Yale

ITHACA, N.Y. — On a brisk fall day in central New York, the No. 17/18 Yale football team opened Ivy League play Saturday with a hard-fought 38-25 loss to Cornell.

The game marked the first career start for quarterback Charles Hewitt. The sophomore went 26-for-44 for 244 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed seven times for 31 net yards.

Key Performers

• Jaxton Santiago led the Bulldogs in receiving yards for the second-straight game, nabbing five Hewitt passes for 58 yards and a 32-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. 
• Noah Piper hit his second field goal of the season, navigating a 40-yard attempt through the uprights at a breezy Schoellkopf Field. 
• Phoenix Grant was all over the field for the Bulldogs, recording 11 total tackles.

Game Notes

• Charles Hewitt's 244 passing yards are the most by a Yale quarterback in their first career start since Nolan Grooms threw for 283 yards against Penn on Oct. 23, 2021.
• Hugo Djeumeni Kemeni scored his first career touchdown for Yale, a one-yard plunge into the end zone at the beginning of the fourth quarter. 
• Jevidi Hutton recorded his second-straight game with a sack. 
• Lucius Anderson found the end zone by scoring Yale's first two-point conversion of the season. 
• Graham Smith has scored a touchdown in three of his last four appearances going back to the end of the 2025 season.
• First year running back Vann Hopping earned the first two carries of his Bulldog career. He is the first offensive member of the class of 2030 to record a statistic.
• First year defensive lineman Jordan Ohakawa recorded the first tackle of his Bulldog career. He is the first defensive member of the class of 2030 to record a statistic.

Hear From The Bulldogs

"We made too many mistakes and allowed Cornell to control the game," said Kevin Cahill, Joel E. Smilow '54 Head Coach of Football. "They are a very good football team and when you give them extra opportunities, they will take advantage of them. We fought and clawed to get back into the game in the 4th quarter. But at the end of the game, we did not play well enough to win. Credit to Cornell. We learned a lot more about ourselves today. We will clean up our mistakes and move on to next week. A lot to learn from and a lot to grow from. Really proud of the fight that Charlie [Hewitt] played with today. He made some big plays to bring us back into the game. There is a lot for him to grow from after his performance."

Up Next
Team 153 will return to New Haven on Saturday, Oct 3 at noon, opening its home schedule at the historic Yale Bowl against the Merrimack Warriors.