NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Junior Rodney Thomas II intercepted two passes and returned one for a touchdown as the Yale Football Team came from behind in the second half to grab a 27-16 victory over Cornell in the Ivy League Opener at Yale Bowl and the Class of 1954 Field.
 
With the Bulldogs (2-0) trailing 10-3 in the third quarter, Thomas snared an attempted Big Red screen pass and raced 22 yards for his first career touchdown on his third career interception. The linebacker's second pick, which came in the fourth near midfield, was returned 30 yards.    
 
"I saw the [running] back leak out a little bit," said Thomas about the first interception. "The QB looked to him, and we had one of our defensive linemen come in, he was inside of him and made a good play on it.  He was able to force the QB to throw it over the top, then it just fell right in my hands.  So really a shout out to the defensive linemen who made that play, he made it easy for me."
 
The teams traded 21-yard first-half field goals before the visitors made a play to take the lead. Cornell backup quarterback Richie Kenney connected with running back Delonte Harrell for an 89-yard scoring reception to make it 10-3. The Red (1-1) then got a stop on defense before suffering the Thomas pick-six to even the score.
 
The Yale defense, which also got a pair of interceptions from sophomore safety Dathan Hickey, limited the visitors to 14 completions on 28 passing attempts.
 
The Elis' second and final lead of the day came on a pass play that required some patience. Rookie Mason Tipton tiptoed along back of the end zone on a third-down and goal pass from Kurt Rawlings to make it 17-10 at 11:21. The senior quarterback scrambled out of the pocket to his left and then found the receiver on the left side for what turned out to be the winning points.
 
Senior Sam Tuckerman also had a big day for the Blue, splitting the uprights on two field goals and booming his kickoffs into the end zone.
 
Cornell managed to cut the lead to 20-16 with 1:55 left, but the Bulldogs came up with more big plays to put this one away. First senior defensive lineman Spencer Matthaei blocked the Big Red's extra point kick, and then captain JP Shohfi snatched the on-side kick in the air and zipped through the defenders for a 49-yard TD return.
 
"Great team win for our team, we battled," said Tony Reno, Yale's Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach. "You know I went in at half time and talked to them about where we were at and there was a great presence and calmness of the team. We knew what we needed to do, individually and collectively as a group to get the outcome that we wanted."