The Brown football team fell 21-12 to Columbia on Saturday’s Senior Day at Richard Gouse Field at Brown Stadium. After just 10 combined points in a defensive struggle in the first half, Columbia used a pair of second half touchdowns and kept Brown out of the end zone until the final two minutes of regulation to hold on for the win. INSIDE THE BOX SCORE Columbia outgained Brown 478-384. Brown was 4-of-7 on fourth down chances, with Columbia going 2-for-3. Fifth-year Jake Willcox was 29-of-40 passing for 242 yards and a touchdown and led the Bears on the ground with 47 yards rushing. Fifth-year Mark Mahoney went over the century mark for the second straight week with a career-high 12 catches for 120 yards. Freshman Matt Childs added four catches for 61 yards. Junior Ty Pezza caught five passes for 37 yards and his first career touchdown. Senior Christopher Maron connected on both of his field goal attempts from 37 and 21 yards. Senior Tim Malo and junior John Perdue had a team-leading 7.0 tackles. Nick Hudson had four pass breakups, while Elias Archie added three. Columbia receiver Bryson Canty caught six passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns. HOW IT HAPPENED On the opening drive, Columbia went for it on 4th-and-goal from the two-yard line, but Hudson came up with a big pass breakup in the end zone to stop the Lions on downs. The Lions then missed a 45-yard field goal on their second drive. Taking over at their own 27 at the two-minute timeout, Columbia needed just three plays to find the end zone, scoring on a 55-yard catch and run by Canty for the 7-0 lead. Columbia later muffed a punt, with Stefano Montella pouncing on it at the 30 with 14 seconds remaining. Maron connected from 37 yards out as time expired to pull the Bears within 7-3 going into halftime. After getting a stop on fourth-and-short at the Brown 36 to start the half, Columbia was held to a field goal attempt from 40 yards but missed wide left. Spurred by a 28-yard run on a fake punt to the Brown 38, Columbia found the end zone two plays later on a 12-yard pass to extend the lead to 14-3 at 5:27. After the score, the Lions stopped Brown on downs twice, once at the Brown 34 and once near midfield. Columbia took advantage of the second stop with a 52-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Sanchez to Canty to make it 21-3 with 11:52 to play. Maron capped a 13-play, 72-yard drive with a 21-yard field goal with 7:11 remaining to bring Brown within 21-6. Brown got into the red zone with a 40-yard connection from Willcox to Childs that set Brown up at the three, and two plays later Willcox hit Pezza for a touchdown to make it 21-12 with 1:37 remaining. The ensuing two-point attempt failed. Columbia recovered the onside kick and moved the ball to the Brown 14 before running out the clock. UP NEXT Brown will conclude the 2024 season next Saturday, November 23 with a trip to Dartmouth. Kickoff against the Big Green is set for noon on ESPN+ and the Learfield Varsity Network (BrownBears.com/Audio). The game will also be televised in New England on NESN. Categories: Sports