WASHINGTON –
Brandon Williams (Germantown, Md. / Northwest) had a career-high 121 receiving yards, but the Georgetown University football team's comeback attempt fell short against Columbia, 23-15, before a sold out Homecoming crowd at Cooper Field on Saturday afternoon. With the loss, the Hoyas fall to 1-3 on the season, while Columbia moves to 2-0 and retains the Lou Little Trophy for the second-straight season.
Gunther Johnson (Anthem, Ariz. / Boulder Creek / Arizona) finished 18-of-38 for 228 yards and a touchdown. Williams led the receiving corps with seven catches for 121 yards and a score, while
Isaac Schley (Littleton, Colo. / Chatfield) caught four passes for 37 yards.
Jay Tolliver (Columbus, Ohio / Gahanna Lincoln) led the rushing attack with 12 carries for 33 yards and a touchdown.
Blaise Brown (New Orleans, La. / St. Augustine / Loomis Chaffee) led the defense with a career-high 14 tackles, finishing as one of three Hoyas with at least 10 takedowns.
Khristian Tate (Warner Robins, Ga. / Covenant Academy) and
Owen Kessler (Westfield, N.J. / Westfield) each had 11 tackles while Tate also added 1.0 sacks and 3.5 tackles-for-loss (TFL). The GU defense had three interceptions – one each by
Leon Agee (Laurel, Miss. / Robert S. Alexander),
Wes Bowers (Fort Washington, Md. / Bishop McNamara) and
Xavier Reddick (Powder Springs, Ga. / McEachern).
Columbia opened the scoring early, kicking a field goal and scoring on a 14-yard touchdown pass on its first two possessions to open a quick 10-0 lead.
The score remained the same throughout the rest of the first half. The Hoyas threatened late in the second quarter as
Duval Paul (Lynn, Mass. / Everett) hit the quarterback and Bowers came away with the pick as the ball was tipped around. He returned it to the Columbia 34-yard line with just 50 seconds remaining. Georgetown got down to the 20-yard line, but Johnson's pass to the end zone was intercepted right before the clock ran out.
The Lions put together an 18-play drive to open the second half, but the GU defense held in the red zone and Columbia had to settle for a field goal. The visitors added another field goal in the third quarter and a touchdown in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter to open a 23-0 lead.
The Hoyas would not go away as, right after Columbia's score, they strung together a 14-play, 75-yard drive. Tolliver recorded a pair of first downs, one on a 13-yard catch and one on a five-yard rush, before Williams came up with the big play, diving for a 33-yard reception on fourth down to bring GU into the red zone. Tolliver capped off the drive with a one-yard touchdown run, the first of his career. Johnson completed an inside toss to Schley for the two-point conversion to make it 23-8 with 8:31 left on the clock.
Reddick picked off a third down pass on Columbia's next possession, giving GU the ball on the better side of midfield. Completions to Schley drove the ball down to the 20-yard line before Williams caught a fourth down pass in the end zone to make it a one-possession game, 23-15.
The GU defense came up with another quick stop, giving the ball back to the Hoyas, again in Columbia territory, with 3:05 remaining. On the second play of the drive, Williams caught another long pass, this time in traffic for a 29-yard pickup, to set the Hoyas up with first-and-goal from the 9-yard line.
However, three incompletions and a sack on fourth down ended any hopes of a Georgetown comeback as Columbia was able to run out the final 1:46.
The Blue & Gray will embark on a three-game road swing, closing out nonconference play at Brown on Saturday, Sept. 29, with kickoff scheduled for 1 p.m. in Providence, Rhode Island. Georgetown will then open Patriot League play with games at Fordham (Oct. 6, 1 p.m.) and at Lafayette (Oct. 13, 3:30 p.m.).
Notes – With his 121 receiving yards on Saturday, Williams surpasses 1,000 yards for his career … He now has 88 career receptions, ranking 10th on Georgetown's all-time list and he is just 19 yards short of cracking the top 10.
