The biggest play of Columbia’s 28-14 win over Brown on Saturday came without a second coming off the clock. In fact, there weren’t any seconds on the clock.
Trailing by a touchdown with two seconds left in the first half, the Bears had the ball at the Columbia 37-yard line and decided to throw one last pass to try to even the score. Junior quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero heaved up a pass with no time left on the clock to the middle of the field, where he had expected senior receiver Bobby Sewall to be. Sewall wasn’t there, but Columbia junior free safety Adam Mehrer was.
Mehrer snatched the ball out of the air at the 15 and immediately proceeded to sprint across the field along the right sideline. Around midfield, he saw some daylight to his left, so he turned and cut toward the middle of the field. It looked as if he were going to be taken down around midfield, but he alertly pitched the ball to senior strong safety Andy Shalbrack, who continued the return along the left sideline and, thanks to some key blocks, ran into the corner of the end zone.
“There were two seconds left when the play started, so after the interception I knew there was no time left, so it was basically we score or the half is over,” Mehrer said. “I had a good block by, I think, Craig Hamilton—he took out two guys, then I saw a lot of field over to the left, so I cut back. I felt a couple guys on my legs and then I looked and saw Andy and was like, ‘He’s faster than me,’ so I pitched it to him and the rest is history.”
“I was just trying to stay in a good pitch relationship there,” Shalbrack said with a smile on his face. “Obviously, good field awareness by Adam—he knew I was right behind him—I was calling for it a little bit.”
A late flag came out and the Lions’ revelry abruptly came to a halt as they waited for the referee to announce the penalty, which turned out to be sideline interference against Brown. The referee signaled touchdown and sent the players and crowd into frenzy. Freshman Dean Perfetti nailed the extra point, and the Light Blue took a 21-7 lead—along with plenty of momentum—into the break.
“That was a big play because they got the ball coming back out at the start of the second half,” Columbia head coach Norries Wilson said. “That [the touchdown] put us up two scores—that was a huge play.”
The touchdown was the second of Shalbrack’s career—the first came in 2007 against Princeton—and was the third interception return for the Lions this year after senior Jared Morine had pick-sixes against Fordham and Princeton. Mehrer’s interception was his fourth of the season, tying him with sophomore Ross Morand for most on the team. But the junior picked off another pass in the third quarter to end the season with the team lead in interceptions with five.
Mehrer and Shalbrack may never have had the chance to make that play if it weren’t for a mistake by sophomore defensive end Shea Selsor. Earlier in the drive, senior linebacker Augie Williams intercepted Newhall-Caballero on third and 10 to give the ball to the Lions with a chance to try to get some more points. But Selsor was called for roughing the passer, which negated Williams’ second interception of the season. Three plays later, everyone forgot about Selsor’s penalty as they watched Mehrer and Shalbrack extend Columbia’s lead.
Saturday’s game marked the final contest in light blue for the Lions’ 26 seniors. Going out with a win was all they could ask for, but it was even sweeter for Shalbrack.
“Honestly, you really couldn’t draw it up any better to kind of complete the career,” Shalbrack said. “It’s kind of the fairy-tale ending you always want to come in your last game.”
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