Cornell ends IIAC football era at Coe

Cornell will close its 14th and final football season as a member of the Iowa Conference Saturday afternoon on the field of its oldest rival.

The Rams (3-6 overall, 1-6 IIAC) travel to play the Coe Kohawks (5-4, 5-2) in a noon kickoff at Clark Field in Cedar Rapids. It marks the 121st game in a series dating back to an 82-0 Cornell victory in 1891.

The Rams and Kohawks have been football foes in the same league since 1921, when they became charter members of the Midwest Collegiate Athletic Conference. Both left the modern-era Midwest Conference after the 1996-97 academic year and joined the Iowa Conference.

Cornell will return to the Midwest Conference in 2012-13, although both programs plan to continue the oldest football rivalry west of the Mississippi in future years. They'll meet in Week 2 next season with a Sept. 8, 2012, out-of-conference matchup scheduled in Mount Vernon.

The Kohawks have won the last 11 meetings in the series. Cornell looks to turn the tide with a young squad of nearly 30 freshmen set to experience the rivalry for the first time.

"The last 10 years hasn't been much of a rivalry. Coe is a top tier team and we're working extremely hard to get to that point," Cornell head coach Vince Brautigam said. "Over half of our team is first-year players, and they'll get a baptism of what this rivalry is all about.

"The rivalry goes back a long way. Right now, many of our players are just learning about it. Hopefully when they get older, they'll embrace it more."

The Rams were dealt a 37-7 loss to Luther in last weekend's home finale. Coe saw its IIAC title hopes slip away in a 49-42 setback at home to Dubuque, handing the conference regular-season title to the Spartans.

Cornell was plagued by a slow start against the Norse, allowing two scoring drives in the opening six minutes and falling behind 27-0 by intermission. The Rams turned the ball over five times in the game, including three lost fumbles. Cornell was held to 86 total yards in the first half.

"We got beat in all three phases of the game," Brautigam said. "Luther came out and got into a rhythm, and before we knew it we were playing catch-up. We were not consistent enough and didn't finish on either side of the ball. We just didn't play well, and that's my responsibility to get our guys ready to play. It was a great learning experience. The nice thing is we have one more week to right the ship and play Ram football."

The Rams executed a 10-play, 61-yard scoring drive on the opening possession of the second half. Freshman Justin Cox finished it with a 15-yard touchdown reception from Juan Flores.

Cox and James Scully both had four receptions for 74 yards. Flores was 15-of-36 passing for 204 yards with two interceptions. Jason Propheter led the ground game with 39 yards on 13 carries.

About the Kohawks - Coe fell short in last week's shootout that featured 13 touchdowns, 53 first downs and nearly 1,000 yards of total offense. The Kohawks tied the game at 42-42 on a 6-yard run by Brendan Leiran with 5:48 remaining. Dubuque countered with the game-winning touchdown with 2:44 to go.

Leiran rushed for 121 yards and two touchdowns. Quarterback Brad Boyle accounted for 327 yards of total offense and three touchdowns. The Kohawks were outgained in total yards, 525-460.

Last meeting - Coe forced five turnovers and rolled up 478 total yards in a 47-7 win over the Rams in last year's regular-season finale in Mount Vernon. Boyle led the Coe attack with 245 yards passing and three scores.

The Rams got on the scoreboard with 30 seconds left to play, a 13-yard touchdown pass from Kody Karjala to Chris Lopez. Cornell held a 20-18 edge in first downs, although converted only 2-of-13 third-down chances.

The series - The Kohawks own a 65-51-4 edge all-time against the Rams. Cornell is seeking its first series win since 1999, a 32-23 victory in Cedar Rapids.

Six for Seabrook - Cornell cornerback Myron Seabrook picked off a Luther pass in the second quarter last week, his sixth interception of a fine freshman season. That ties Seabrook with Don Bladt (2009) and Darnell Wiltz (2001) for the second-most interceptions by a Ram in the IIAC era. Dan Latimer had seven interceptions in 2003.

The single-season school record is nine interceptions, set by Brent Sands in 1992. Seabrook is tied for sixth in NCAA Division III with 0.67 interceptions per game. Coe's Demetreus Johnson is the national leader with eight picks through nine games (0.89 pg).

Receptions list - With three catches last weekend, senior wideout Thomas Connor moved into fifth place on Cornell's career receptions chart with 126. He's within striking distance of Steve Dean (131 in fourth) and Matt Ditch (134 in third) on the all-time list.

Tackle tallies - Cornell sophomore linebacker Geoffrey Miller recorded a career-high 19 tackles against Luther, 16 in the first half. His 14 solo tackles tied the program's single-game mark set by Chris Gustafson at Central in 2007.

Freshman Alex Latow and senior Tyler Bailey collected 16 tackles apiece. Bailey and Latow were in on 13 and 12 solo tackles, respectively. Cornell's defense posted a season-high 10 tackles for loss, four of them by Bailey. Bailey ranks ninth in Division III in total tackles (12.44 tpg), and 21st in tackles for loss (1.78 tpg).

Total offense - Cornell's Flores and Coe's Boyle both rank in the top 25 in Division III in total offense. Flores is tied for 25th with 277.33 yards per game. Boyle stands 16th at 291.11.

Flores is a whisker shy of 2,000 passing yards on the year. He enters Saturday's finale with 1,980 yards on 171-of-273 passing. Flores can join junior teammate Andrew Burdick (2,168 yards in 2009) as the only Rams to pass for 2,000 yards in a season.

Season wins - Regardless of Saturday's outcome, Cornell will go out with the most wins in a season since Ray Reasland's 2003 squad finished 4-6. A fourth win in 2011 would equal the program's total of the past four seasons.