Box Score NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Yale football team looks ready for the Ivy League stretch run. In the final non-conference game, quarterback
Nolan Grooms rushed for three touchdowns and threw for one as the Bulldogs used a big second half to cruise to a 29-9 victory over Bucknell on a picture-perfect afternoon at Yale Bowl, Class of 1954 Field.
Yale, which has won four straight games, had a 7-3 lead at halftime and outscored the Bison 22-6 over the final 30 minutes.
"I'm really proud how we anchored down midway through the third quarter and did something we really hadn't done this year, and that was put a team away," said
Tony Reno, the Joel. E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of the Bulldogs. "What we did from the middle of the third quarter on was we scored, we stopped them, we scored, we stopped them, we stopped them again and then we were in victory formation."
The Bulldogs once again got strong play from both sides of the ball. Defensively, Yale limited Bucknell to just 102 yards passing, while the offense generated 433 total yards.
Inumidun Ayo-Durojaiye had 10 tackles to lead the defense, while
Hamilton Moore, last week's Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week, added nine stops.
Clay Patterson had a sack and six tackles overall.
Grooms finished with a team-high 95 yards rushing and also was 19-of-33 passing for 209 yards.
Tre Peterson, last week's Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week, added 84 rushing yards, and
David Pantelis had eight catches for 106 yards.
Matt Schearer's 39-yard field goal gave the Bison an early 3-0 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Bulldogs' first score came when Pantelis capped a 97-yard, 12-play drive with a 13-yard touchdown reception late in the second quarter.
Grooms' 9-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter increased the lead to 14-3.
Bucknell answered with a 15-yard TD run from Rushawn Baker, but then failed on a two-point conversion attempt.
Yale's next points came on a safety when a heavy pass rush forced Bucknell quarterback Ethan Grady into an intentional grounding penalty from his own end zone late in the third quarter.
Two more touchdown runs from Grooms (14 yards and 21 yards) in the fourth quarter sealed the victory for the Bulldogs.
"It's hard to win football games and I'm really happy with how the guys finished the game and how we fought," Reno said.
Yale (4-1, 2-0 Ivy) now closes the season with five straight Ivy games starting next Saturday at Penn. The Quakers are 5-0 overall and 2-0 in Ivy play after a 34-14 win over Columbia on Saturday. Kickoff at Franklin Field is slated for 1 p.m.
