While Cornell earned a 21-10 win over Dartmouth this past weekend, the Ivy League race continued to heat up. With two games remaining in the season, Princeton took a bite out of Penn on Saturday and, with Brown, firmly established itself in a tie for first place. Meanwhile, the Bears continued their torrid form and Harvard stayed in the race by demolishing a hapless Columbia squad.
Princeton 30, Penn 13
The Tigers (6-2, 4-1 Ivy) crashed Penn’s homecoming weekend behind two Rob Teresco touchdowns, snapping a nine-game losing streak against the Quakers (5-3, 3-2). Princeton’s Jeff Terrell completed 16-of-25 passes for 193 yards, while Penn quarterback Pat McDermott was 18-for-40 and threw for a touchdown and four interceptions.
Princeton came out with a 14-0 lead, but Penn brought it back to within eight after a Joe Sandberg 25-yard run. However, the ensuing extra-point attempt was blocked by Brig Walker and Jay McCareins returned it for a two-point defensive conversion.
The Quakers made it 16-13 off a 21-yard McDermott touchdown pass to John McDonald, but Princeton would never relinquish its lead. Terrell completed a 33-yard touchdown pass to Jon Dekker with 7:43 left in the game and the Tigers recovered a fumble on the kickoff. Teresco would seal the deal with a 5-yard run into the end zone.
This was the first time since 1999 that Penn has lost back-to-back Ivy League games.
Brown 38, Yale 21
Nick Hartigan again solidified his credentials as the top running back in I-AA by rushing for 192 yards on 33 carries and four touchdowns, as Brown (7-1, 4-1) continued its reign atop the Ivy standings.
With games remaining against bottom-feeders Columbia and Dartmouth, Brown put itself in prime position to win-out. Brown quarterback Joe DiGiacomo completed 14-of-22 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns.
The score was tied at 14 when DiGiacomo hit Jarret Schreck for a 28-yard touchdown reception with 39 seconds left in the first half to give the Bears the lead. Brown would never look back, as it eventually took a 38-21 lead before Yale quarterback Jeff Mroz attempted to get his team back in the game by trying to find Ashley Wright in the end zone. However, his pass was picked off by James Gasparella with 8:33 left in the game, effectively putting the final nail in the Bulldogs’ (3-5, 3-2) coffin.
Harvard 55, Columbia 7
While Harvard (5-3, 3-2) is still holding onto slim hopes of a share of the league title, Columbia (2-6, 0-5) is probably hoping its season will end sooner rather than later. Harvard tailback Clifton Dawson ran for a score and caught a touchdown pass and quarterback Liam O’Hagan threw two touchdown passes in the rout.
Harvard led 41-0 at halftime, as the Crimson picked off three passes from Columbia quarterback Craig Hormann. The Harvard defense also forced two fumbles and recorded a sack.
O’Hagan did not play in the second half and Columbia was unable to score until there was 1:14 left in the game, off a Jim Besselman touchdown reception.
Archived article by Brian Tsao
Sun Assistant Sports Editor