W. CALDWELL, N.J. -- When freshman Cael Zebrowski (Verona, N.J.) entered for the last series of the first half, he nearly led a scoring drive, coming just a few inches from a TD pass along the sideline from giving the Cougars a halftime lead in their sprint football contest with Cornell. 

Zebrowski's poise on that drive turned out to portend good things to come for the Caldwell offense, as he engineered three touchdown drives, all in the fourth quarter, capped by an 11-yard strike to a leaping senior WR Arjun Petgrave (Cranford, N.J.) in the right corner of the end zone, giving Caldwell (4-3) a thrilling, 20-13 triumph over the Big Red (0-6) at Bonnel Field on Saturday.

Zebrowski threw for a Caldwell record 337 yards, completing 18 of 32 passes for three touchdowns. Nine of those connections came with Petgrave, including a 22 yard toss that gave the Cougars their first lead at 12-10 with 8:56 to play in regulation.

Cornell drove inside the Cougars' red zone, but the defense bent but didn't break, with sophomore linebacker Damian Tavares (Pasco, Wash.) and senior lineman Jorge Gonzalez (North Bergen, N.J.) stopping Cornell's star halfback Kruz Meier a yard short of the first on third and six with 2:28 to play, forcing the Big Red to settle for a 32-yard Sumner Roberts field goal and a 13-12 advantage.

On the final drive, Zebrowski got to work quickly, completing a 15-yard out to Petgrave, then converting a third-and-10 to freshman WR Joey Ciccotelli (Denville, N.J.) with 1:37 left and a huge fourth-and-nine hookup with sophomore halfback Kyano Jimenez for 12 to the Cornell 24 with 57 ticks left.

Zebrowski connected again with Ciccotelli for 13 yards down to the 11, before finding a well-covered Petgrave who went up to haul in the game-winner.

Freshman Hector Lopez III (East Hanover, N.J.) amassed 14 tackles, including two for loss, while Tavares notched 12 stops. Senior S Kyle Lewis (Neptune, N.J.) and junior CB JJ Hinnant (Avenel, N.J.) had two pass deflections each for the Caldwell defense.

Smith had five catches for 160 yards, including the Cougars' first touchdown of the day, and senior WR Darius Harrison (Plainfield, N.J.) had five grabs for 133 yards, plus a two-point conversion reception on the final score.

Meier ran for 118 yards and Stefano Luis passed for 157 for the Big Red.

Caldwell honored 14 seniors prior to the contest:

Joseph Alberti
Kevin Campen
Joshua Diaz
Jorge Gonzalez
Jeffrey Gunn Jr.
Darius Harrison
Jameil Lawrence
Kole Levy
Kyle Lewis
Curt McDougald
Gabe Nunez
Arjun Petgrave
Anthony Salzone
Nasir Tippett

Caldwell travels to Annapolis, Md., on Friday with a chance at a share of the CACC South title. The Cougars (1-1 in CACC South play) would earn a three-way tie with the Midshipmen and Chestnut Hill (2-1 in South play) with a victory.