NEW YORK –– A once-promising 2009 season ended in disappointment for the Brown football team Saturday as the Bears dropped a 28-14 decision to Columbia at Wein Stadium.

The Bears finished third in the Ivy League with a 4-3 record and went 6-4 overall. Columbia finished at 4-6 overall and 3-4 in the league.

It was a bittersweet ending for Brown’s senior All-Ivy wide receivers, Buddy Farnham and Bobby Sewall, the top pass-catchers in the league. Farnham had nine catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns while Sewall caught nine passes for 69 yards.

The Bears’ defense had no answer for Lions option quarterback Sean Brackett, who ran for 171 yards and passed for 151, including a touchdown.

“We got beaten in all phases of the game,” said Brown head coach Phil Estes. “After our first drive we just couldn’t get anything going. Somehow, we got out of sync and Columbia just ate up the clock.”

The Bears drove 73 yards on their first possession and got on the scoreboard first when quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero threw a wide receiver screen pass to Farnham, who dodged several Columbia defenders en route to a 29-yard touchdown that give the Bears a 7-0 lead with 8:48 left in the first quarter.

Austin Knowlin scored on a 5-yard run to give the Lions a 14-7 lead with a minute left in the first half.

Lightning struck the Bears on the last play of the half when Newhall-Caballero’s long pass was intercepted at the Columbia 15-yard line by Adam Mehrer, who took off down the sideline. At midfield, Mehrer lateraled to Andy Shalbrack, who reversed his field and went down the other sideline into the end zone to give Columbia a 21-7 lead at the break.

Farnham scored his second touchdown on an 11-yard pass reception with 6:29 remaining in the game to pull the Bears within 28-14.

Portsmouth’s Sewall also capped a stellar Brown career as one of the Ivies’ all-time leading pass-catchers.