Courtesy Rob Bonow After gaining 31 yards, senior Luke McArdle is taken down by Cornell’s last line of defense – junior punter Mike Baumgartel – in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s match. The Hoyas won the game 42-20.

With a virtually non-existent Georgetown passing game, senior wide receiver Luke McArdle took to bolstering special teams in Saturday’s gridiron faceoff with Cornell – the Hoyas’ first Ivy League foe in 66 years. He ran back two punts late in the first half for 88 and 56 yards, setting up Georgetown to hand the Big Red (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) their fourth-straight defeat, 42-20.

With those runs and 81 more receiving yards, McArdle set new school records for longest punt return, single-game all-purpose yards (263), career punt return yards (821) and career all-purpose yards (4,053).

Junior quarterback Andrew Crawford struggled all afternoon, fumbling once and completing just six passes. The running backs, defense and special teams all picked up the slack, giving the Hoyas (3-4, 1-2 Patriot) their third straight victory.

“Our special teams and defense gave us the football. We took advantage of a short field,” head coach Bob Benson said.

Cornell’s pass defense was billed as the best among Ivy League teams and 12th in the nation. The team allowed an average of 147 yards through the air in each of its first four contests. The Big Red upheld that standard against Georgetown, permitting just 90 passing yards for Crawford and another 14 by freshman Alondzo Turner.

Turner made his contribution running the ball. He was second on the team with 63 yards on 17 carries behind sophomore running back arcus Slayton, who had his third 100-yard-plus day. Slayton carried 18 times for 109 yards, taking advantage of a porous Cornell defensive front. Both Turner and Slayton had two touchdowns on the afternoon.

The Blue and Gray defense took advantage of two injuries that left key members of the Cornell backfield out of the starting lineup. Senior quarterback Mick Razzano missed the game with a torn abdominal muscle and sophomore tailback Josh Johnston, who suffered a high ankle sprain in the first quarter of last week’s match against Harvard, was also sidelined.

In their places, senior D.J. Busch makes his first start at quarterback and sophomore Andre Hardaway and junior tailback Marcus Blanks split rushing attempts, garnering 100 yards between them. Busch had a couple of scoring drives on the day but was mostly inconsistent, finding his receivers on just 18 of 41 pass attempts.

Overall, Georgetown had its best game of the year in the red zone, scoring on all of its five opportunities inside the 20-yard line. Cornell was held to 4-of-6 as the Hoya defense clamped down and prevented the Big Red from converting any fourth down attempts late in the game.

Senior strong safety Matt Fronczke tallied a game-high 10 tackles. Senior linebacker Calvin Lyons and sophomore defensive end ichael Ononibaku each sacked Busch, one for nine yards and the other for six.

“Our defense contributed several back-against-the-wall stands in the fourth quarter,” Benson said.

Georgetown scored on its second drive of the game, as Turner converted a fourth-and-one at the Cornell 37 and Slayton followed with a 35-yard dash to the end zone to put the Hoyas up 7-0 after just five minutes of play. Busch responded, leading the Big Red on a 12-play, 76-yard drive to tie the contest.

On Cornell’s next drive, the Hoya defense committed two costly penalties – roughing the passer and roughing the kicker. The latter charge gave the Big Red new life at the Georgetown 11 following a missed field goal attempt, but the defense held Cornell for three downs. The Big Red took a 10-7 lead on a 27-yard kick by junior Trev MacMeekin.

The Hoyas came roaring back after freshman defensive end Alex Buzbee recovered a fumble by Busch at the Cornell 18. Turner ran the ball in from one yard out to take back the lead, 14-10.

The Big Red managed just one first down off the ensuing kickoff and went three-and-out. McArdle ran back junior Mike Baumgartel’s punt 88 yards before getting dragged down by junior free safety Nate Tarsi at the two-yard line. Slayton carried the ball in on the next play but McArdle was not done yet. He brought back the next punt 56 yards to the Cornell 21. Turner converted another big fourth down and Crawford returned on the next play to throw a nine-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Walter Bowser. After 30 minutes of play, the Hoyas – a five-point underdog – were up by 18.

But Georgetown’s luck still had not run out, as the first play of the second half featured a fumble by Blanks that was recovered by Hoya sophomore cornerback Jesse Patterson at the Cornell 39. Slayton and Turner led the charge against the Big Red defensive line, with Turner taking it in from one yard out on the fifth play of the drive to put Georgetown up 35-10 just two minutes into the third quarter.

Busch completed two long passes, one for 56 yards to John Kellner and one for 23 yards to Trent Carvolth to set up a Cornell touchdown and field goal, respectively. The Big Red mustered no more as McArdle caught a 37-yard pass to open the fourth quarter, and the Hoyas never looked back.

While McArdle spent the weekend shattering records, Slayton still has his eyes on one benchmark. The running back needs to average 83.5 yards in his final five games to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing – a feat never accomplished in the modern era of Georgetown football. Steve Iorio (COL ’97) currently holds the record of 901 yards.

Benson and his players had focused on the contest at Schoellkopf Field as the biggest game of the year, because of the implications of playing an Ivy League opponent. In their 98 seasons of intercollegiate football, the Hoyas had beaten an Ancient Eight member only once before – a 1916 victory over Dartmouth by a 10-0 margin. Georgetown is presently 2-9-1 against the Ivies.

Despite riding high on its winning streak, Georgetown will have its hands full next weekend. Visiting Lehigh defeated the Hoyas, 69-0, in the 2002 season opener. The Mountain Hawks (4-2, 2-0 Patriot) are currently in a tie with Colgate and Bucknell for first place in the Patriot League.

“We want to get to .500 and we’re not going to forget about last year’s game [at Lehigh],” Benson said.