Blueboys Fall to Cornell Despite Huber’s Conference Record

Box Score

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Illinois College football team saw its three-game winning streak snapped by Cornell College on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Rams by a score of 64-62. It was the type of game that seemed destined to be decided by which team had the ball last. The two sides combined for 18 touchdowns in the game, but it was a missed field goal on the final play of the contest that determined the winner. 

The undisputed star of the game was IC quarterback Brady Huber. The senior set a new Midwest Conference record by throwing for 653 yards in the game, completing 41-of-61 passes and racking up seven touchdowns. His yardage total broke the conference record that was previously held by the last Blueboy signal-caller, Michael Bates. Bates had set the record in 2012 with 580 yards in a win over Grinnell College.

After forcing a three-and-out from Cornell to start the game, IC covered 56 yards in six plays to take a 7-0 lead on an 11-yard Huber rushing touchdown. The Rams again went three-and-out on their next drive and the Blueboys embarked on a 10-play, 65-yard touchdown drive that ended with an 18-yard completion from Huber to Kyle Obertino for a 14-0 lead. The Rams came back to tie the game at 14-14 later in the quarter, but it ended with another 65-yard drive from IC that concluded with a one-yard run from Huber to make it 21-14 after the opening 15 minutes. 

The first 10 points of the second quarter went to Cornell to give the Rams their first lead of the game at 24-21. A 34-yard strike to Obertino from Huber put the Blueboys back on top momentarily at the midway point of the quarter, but Cornell came back with two more scores to take a 38-28 lead with less than five minutes until the half. An IC drive stalled out in the Cornell red zone and it looked like the Rams would end the half well ahead until the defense stepped again to get the ball back with less than 50 seconds to play. Starting on his own 39, Huber completed four straight passes to Andy Webb, Obertino and Logan Uyetake to get the Blueboys back in the end zone. IC went into the break trailing, 38-35.

Starting with possession in the third quarter, Huber completed a pass to Dyllan Bailey that the running back turned into a 63-yard touchdown, putting the Blueboys back ahead, 42-38. The teams then traded punches the rest of the quarter, each finding paydirt twice before the fourth quarter began. After a Cornell touchdown, Huber found Obertino for the sophomore wideout's third score of the day to make it 49-45. The Rams answered with a touchdown, but Dinari Ellis burst through to block the extra point, keeping it as a two-point game, 51-49. Huber ended the third with a 42-yard pitch-and-catch to Webb, giving the Blueboys a 56-51 lead.

After three quarters of arcade-style offense, the defenses regained some control in the final quarter of play. Cornell retook a 58-56 lead early on in the quarter, and IC's attempt to take the lead back ended with a Ram interception in the end zone with less than 10 minutes to play. Neither team could get anything going until Illinois College took over on its own 17 with 3:32 remaining. Huber hit Bo Davis for 10 yards and a first down, then drew a 13-yard pass interference penalty on Cornell to move it to the 40. Three straight completions to Austin Ellsworth later and the Blueboys were back on top, 62-58, with 2:17 to go in the game.

That ultimately ended up being too much time for the Cornell offense. The Rams drove 65 yards in less than two minutes, ending with a six-yard scramble from quarterback Daniel Brown for the go-ahead score. Cornell missed the extra point however, giving the Blueboys some life and keeping them down by only two points.

Starting their final drive on their own 37 with 37 seconds remaining, Huber completed two passes to Obertino for 22 yards before picking up 15 more on a Cornell pass interference, giving the Blueboys the ball at the Cornell 26 with 18 seconds to go. The Blueboys looked deep on the next three passes, but each of them were batted down, the last with less than two seconds to play. Uyetake lined up for a 43-yard field goal attempt on the final play of the game, but his kick came up short and the Rams escaped with the win.

Obertino was the leading receiver in the game, hauling in 10 catches for 144 yards and three touchdowns. Ellsworth had nine catches for 158 yards and one touchdown and Webb ended with seven catches for 149 yards and a score. Ellsworth was also all over the field on defense, accounting for 12 solo tackles and six assisted stops to lead all players with 15 tackles in the game. Josh Brooks had 9.5 tackles, including two for a loss, while Meeko Reddick ended with 7.5 tackles (two for a loss).

The Blueboys slide to 4-5 and end divisional play with a 3-2 record. Cornell ran its record to 4-5 (3-2 MWC South) as well. Lake Forest's win over Grinnell put the Foresters with an identical 4-5 (3-2 MWC South) record. With those teams having all gone 1-1 against each other, the tiebreaker was quarters led in divisional play. Illinois College ended with 14 quarters led, Lake Forest had 11 and Cornell ended with 10. By holding that tiebreaker, the Blueboys earned the No. 2 seed from the MWC South and will end the season next weekend with a 1 p.m. kickoff on the road against the No. 2 team from the North Division, the Carroll Pioneers.