Coe blasts Cornell, waits for playoff fate

MOUNT VERNON - And now they wait.

The Coe Kohawks looked Saturday like a team that belongs in the NCAA Division III football playoffs. They scored on the first play at soggy Ash Park en route to a 47-7 beat down of Cornell for its 11th consecutive win in the oldest college football rivalry west of the Mississippi River.

Coe finished its regular season 9-1, the only loss to unbeaten Iowa Conference champion Wartburg. The Kohawks are ranked 15th nationally by d3football.com.

So no worries, right? Coe has to be in.

"I don't think it's a given," Coe Coach Steve Staker said. "I thought maybe it would be, but when I read some of the (stuff) that's going around about Division III, it's really not a given. We took care of our end of the deal here, and now we'll just have to wait and see how things shake out."

Staker said his team will congregate on campus to watch the announcement of the pairings on ESPNews today at 2. There are some things in Coe's favor, including winning its first-round playoff game last season at mighty St. John's of Minnesota.

But the big wart, other than the loss, is a non-conference schedule that included routs of two poor NAIA teams. There are 32 teams in the D-III playoff field, with 23 of the spots reserved for conference champions.

That means Coe must get one of nine at-large berths, as it did last season. It appears it all could come down to Coe and Bethel (Minn.), which also is 9-1.

The teams are ranked 15th and 16th nationally and fifth and sixth in the West Region by the NCAA.

"I think last year makes a pretty good case for us," said Coe running back Michael Rozum. "Winning our first playoff game, going out in the second round, a lot of our guys are back. You know, Wartburg is a hell of a team, and that's our only loss. We've played well all of our other games. Central was a tough opponent, and we beat them."

"Last year, I was confident. This year, I'm not," Staker said. "I just don't know how it's all going to shake out. I hope, for our sake, it works out well because we're playing as well right now as we have all year."

Coe racked up 344 first-half yards and a 27-0 halftime lead. Quarterback Brad Boyle hit Jared Kuehner on a 59-yard touchdown bomb on the first play from scrimmage and Rozum on a 65-yarder in the final minute of the half.

Brendan Leiran had the other TDs, on runs of 1 and 53 yards. Boyle completed 11 of 14 throws for 245 yards and three touchdowns.

Reserves played much of the second half.

"We didn't really expect (the result of) that first play, but we definitely wanted to come fast," Rozum said. "Cornell has been in a lot of their games this year. So we wanted to play right away, and make sure they didn't have a chance."

Cornell's 0-10 season could be summed up perfectly by how it began and ended.

A fire in the school's weight room disrupted the beginning of fall practice. An apparent drunken driver ran into a utility pole on campus at 3 a.m. Saturday, knocking out all power until late Saturday morning.

The Rams avoided a shutout when third-string quarterback Kody Karjala threw a 13-yard TD to Chris Lopez with 30 seconds to go. Coe improved its overall record in the 120-game series to 65-51-4.

"We're a program that will get better every year," said first-year Coach Vince Brautigam. "We will not have a year like this again, I promise you."