Box Score ITHACA, N.Y. – The Sacred Heart football team staved off a late Cornell rally Saturday for a 31-24 win at Schoellkopf Field.
Sacred Heart (5-1) led 31-10 with 7:23 to play in the third quarter after RJ Noel threw his second touchdown pass of the game, connecting with Andrew O'Neill for a 39-yard touchdown. Cornell rallied with 14 straight points off of Pioneer turnovers, making the score 31-24 with 8:54 to play on a Dalton Banks one-yard touchdown run. The Big Red had a chance to tie the game in the final minute, but Tim Johnson intercepted a Banks pass with three seconds remaining.
Cornell (3-2) opened the scoring with a 14-yard touchdown run by Jack Gellatly after the Pioneers fumbled the ball inside their own 20 yardline. Sacred Heart responded with a pair of Nate Chavious touchdown runs to take a 14-7 lead after the first quarter. SHU went up 21-10 early in the second quarter on a 58-yard touchdown pass from Noel to Ose Imeokparia.
The Pioneers had 471 yards of total offense with 265 coming on the ground. Cornell had 374 yards of offense with 257 rushing. Chavious had a career-high 160 yards rushing to go with his two scores. Imeokparia added 85 rushing yards and had a game-high 61 receiving yards. Moses Webb led SHU with five receptions for 50 yards. Noel had 206 passing yards and 216 yards of total offense, eclipsing 10,000 career yards of total offense in the win.
Defensively, Brendon Slade led the Pioneers with a career-high 11 tackles. CJ Parvelus had nine tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack. The Pioneers sacked Banks four times in the game, holding him to 117 passing yards.
The Pioneers return to Northeast Conference play next Saturday, hosting Robert Morris at 1 p.m. on Family Weekend.
How They Scored…
6:39 1Q – Cornell 7, SHU 0; After the Big Red recovered on Imeokparia fumble inside the SHU 20, Jack Gellatly rushed 14 yards to give Cornell the early 7-0 lead.
6:22 1Q – SHU 7, Cornell 7; Jordan Meachum's 76-yard return on the ensuing kickoff put the Pioneers at the Cornell 22. Chavious took the ball on the first play to the end zone to tie the game.
2:33 1Q – SHU 14, Cornell 7; The Pioneers ran the ball four times for 88 yards to take the lead. Imeokparia had a 67-yard scamper, followed by a Chavious carry 13 yards for his second touchdown.
12:24 2Q – SHU 21, Cornell 7; Noel capped a 90-yard SHU drive with a 58-yard touchdown pass to Imeokparia.
7:19 2Q – SHU 21, Cornell 10; The Big Red turned a Noel interception into three points on a Nickolas Null 34-yard field goal.
0:00 2Q – SHU 24, Cornell 10; The Pioneers returned the favor, capitalizing on a Cornell fumble to tack on three points at the end of the first half. Alec Finney knocked through a 36-yard field goal to give SHU a two-touchdown lead at the break.
7:23 3Q – SHU 31, Cornell 10; Noel threw his second touchdown pass of the day, connecting with Andrew O'Neill on a 39-yard pitch and catch to give the Pioneers a 21-point lead.
2:08 3Q – SHU 31, Cornell 17; With the Pioneers starting a drive at their own three yardline, Cornell's Ryan Kelley picked off Noel to give the Big Red the ball at the SHU eight. On 4th-and-Goal from the two, J.D. PicKell ran it in for a touchdown.
8:54 4Q - SHU 31, Cornell 24; Banks' one-yard quarterback sneak got the Big Red within a touchdown.
Notes
- Chavious had his second 100-yard rushing effort of the season Saturday. He also had 125 yards in the win over Marist on Sept. 17. The last time a Pioneer running back went over 150 yards was on Oct. 25, 2014 when Keshaudas Spence had 173 yards against Saint Francis U.
- Imeokparia had his second career touchdown reception.
- Cornell scored all 24 of its points off SHU turnovers.
- Parvelus has had at least seven tackles in every game this season.
- With his 216 yards of total offense Saturday, RJ Noel now has 10,149 yards of total offense for his career. He has 8,335 career passing yards.
