Yale Athletics

The Yale football team (1–1, 1–0 Ivy) won its first Ivy League game of the season in Ithaca on Saturday afternoon, defeating Cornell (1–1, 0–1 Ivy) in dominant fashion 38–14. 

The Bulldogs controlled the flow of the game on both sides of the ball. The offense moved up and down the field, as the defense held the Big Red under 200 offensive yards. First-year running back Joshua Pitsenberger ’26 scored three touchdowns in front of Cornell’s homecoming crowd of 14,821 at Schoellkopf Field. 

After yielding 38 points to Holy Cross the previous week, the Bulldogs’ defense was the story of the game. Three seniors dominated at each level of the defense, showing the Ivy League that this unit is one to be feared.  

Defensive lineman Oso Ifesinachukwu ’23 led the way up front with six tackles and two sacks, while Wande Owens ’23 patrolled the secondary with four tackles and a tackle for loss. In the center of it all was middle linebacker Hamilton Moore ’23, who terrorized the Cornell offense all day with six tackles and a sack.

“Honestly our offensive line and defensive lines played amazing,” Moore said, shining the spotlight on his teammates. “They kept me clean on defense so I could make tackles, and the [offensive] line created huge holes for our running backs, while also giving [Nolan Grooms ’24] a bunch of time to make throws.”

The Bulldogs won the coin toss and elected to kick off, leaving it to their defense to set the tone. The squad was flying from the start, as they forced a Cornell three-and-out punctuated by a massive hit by Moore on third-down. 

With just over eight minutes left in the first quarter, Pitsenberger received a shovel pass from quarterback Grooms and carried the ball five yards for his first touchdown. Grooms was 12-of-17 for 187 yards over the course of the game and had two total touchdown passes, while adding 55 rushing yards. 

Cornell answered the Bulldogs’ first score with a touchdown after a 36-yard pass from Big Red quarterback Jameson Wang to wide receiver Nicholas Laboy. However, Yale came back less than five minutes later with a one-yard touchdown run by Pitsenberger. 

“I’m really pleased with our effort,” head coach Tony Reno said to Yale Athletics after the game. “The execution went up and things started to click on both sides of the ball.” 

In the second quarter, wide receiver Mason Tipton ’24 caught a 17-yard pass from Grooms and swiftly scored the Bulldogs another touchdown, pushing their lead to 21–7. Tipton had seven receptions for 133 yards in the game. 

Pitsenberger scored his third touchdown of the afternoon on a one-yard run with 39 seconds left in the half to extend Yale’s lead. With his three touchdowns and 93 rushing yards, Pitsenberger earned Ivy League Rookie of the Week in only his second collegiate game. 

The defense was also dominant in the first half, forcing three-and-outs on four of the Big Red’s six drives and only allowing 127 yards. 

“Playing on the road in a great atmosphere — we wanted to get off to a great start and put ourselves in a position where we weren’t letting the crowd and homecoming atmosphere play to their advantage,” Reno said. 

In the third quarter, many of the starters got a rest, and the Elis got valuable time for players that may be needed later in the season. About midway through the quarter, Grooms went to the bench, and Austin Tutas ’25 got the opportunity to take over the offense for the second straight week. The highlights of the quarter were a 45-yard field goal from Jack Bosman ’24 and a one-yard touchdown run scored by running back Tre Peterson ’24 at 6:34. 

The Bulldogs held their ground in the final quarter of the game, only allowing the Big Red to score once; when Cornell running back Eddy Tillman ran six yards to score after catching a pass from Wang. 

Even though Team 149 faltered in game one of their season, it brought the heat in game two, setting a precedent for its future Ivy play. 

“I think there is a certain level of seriousness with this week,” defensive lineman Reid Nickerson ’23 said before the game. “Last week, I thought we prepared great, had great energy, great juice all week… we just didn’t execute on gameday like we wanted to. I think that this week there is that level of awareness, that yes, you can have a great week and then it’s gotta show in the execution on Saturday.”

While the execution certainly showed up against Cornell, the Bulldogs now need to prove they can do it for two weekends in a row. 

This Saturday, the Elis will play their first home game of the season when they face Howard University in the NAACP Harmony Classic at the Class of 1954 Field at the Yale Bowl.