Penn crushes Cornell for the Ivy title in football.
By Noel Hynd
Five weeks
into the past football season,
one would have to have looked carefully to find indications of what was
to follow. True, Penn had been impressive in wins over Dartmouth and Columbia,
but the New Hampshire team and the New York team were both destined to
finish in the nether regions of the league standings. When Penn traveled
to New Haven for the sixth Saturday of the season and lost a tight game
to Yale 27-24, the record for the campaign was a flat 3-3.
So who knew?
With four games
remaining, all against the more potent squads in the league, there was
really only one way Penn had a shot to earn an outright title: win every
remaining game.
Well, why not?
Having lost in
New Haven by three points the previous Saturday, the Penn footballers
thrilled a Parents’ Weekend crowd at Franklin field by beating Brown by
those same three points. The following Saturday, Penn went to Tigertown
and tamed our friends with the orange and black stripes by a score of
40-24. Now things were getting serious.
Homecoming Weekend
brought Harvard to Franklin Field, and again the crowd got its money’s
worth (see p. 48). And frankly, for games such as this one, it’s nice
to know that there’s an outstanding cardiology unity at HUP. Penn won
36-35, and I guess it goes without saying that the contest was a thriller,
with Penn scoring a game-winning touchdown in the closing minutes.
And yet, all
that set up was an all-or-nothing situation against Cornell, which also
went into the final Saturday with a 5-1 Ivy record. The Big Red had some
added incentive. The game was in Ithaca, and a win would give Cornell
their first outright Ivy title. Factor in a bit of a grudge: Penn had
won in such situations against Cornell before.
Can you say,
“payback”?
Can you also
say, “No contest”?
Despite the presence
of a highly enthusiastic home crowd at Shoellkopf Field, Penn dismantled
Cornell’s title aspirations from the opening kickoff. The Quakers offense
opened the game with a 74-yard drive, which lasted 3:43 and culminated
with a five-yard touchdown pass from junior quarterback Gavin Hoffman
to junior Adam Keslosky. Then, on the next possession, Hoffman led the
Red and Blue 80 yards down the field again and junior Kris Ryan scored
his first touchdown of the day, on a 39-yard sprint.
Cornell was able
to get seven points back with 1:21 remaining in the opening quarter. That,
however, would be the last time the Big Red would get into the end zone
with the game still in reach. In the second quarter, senior Jason Battung
caught a 40-yard touchdown pass from Hoffman and Ryan rumbled in for his
second TD of the afternoon to give the Quakers a commanding 28-7 halftime
lead.
Cornell threatened
to score in the third quarter, but failed to make a touchdown after gaining
a first down on the Quaker 10-yard line. Effectively, that was the game.
The Quakers came back on the very next possession and drained 7:59 off
the clock, driving 99 yards down the field with Ryan carrying in his third
score of the day on a four-yard run with 11:04 left. Ryan later capped
off his day’s work with his fourth touchdown of the afternoon with a 50-yard
burst into the end zone with 7:25 remaining.
That touchdown,
making the score 42-7, was the last nail in the Big Red Coffin, though
senior Jason Feinberg added a field goal and Cornell came back for a final
touchdown with 1:52 left to play. Final score 45-15, giving Penn their
11th Ivy title overall and their eighth outright title. It was also Penn’s
fourth title in the last seven years, as well as the fourth title for
coach Al Bagnoli. In case this has a familiar ring to it, by the way,
Penn’s last Ivy title was two short years ago when the Quakers defeated
Cornell, 31-21, at Schoellkopf Field in 1998. If we keep doing this to
them, they’re just not going to invite us back someday.
A
few final football notes: Kris
Ryan’s 243-yard outburst against Cornell was the fifth-best rushing performance
in Quakers history.
Jason Feinberg
became the Red and Blue’s all-time leading scorer with 218 points, shattering
the old mark of 210 set by Bryan Keys C’90. Feinberg also ended his career
as the Ivy League’s all-time leading scorer as a kicker, and holds all
three Red and Blue kicking marks (41 field goals and 95 extra points).
Junior Rob Milanese
broke the Quakers’ single season receptions and receiving yards records
with his game-high nine receptions and 117 yards. His 76 receptions for
the season broke the record of 72 set by Miles Macik C’96 in 1993, and
he also surpassed of Don Clune C’74—whose 891 yards in 1971 was the previous
record—with 936 yards on the year.
Gavin Hoffman’s
330 yards left him 39 yards short of the Ivy League single-season mark;
he finished the day with 3,214-passing yards on the season and 5,542 on
his Penn career.
Jason Battung
caught for a career-high 93 yards, and his 40-yard touchdown reception
in the first quarter was the longest of his career.
Senior Doug O’Neill
finished his Quakers career with at least one reception in his last 29
games and picked up 45 yards on four catches. He also finished his Penn
career with 126 receptions (second all-time) and 1,616 yards (third all-time).
Speaking of championships—as
we just were—when the Penn women’s soccer team rolled to a 1-0 victory
over St. John’s in early November, the team claimed the ECAC Championship
title—their second in four years. Tournament MVP Angela Konstantaras,
a senior, led the Quakers. Despite the low score, the game proved to be
extremely exciting as play went back and forth in the first half. In the
second half, the Quakers came out on fire, dominating play for the first
30 minutes. The game-winning goal came from Konstantaras off a feed from
junior Sabrina Fenton. The lone tally of the day—this is soccer, after
all—was enough to clinch the championship for the Red and Blue. The win
was also the first shutout of the season for sophomore goalkeeper Kathie
Hunt. The Quakers ended their season 10-8-1.
Despite an 0-4
record as of the beginning of December, men’s basketball also has an excellent
chance to bring another Ivy title to Penn this year (see last issue’s
column). They may be joined by their female hoop partners. In a pre-season
ballot, Penn’s women’s basketball team was picked to capture its first-ever
Ivy League title in a close vote among members of the local media and
the league’s sports information offices. The Quakers finished in first
place with 114 votes (including seven first-place nods), just ahead of
two-time defending league champion Dartmouth, who received 110 votes (four
first-place).
In her senior
year, all-America candidate Diana Carmanico looks to lead Penn past its
second-place finish last season. Caramanico led the Ivy League in scoring
last season, averaging 24.8 points per game (second in the nation). Second-year
Quakers Head Coach Kelly Greenberg guided the Red and Blue to a program
record 18 wins (18-10 overall), and a 9-5 finish in the Ivy League in
1999-2000.
This is really
just what the Palestra needs. More noise and excitement.
Noel Hynd C’70 writes on sports for the Gazette.
