Football Holds Destiny in Own Hands

In a fall season of NFL and Division 1-A Football where no lead can be considered safe and any team can win on a given week, it comes as no surprise that the of10 wild Ivy League has followed suit this year.

This weekend certainly had no shortage of close games. Besides the dramatic 13-6 Harvard (4-2, 2-1 Ivy) victory over Princeton (2-4, 0-3 Ivy), Saturday's Ivy League action featured two games which came down to onside kicks in the final minutes.

With all eight Ivy teams in league action for the first time since opening weekend, there was bound to be a major shakeup in the league standings.

On Saturday afternoon, Cornell and Penn--the two lone unbea10 teams in league play--were knocked from their pedestals by Dartmouth and Brown, respectively.

The losses by the Big Red and the Quakers, and subsequent victories by the Bulldogs and the Crimson made for a five-way tie in the loss column atop the Ivy League standings.

With four weeks left in the season, the Ivy League is as wide open as ever, leaving a solid probability that this season's version of The Game between Harvard and Yale might be the one that determines the league champion.

Additionally, with its victory over Princeton, the Crimson hold's its Ivy League destiny in its own hands.

Brown 44, Penn 37

Last year when the Bears and the Quakers hooked up, the two teams racked up an Ivy League-record 109 points in Brown's 58-51 victory.

With many players from last year's contest still remaining, this season's encore presentation proved to be no disappointment. The two teams combined for 983 yards of total offense and 81 points as the Bears (5-1, 3-1 Ivy) once again downed the Quakers (3-3, 2-1 Ivy), this time by a final score of 44-37.

Brown senior quarterback James Perry--who broke the Ivy League career records in touchdown passes and completions last week--needed just 255 yards to break the Ivy League career yardage mark going into the game. Perry proved once again why he may be one of the Ivy League's best quarterbacks ever, as he threw for a career-high 440 yards and 5 touchdown passes, passing the career mark in style.

In the early going it appeared as if whichever team had the ball last would win, as the Bears and the Quakers scored at will.

Five minutes into the second half Penn scored a TD to cut the Brown lead to 28-23. The Quaker offense, led by quarterback Gavin Hoffman (22-for-39, 343 yards, 2 TD) and sophomore running back Kris Ryan (19-for-84 yards, 2 TD), was able to match the Brown offense blow-for-blow.

But then in the fourth quarter, the Bear defense finally stepped up, stopping the Quakers on consecutive drives.

With the defense coming up big, wide receiver Steve Campbell (10-for-190 yards, 4 TD) and Perry broke the game wide open for the Bears. Campbell caught a 41-yard touchdown pass from Perry at the end of the 3rd quarter and then caught another--his fourth of the day--with 7:52 left in the game, to give Brown a seemingly insurmountable 44-23 lead.

Brown--which blew a 28-7 lead against Cornell three weeks ago and narrowly missed blowing a 27-3 lead against URI last week--was far from having the game won.

With 1:05 remaining, Penn sophomore wide receiver Rob Milanese caught a 43-yard touchdown pass from Hoffman, to cut the lead to 14 points. Sophomore wideout Colin Smith recovered the subsequent onside kick, and 40 seconds later the Quakers were in the end zone again, as Hoffman hit junior receiver John Holahan from 10 yards out.

The Quaker team, however, was just a few miracles short, as Brown managed to recover the next Penn onside kick to preserve the victory.

Dartmouth 20, Cornell 17

After stunning come-from-behind victories against Brown and Harvard from 21 and 13-point deficits, respectively, Cornell was bound to slip up eventually.

Saturday's game at Dartmouth, however, wasn't supposed to be that close. The Big Green was coming in off of an embarrassing 44-3 loss to Yale, which ex10ded its school-record losing streak to 10 games.

Dartmouth (1-5, 1-2 Ivy) made the most of its homecoming weekend, however, as the Big Green came back from a four-point halftime deficit to defeat Cornell (4-2, 3-1 Ivy) by the score of 20-17.

Dartmouth appeared primed to make amends for last week's loss from the outset. The Big Green special teams struck first, as freshman defensive back John Campbell returned a punt blocked by senior Mike Muccio, giving the Big Green a 6-0 lead.

But Cornell stormed back to take the lead at the half. Junior receiver Joe Splendorio made the first of his two touchdown catches and senior kicker John McCombs added a 23-yard field goal to put the Big Red up 10-6.

The Dartmouth defense, however, then took control of the game. Cornell was unable to get anything going, as the Big Green chalked up seven sacks for the second consecutive week.

In the end, the weak punting of Cornell proved to be its undoing. After a 29-yard Cornell punt, Dartmouth was able to take a 13-10 lead as sophomore quarterback Brian Mann ran in from a yard out.

A 12-yard touchdown run by senior tailback Reggie Belhomme early in the fourth quarter gave Dartmouth a 20-10 lead.

But Cornell--no stranger to Ivy League comebacks--was able to put together a nine-play, 87-yard drive, capped off by an amazing 36-yard touchdown by pass to Splendorio from sophomore quarterback Ricky Rahne (28-for-49, 276 yards, 2 TD) cutting the lead to 20-17 with 1:51 remaining.

Dartmouth, however, was able to recover the ensuing onside kick to seal its first victory of the season.

Yale 41, Dartmouth 29

Since its heartbreaking 25-24 loss to Brown to open the season, Yale has been on a roll.

Saturday's 41-29 win over Columbia (2-4, 0-3 Ivy) marked the fifth consecutive convincing victory for the Bulldogs (5-1, 2-1 Ivy), giving Yale its longest win streak in 10 years.

The game was not nearly as close as the final score indicated, as Yale led throughout, taking a 24-3 lead into halftime and a 41-10 lead into the fourth quarter.

Senior quarterback Joe Walland (13-for-26, 185 yards, 1 TD) and junior running back Rashad Bartholomew (27-for-131 yards, 2 TD) led the Yale offense.

The Columbia offense, on the other hand, was non-exis10t until the fourth quarter. The Lions scored three touchdowns against the Yale reserves in the final period, but the Bulldog lead was never in any real danger.

The Lions were led by sophomore quarterback Jeff McCall (12-for-21, 162 yards, 2 TD) and sophomore running back Johnathan Reese (15-for-77 yards, 2 TD).