Ivy League Football Roundup

At Franklin Field in Philadelphia, UPenn quarterback Gavin Hoffman threw for 336 yards and four touchdowns as the University of Pennsylvania demolished Dartmouth (0-3, 0-1 Ivy).

In the Ivy League opener for both teams, Penn thoroughly dominated a Dartmouth team that suffered its worse loss since a 49-7 defeat way back in 1987.

The Quakers improved to 2-1(1-0 in the conference) primarily on the strength of Hoffman's passing. In addition to the 336 yards and the four touchdowns, Hoffman completed 25 of 30 passes, including two thrown to wide receiver Rob Milanese for touchdowns. Because of his impressive statistics, Hoffman was named one of the Ivy League's Offensive Players of the Week.

The only bright spot for the Big Green was the play of wideout Damien Roomets, who entered the game as the nation's leading receiver, and caught seven passes for 113 yards.

Yale 33, Holy Cross 27

The Yale Bulldogs (2-1, 0-1) used strong offensive performances from many key players to hold off a strong Holy Cross squad.

Yale quarterback Pete Lee passed for 197 yards and 3 touchdowns and later ran it in for the game's fourth score and the first rushing touchdown of his career.

The Bulldogs offensive line continued to provide plenty of support for running back Rashad Bartholomew, who is currently fourth in Division I-AA in yards per game with an average of 179.7.

The key to Yale's victory may well have been the impassioned play of its special teams which constantly provided Yale with good field position. In particular, punt returner Todd Tomich broke a school record against the Crusaders with 99 punt return yards.

Lehigh 35, Cornell 16

The Mountain Hawks of Lehigh relied on their ground game, as running backs Phil Pleasant and Jamal Burcher walked all over the Cornell Big Red.

Pleasant had 24 carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns. One of those touchdowns proved to be a back breaker, as Cornell never recovered when Pleasant broke an 82-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.

Burcher contributed 105 yards on 17 carries, and Hawks quarterback Brent Hall completed 14 of 25 passes for 162 yards.

Big Red quarterback Ricky Rahne did contribute 239 passing yards, but had an interception to go along with his single touchdown.

The Big Red (1-2, 1-0) will travel to Cambridge this weekend to put their 1-0 Ivy League record on the line against the Crimson.

Brown 29, Rhode Island 19

Brown wider receiver Stephen Campbell fell two catches short of Ivy League history, but was still good enough to lead the Brown Bears (2-1, 0-1) over the Rams of Rhode Island.

Campbell had two touchdown receptions, in addition to 218 receiving yards and 19 receptions.

The 19 receptions were a pair short of the Ivy League record of 21, held by Eric Johnson from Yale. In addition, Campbell's 218 receiving yards were three behind the record of Brown's Sean Morey.

Brown quarterback Eric Webber completed 37 of 52 passes for 354 yards and running back Michael Malan rushed for a modest 62 yards.

On the grounds of his tremendous performance, Campbell was named the NCAA I-AA Offensive Player of the Week, and he solidified his status as a front runner for the Walter Payton Award, given to the top I-AA player in the country.

Princeton 27, Columbia 24 OT

Princeton got its first win of the season in dramatic overtime fashion with a win over the Lions of Columbia (1-2, 0-1).

The Tigers (1-2, 1-0) were able to celebrate thanks to the late game heroics of Taylor Northrop, who kicked a 24-yard field goal in the first overtime.

Northrop's field goal put the finishing touches on a strong fourth quarter comeback by the Tigers. Northrop kicked a 37-yard field goal with 2:25 left to play to pull the Tigers within 7.

With so little time left, the Tigers couldn't let the Lions have the ball back. Northrop executed a picture perfect onside kick, which was recovered by Princeton's Taylor Smith.

The Tigers drove down the field, and running back Kyle Brandt smashed it in from the 1-yard line for six points. Northrop then connected on the extra point to send the game into overtime. For his efforts Northrop was named the Ivy League Special Teams Player of the Week.

Princeton wouldn't have been anywhere close to Columbia if not for the defensive play of Kevin Kongslie, the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Week.

Kongslie recorded two pass deflections, two tackles for a loss and a 48-yard interception return for a touchdown. That touchdown kept Princeton in the game during the second quarter when it appeared that Columbia was going to put the game out of reach.