth-down conversion in the red zone ensured the Saints came out victorious 36-34. McCarthy performed valiantly with 243 passing yards in the fourth quarter. Those clamoring for a QB change (myself included) will likely have to wait. Winston will probably get the nod against the Texans, but if he performs poorly again, the keys will surely be handed to McCarthy after the bye week.
- Is it too much to ask for the Jets to string together consecutive wins? Apparently so. Gang Green’s game against the Patriots was once again hard-fought, but ultimately they once again fall short in one-score contest, losing 26-19. Another defeat means the seat only grows hotter for second-year head coach Aaron Glenn. He’s not helping his cause when he erroneously said during his halftime interview that they would get the ball to start the second half when New England instead would receive. Misspeak or not, sooner or later these close defeats must turn into victories too cool off his seat.
- Fresh off their bye week, it was back to business as usual for SUNY Cortland football. The Red Dragons went to Alfred and soared away with a commanding 45-7 victory. It was a tad slow of a start with a 17-7 lead at halftime. But as they’ve done multiple times this year, they pulled away and outscored the Saxons 28-0. Mike Rescigno completed a career-high 25 passes for 241 yards and three touchdowns and added a team-high 81 yards on the ground. Jacque LaPrarie caught two of those TD passes, the other going to Jayson Zeva. Ethan Gallo ran for two touchdowns, now tying him with Jaden Alfanostjohn for the most career rushing TDs with 45. Lucas Singleton also ran in for a score. The Red Dragons have moved up to 12th in the nation and will look to stay perfect on the year this Saturday back home to face St. John Fisher.
- I forgot to talk about Syracuse football‘s 28-25 loss to Virginia in my last column. For the sake of the Orange faithful, it’s probably best it stays that way. The Orange remains winless in ACC play following a 34-26 defeat to Louisville in the Dome. It was a tale of two halves with both teams combining for 52 points in the first half, while the second half turned into a defensive battle. Their turnovers came at the wrong time, committing all three in the final 30 minutes of play. Now 2-4, Syracuse heads to Bill Belichick’s North Carolina for a Saturday night showdown.
- Week 7 of the Section IV football season means we’re ever closer to the postseason. The game of the week was by a country mile what entailed between Groton and Tioga. It was a complete and utter shootout from both teams, combining for a jaw-dropping 112 points. Despite a five-touchdown performance from Red Hawks QB Kam McClain, the Tigers outlasted the Red Hawks 62-50. It’s always tough to lose, but they’ll take solace in the fact that they gave the defending state champions and perennial Class D powerhouse a real scare. In fact, they scored since 2018 in a 54-19 defeat to Clymer/Sherman/Panama in the Class D state semifinals. Even better, it’s the most points Tioga has allowed against a Section IV opponent since 2016 in a season-opening 55-12 loss to Chenango Forks. Again, plenty to be proud of if you’re Groton, and plenty to be happy about for Watkins Glen/Odessa-Montour. The Schuyler Storm blanked Trumansburg 36-0, powered by three running backs tallying over 100 yards on the ground: Mason Dupay (125 yards, 1 TD), Noah Wright (108 yards, 1 TD) and Jared Watson (105 yards 2 TDs). Lansing routed defending Section IV 8-man champions Unatego/Franklin/Unadilla Valley 41-6 led by Logan Mayo’s four touchdowns. Newfield picked up its first win of the season with a 36-26 over winless Elmira Notre Dame. Newark Valley also took down a winless team in Spencer-Van Etten/Candor, prevailing 28-13 over their Tioga County rivals. Ithaca lost its fourth straight game as they fell at Waverly 38-16.
- Cornell women’s hockey got their campaign off to a winning start with a pair of victories over Vermont. With 2025 alum and Olympic gold medalist Rory Guilday back in town for a meet-and-greet at Ithaca High School and back inside Lynah Rink to check out her old stomping ground, the 14th-ranked Big Red first took down the 15th-ranked Catamounts 3-2 on Friday. Piper Grober led the way with a pair of power play goals, including the game-winner. Then on Saturday, the Big Red eked out a 1-0 win thanks to a Rose Dwyer snipe 7:46 into the third period. Annelies Bergmann kept the first of what’s sure to be many shutouts in her senior season, making 27 saves. That’s her 22nd career shutout, tying 2011 alum Amanda Mazzotta’s program record. Her next opportunity to break the record will be at Boston College Friday and Saturday.
