St. Norbert rallies past Cornell

MOUNT VERNON - A little over a minute into the fourth quarter, Cornell put the finishing touches on an eight-play, 57-yard drive.

Rams quarterback Daniel Brown squirmed into the end zone to give Cornell a commanding 28-7 lead with 13:56 to play.

Then the snow started to fall and St. Norbert's offense gained traction. The Green Knights rallied in the fourth quarter to topple Cornell, 35-28, in a Midwest Conference championship week showdown for fifth place.

'Our defense just didn't do its job,” Cornell senior linebacker Alex Latow said.

The Green Knights racked up 116 yards on the ground in the fourth quarter. Zach Broberg accounted for 76 of those yards and added two touchdowns for St. Norbert. Quarterback James Tringali scored from 2 yards out with a little over two minutes to play to give the Green Knights the 35-28 lead.

'We counted on the offense a little too much and just blew our own jobs,” said Latow, who finished with nine solo tackles. Latow finished his Cornell career with 236 solo tackles enough to set the career school record. The previous mark of 234 was set in 2013 by Geoffrey Miller.

The Cornell defense held their ground early, stuffing St. Norbert on two fourth-and-1 plays. One swung the early momentum when the Rams held the Green Knights on fourth-and-goal. St. Norbert appeared to score, giving them a 14-7 lead. The Green Knights, however, called timeout just seconds before the play started.

'Emotions and just doing our job helped us stop them on fourth and short,” Latow said.

The Cornell took advantage of the swing in momentum and took a 21-7 halftime lead. Brown connected with Ben Knake on a 34-yard touchdown to put the Rams up 14-7. Knake finished with six catches, leaving him one shy of the school record.

'We were making plays, especially on third down,” Knake said. 'Whenever we needed a play, someone stepped up.”

Down a touchdown, Cornell had a chance late, but could not convert, leaving the field snow covered and looking to next season.

'We'll keep this as motivation,” Knake said. 'Don't lose this feeling and don't let it happen again.”