By JIM RUMBLE

In a clash between winless teams, the Northgate Flames' comeback attempt came up short when they traveled to Cornell last Friday.

After spotting the Raiders 13 first half points, the Flames put forth a courageous effort in the second, but couldn't get it done in the end as they suffered their sixth loss of the season 20-12.

After the game coach Mike Pipak said, "I'm so proud of our kids - they sucked it up and played so hard in the second half." He added, "We had our chances and just couldn't finish at the end."

Cornell won the battle of field position in the first half, which enabled them to jump out to the early lead.

The nonstop rain played a part at the beginning of the first quarter, as both teams lost possession with turnovers. Cornell's turnover came first as they fumbled a punt following Northgate's game-opening possession. The Flames returned the favor with a fumble on the very next play that gave the Raiders possession on the Northgate 37.

Cornell was able to move the ball to the Northgate 11 before big stops defensively by Pat Carr, Ryan Castleberry and J.D. Hoover gave the ball on downs to the Flames on their own 12 yard line.

Northgate took advantage of alternating runs by Carr and Joe Ellis, and a 12-yard pass completion from Jon Girvin to Mark Wilson, to move the ball. However, a fourth-and-five run by Girvin came up short, giving possession to Cornell at the 50 yard line.

The Raiders continued to move forward with a 21-yard run that set up a 4-yard TD run and extra point kick to take a 7-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Cornell was able to take advantage of great field position late in the second period after Northgate's punt from deep in their own end enabled the Raiders to set up on offense at the Flames' 40.

Cornell got a big break on the next play that would extend their lead. After throwing toward the first down marker around the 30, the Raider receiver slipped through a Northgate tackle and scampered the rest of the way into the end zone.A block on the extra point try would send the Flames into halftime trailing 13-0.

As they have done several times this year, the Flames came out tough on defense to start the third quarter, with big stops by Josh Schultheis and Josh Dunn forcing a punt on fourth down.

Josh Ellis' return on the punt allowed the Flames to start from the Raider 30 before moving in for their first touchdown. The five-play drive ended with a screen pass to the left that Carr took 22 yards for the score. Carr's miss on the extra point try had Northgate trailing 13-6 with 7:59 left in the quarter.

Northgate's defense forced another three-and-out possession by Cornell before starting their next touchdown drive. After starting from their own 40, Northgate's Girvin completed five passes to keep the drive alive before Joe Ellis' run down the left side resulted in a 14-yard TD. Girvin's run on the option play came up short on the two-point conversion to have Northgate still behind at 13-12 when the third quarter ended.

Cornell utilized a 28-yard pass play to set up a 3-yard TD run late in the fourth quarter to extend their lead to 20-12.

The Flames seemed to respond nicely as they moved from their own 35, mixing the run with the pass on their ensuing drive, and reaching the Cornell 3-yard line with a little over a minute to play. Unfortunately things got worse from there. A Northgate holding penalty and a sack on Girvin on first down moved the Flames back to the Raider 21 with 00:42 left on the clock. An incomplete pass on second down came next before a screen pass lost 5 yards on third down, back to the Cornell 26 with 00:30 remaining. Northgate's fourth down pass then fell incomplete to finalize the disheartening loss.

The Flames got a sack from Chase Staiger and a combined sack by Dunn and Schultheis to lead what was an overall respectable effort by the defense.

"It's a little disappointing but our kids never quit," Pipak said.