Sports
Cherry On Top By Ste ve L aw re nc e
A
nd then there were two... Two “W’s” in the win column for Cornell football, that is. One for the Big Red varsity, and one for the Sprint team. The Sprint team has all the same rules as the varsity team, except there’s a weight limit, putting the focus on speed rather than size. Heading into Friday night, the varsity team was looking for its first win of the season, and after putting a 34-20 thumping on Colgate under the lights on Schoellkopf Field, they had it. Two days later, the Sprint team would try to match that feat, and they did just that with a thrilling 3027 win over St. Thomas Aquinas. One of the key players in the Sprint team’s victory was Aidan Tierney, a 2018 Ithaca High grad who wore #55. Wait... he wore #11... Okay, he wore both. More on that later. Tierney transferred to Cornell from Geneseo after his freshman year, and given he had not played football since his sophomore year at Ithaca High, it really wasn’t on his list of reasons for transferring.
Members of Cornell Varsity Sprint Football Team
“The opportunity to attend an Ivy League school in your hometown is difficult to pass up,” Aidan told me, “and I would describe the opportunity to also play Division 1 football as the cherry on top.” While Terry Cullen is still the official Head Coach of Sprint Football (as he has been since 1996, and his involvement with the program dates back to 1964), Associate Head Coach Bobby Gneo actually runs the on-field operations. Gneo, having seen Tierney’s work ethic and on-field smarts (Gneo was a coach in the Ithaca City School District for many years), invited the senior ILR major to come out for the team. “I’m having a great time,” Aidan offered. “I’m playing offense and special teams.”
Asked about that mid-game uniform switch, he said, “When I am playing offensive tackle, I wear #55, but if I switch to tight end, the rules — from Pee Wee football up to the pros — dictate that I have to change numbers to remain eligible to go downfield and catch passes.” That switcheroo is a production in and of itself, as it requires help from teammates to pull it off — and back on — while the game is being played. When Aidan said “Our league is unique in that there is a 178-pound weight limit, and that enables a lot of guys who thought they’d never be able to play college football an opportunity to do so,” I asked if he was one of those guys. He stated, “Yes, I am. At 6’1” and 180 pounds, there is no way I could ever play as an offensive lineman
for a ‘regular’ college program,” He said that he also likes the way the equal weights play out in the game plans, saying “In high school, you have linemen that weigh well over 250 and wide receivers that weigh 130, but in Sprint, everyone weighs about the same.” Indeed, the fact that a player can be strong enough to “move the pile” as a lineman, yet be quick and agile enough to get open to catch passes and do what receivers do would surely open up a number of possibilities and make the game a lot more fun. I also asked Aidan if any other Ithaca High alums are playing (other than Turner DePalma, featured in an earlier column as a member of the Big Red varsity), and he answered, “Not this year, but in recent years, guys like Julian Iacovelli and Jordan Corfine from Ithaca and Denver Space from Dryden have been real impact players.” I asked Tierney if there was ever a chance that his brother, Sawyer — also a Cornell student — would join him on the roster, and he said, “No, he was never much of a football guy. He’s into soccer and track.” I also asked Aidan how many games he has left to play in his rejuvenated football career, and he said, “We have upcoming games with Navy, Chestnut Hill and Army (at Schoellkopf Field, on Nov. 5). I am really looking forward to the rest of the season.”
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