ITACHA, N. Y. – The University of Pennsylvania sprint football team continued its hot streak on Saturday afternoon, shutting down Cornell 41-0 on the road.
JT Goodman,
Michael Malone, and
Tom Rebstock each scored two touchdowns to push Penn to its first 3-0 start for the first time since 2016.
Quaker Notemeal
*The Quakers had a total of 23 first downs in comparison to Cornell's eight, 13 done by rushing.
*Penn recorded 346 offensive yards and scored 21 points off turnovers.
*Freshman Malone was an offensive force, going 14 for 19 for 166 yards, including two touchdowns.
*Sophomore Goodman rushed for a team-high 75 yards, including his two scoring tallies.
*
Kyle Zeitlian led the receiving room with five touches and 82 yards, including his first touchdown of the season.
*Junior quarterback
Jaxson Nield made his season debut in the fourth quarter.
*On the defensive end of the field, senior
Cam Janock led the charge, recording a season and Quaker-high nine stops.
*Special teams guru
Adrian Montemayor had a strong outing, going five for six on extra-point kicks.
How It Happened
The Quakers started the game off strong as senior Rebstock rushed nine yards home early in the first quarter to put the Quakers on the board at 7-0. On their first possession of the game, the Big Red could not convert as
Josh Johnson intercepted a pass from quarterback Max Spero.
The offense was able to capitalize off Johnson's interception as running back Goodman rushed in the end zone for 14 yards to extend Penn's lead to 14-0 with 4:08 left of the quarter. Cornell tried to gain some momentum back to end the first, but senior
Jordan Ortiz picked off the Big Red's quarterback to finish the period.
Running back Rebstock made a statement five seconds into the second, scoring his second and final touchdown of the day off a nine-yard dash to bump the deficit to 21-0. With slightly less than half to go in the second quarter, quarterback Malone completed a 17-yard pass to
Andy Falletta to allow the sophomore to score his first touchdown of 2024 and extend the Quakers' lead to 28-0.
The defense held strong as senior Montemayor did it all, intercepting Cornell's Dan O'Malley at Penn's 25. Once again, Goodman was able to capitalize off the defense's interception, rushing in his second of the game to put Penn ahead 35-0 to end the first.
The Big Red tried to gain a spark coming out of the break as Evan Nicholas intercepted one of Malone's passes, but the Big Red's offense could not muster anything up off the play. Luckily for freshman Malone, he was able to redeem himself at the 6:21 mark of the third, throwing a 34-yard dagger to senior Zeitlian to lengthen the Quakers' lead to 41-0. Ultimately, the Big Red defense blocked Montemayor's final extra-point kick to hold the score at its final tally of 41-0 as the Quakers were able to keep the Big Red off the board to end the game.
Up Next
The Quakers (3-0) will play their first Friday night under the lights this season in a home match-up against Molloy at 7 p.m.
