The Chestnut Hill College football team's offense was clicking Saturday night as the team produced 482 yards of total offense and won their second game of the season, defeating Cornell University 27-9 at A.A. Garthwaite Field in Conshohocken.

The Griffins are now 2-1 on the season and have won two of their first three games for the first time since 2019.  Cornell falls to 1-2 on the year.  For the Griffins, it marks their first win over the Big Red since the 2016 season.

Much of the Griffins' offense came on the ground as a pair of players Lawrence Howard V and Xavier Limehouse became just the second set of teammates in program history to rush for 100+ yards in a game, joining Raevon Floyd-Bennett and Sef Penson who ran for 155 and 112 yards respectively against Post University in 2017. 

Howard led all players with 138 yards rushing on 21 carries.  He also became just the eighth player to have two rushing touchdowns in a single game.  Limehouse carried the ball 18 times for 132 yards on the evening.  Howard's and Limehouse's rushing total both rank among the top five single-game rushing performances in program history.

Quarterback Anthony Cancellare completed 14 of 22 passes for 168 yards and one touchdown pass.  He also ran for a score in the late in the second quarter.  Kyree Griffin caught five passes including a 42-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter.  Nazier Bryant added four catches. 

Lex Williams led the team with five tackles while Steven Crespo recovered a fumble and
Theo Cottle intercepted a pass.  The Griffins' defense held Cornell to just 130 yards total offense with just 30 yards gained on the ground and 100 in the air.

Mimicking their first half in their season opener, The Griffins scored three times to take a 20-0 lead.  On their second possession the Griffins drove 41 yards in ten plays as Howard took the ball into the end zone from one yard out to give Chestnut Hill and early 6-0 lead  (Brady Reynold's extra point attempt was blocked.).

The Griffins scored again on their next possession driving 80 yards in nine plays with Howard again taking the ball into the end zone from  one yard out.  The sophomore running back had 52 yards rushing during the drive. 

Griffin's long touchdown catch with 9:16 left in the second quarter staked Chestnut Hill to a 20-0 lead.  Cornell got on the board on their next possession, driving 56 yards as Stephen Cisz connected on a 26 yard field goal to make the score 20-3.

On the Griffin's final possession of the first half, Limehouse had runs of  30-yards and 12-yards and Cancellare had a 20-yard toss to Griffin as part of a 7-play 75 yard drive that saw Cancellare take the ball himself into the endzone on a quarterback keeper to make the score 27-3 with just 40 seconds left in the half.

The second half saw both teams pick up the defense with both teams holding each other's offenses with a score in the 30 minutes of play.  Cornell's defense had the only score of the half as Zach Glenn recovered a Cancellare fumble and raced 78 yards for the score.  Cornell's two-point attempt failed, and the score was now 27-9 with 11:13 remaining.

The Griffins  chewed up the clock on their next two possessions, using up ten minutes on two drives deep into Cornell territory.  The first drive ended with a missed field goal attempt while the second ended the game.

The sprint football team returns to action on Saturday October 12, 2024, when they host Navy at A.A. Garthwaite field.  Kickoff is set for 6:00 p.m.