Throwback Thursday 10/25: Sprint Football Sinks Navy (1980)

On October 25th, 1980, the Big Red Lightweight Football Team defeated the Navy team 17-8 at Schoellkopf field, persevering through the bitter cold that occurred during the game. This victory put their record at 2-0-2 for the season and paved the way for the team to get a 2nd place finish for the entire season. This was a hard fought bought by both teams. Navy took the lead at the beginning of the game off of a bad punt by the Cornell kicker. This drive ended in a 43-yard field goal for Navy. This was the first time Cornell had been scored on that season since they shutout all of their opponents in previous games. The Big Red attempted a field goal of its own on the next drive, but it was unfortunately blocked and recovered by Navy. Undiscouraged, the Cornell defense managed to hold back the Navy offense. Stellar defense also led to the first score for Cornell as John Doyle recovered a fumble and ran 90 yards for a touchdown. During the last moments of the second quarter, the defense managed to recover a fumble covering a Navy punt return, giving them the ball on Navy’s 3-yard line. With five seconds left, kicker Ralph Stellmacher made another field goal, resulting in a score of 10-3. Navy managed to get another field goal, but it did not matter since Henry Reed managed to score the final touchdown of the game, putting the game away.