10/18/2003

Box Score

ITHACA, N.Y. --  Marcus Slayton (Cleveland, Ohio/Benedictine) gained 113 yards on the ground and added a pair of touchdowns as Georgetown earned a 42-20 victory over Cornell on Saturday afternoon at Schoellkopf Field. Luke McArdle (Boxford, Mass./Masconomet Regional) added 279 all-purpose yards, including 182 on punt returns, as the Hoyas improved to 3-4 on the season. McArdle now owns Georgetown's career marks in both all-purpose yards and punt return yards with 4,053 and 821 yards respectively. The Big Red dropped its fourth-straight contest to fall to 1-4.

The Hoyas earned their first touchdown midway into the opening quarter, as they converted on a fourth-down rush and scored on the following play. Slayton hung on to a pitch and eluded three Big Red linesmen in the backfield before picking up solid blocking en route to a 35-yard scoring run. The ensuing extra point gave Georgetown an early 7-0 lead.

Cornell wasted little time to get a touchdown of its own, as quarterback D.J. Busch put the finishing touch on a 76-yard drive with a 15-yard pass to Carlos Hill in the back left corner of the end zone with 4:38 left in the first quarter. The Big Red would take its only lead of the contest in the opening minutes of the second quarter when Trevor MacMeekin connected on a 27-yard field goal to make the score 10-7.

On the Big Red’s next possession, the Hoyas recovered a fumble in Cornell territory and ended up regaining the lead on a 1-yard plunge by Alondzo Turner (Capitol Heights, Md./ Bladensburg). Georgetown would find the end zone for the third time in the first half after McArdle returned a punt 88 yards, a Georgetown record, to the Cornell 2-yard line before Slayton snuck in on the first play from scrimmage for a 21-10 lead.

McArdle added a 56-yard punt return, fifth best in Hoya history, with 1:22 left before the half and quarterback Drew Crawford (Superior, Colo./Fairview) found Walter Bowser (St. Paul, Minn./Cretin-Derham) for a 9-yard touchdown with just 27 seconds remaining to give the visiting Hoyas a 28-10 halftime lead.

The Big Red fumbled during its first possession of the second half, and Georgetown capitalized, picking up the loose ball and putting together a drive in Cornell territory that culminated in Turner’s second rushing touchdown of the afternoon.

Down 35-10, Cornell took advantage of a short 16-yard punt from the Hoyas and came through with a 56-yard pass from Busch to senior receiver John Kellner to the Georgetown 8-yard line, where sophomore Andre Hardaway rushed in from on the next play to score the first touchdown of his career.

MacMeekin added a 21-yard field goal after the Big Red caused a Hoya turnover with a fumble to cut the deficit to 35-20, but Georgetown added its fifth touchdown of the day in the opening minute of the fourth quarter in the contest’s final scoring play. Crawford found McArdle in the end zone from 37 yards out to seal the 42-20 victory.

The Hoyas' host Lehigh next week at 1 p.m. on Harbin Field.