Columbia Outlasts Brown in Tough 23-17 Defeat

Saturday, November 13

New York, N.Y.

1:00 PM

Brown University

2-7 , 1-5

Columbia

6-3 , 3-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Brown

Columbia

Photo by: David Silverman Photography

Columbia Outlasts Brown in Tough 23-17 Defeat

11/13/2021 6:12:00 PM | Football

Box Score

NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Brown football team was outlasted by Columbia in a tough 23-17 loss on the road on Saturday afternoon. Brown (2-7, 1-5 Ivy) jumped out to a two touchdown lead early in the third quarter, but Columbia (6-3, 3-3 Ivy) roared back, scoring 23 of the game's final 26 points before holding off the Bears in the final minutes.

Senior quarterback EJ Perry scored both of Brown's touchdowns on the ground. The game also featured an hour-long weather delay in the second quarter.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

The Bears defense pitched a shutout in the first half and forced two turnovers, holding Columbia to just seven yards of total offense in the first quarter and 115 total yards in the opening half.
Perry was Brown's leading rusher with 66 yards on 14 carries and two touchdowns. He was 22-for-35 through the air for 224 yards.
Jordan DeLucia ran for 50 yards on seven carries, and also added four receptions for 43 yards.
Sophomore Graham Walker caught eight balls for 60 yards, junior Wes Rockett added four catches for 41 yards and junior Christopher Boyle had a pair of receptions for 33 yards.
Senior Allen Smith added 35 yards on the ground.
The Brown defense played a solid game, forcing two turnovers and holding Columbia to 310 yards of offense.
Sophomore Isaiah Gamble forced and recovered a fumble, and sophomore Shane Prevot tallied his first career interception.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Bears defense came away with two straight three-and-outs to start the game. Junior Gafa had a key sack on the opening play of the second drive to force the Lions backwards.
Brown cracked the scoreboard first on the third play of the second quarter when Perry rushed for three yards, and fell on his own fumble in the end zone for the Brown touchdown. The Bears' drive spanned 87-yards on 14 plays, highlighted by a trio of third down conversions, including the scoring play.
Brown's defense followed by forcing turnovers on back-to-back possessions, the first when Gamble stripped the ball out of the receiver's hands at the Brown 40-yard line, and recovered the fumble. On the following defensive series, Prevot came away with a leaping interception on the sideline to get the ball back at the Columbia 29 with 9:15 left until halftime. However, Brown's drive came up empty after three plays and a 44-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide right.
With 4:30 remaining in the second quarter, the game entered a weather delay that lasted exactly 60 minutes.
Brown remained on top 7-0 entering the abbreviated halftime, as each team had one empty possession following the delay.
After forcing a three-and-out, Brown went right down the field on its opening possession of the second half. Perry finished off the drive with his second three-yard touchdown rush of the game to make it 14-0 with 9:38 to go in the third quarter. The drive was highlighted by consecutive first down rushes by DeLucia and Smith and lasted 11 plays, spanning 58 yards.
Columbia then stormed to life, answering right back on a four-yard touchdown pass on 4th-and-goal following a 57-yard kick return. That marked the start of three consecutive Lion possessions that resulted in a touchdown, the latter two of which came following consecutive Brown turnovers, which helped them tie the game, then take a 20-14 lead following a missed PAT with 14:49 remaining.
Columbia added some insurance with a 42-yard field goal with 10:51 to go to push the lead to 23-14.
Christopher Maron capped a 55-yard drive in just under three minutes with a 37-yard field goal to make it a one possession game, 23-17, with 7:57 left.
Columbia grinded out a 7:25 drive before punting the ball away to the Brown 12-yard line with 27 seconds left, and forced a third down turnover to seal the win.

QUOTES FROM THE COACH: JAMES PERRY

"Our team played extremely hard today. They handled a very good Columbia team, they handled the rain delay with great energy. Columbia kept fighting the whole game and we have to give credit to them."
"This was a tough one. When your players play as hard as they did today, as the head coach you certainly look at some decisions that may have put Columbia in a better position. We'll work hard to make some corrections to things that could have helped us, but from an effort perspective, I'm very proud. There's a ton to build off of."
"We're a young team that hasn't had a lot of success recently, but when you play an excellent football team and shut them out for a half, and then when the score flipped continued to work hard, that's something that I as an alum and coach can take a lot of pride in. We'll look to make those corrections for Dartmouth."

Brown will close out the 2021 season at home next Saturday on Senior Day at Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium. Kickoff is set for noon on NESN, ESPN+, and AM 790 WPRV.