Quaker comback makes history

Football defeats Big Red to cap 10-0 year Penn senior defensive end Dave Betten tightened his grip on Cornell running back Chad Levitt's leg and looked around. Betten and senior end Kelly Tolton had stopped Levitt on a fourth down and two play from the Penn 21 with one minute remaining in Saturday's Penn-Cornell game, only Betten wasn't sure if he had prevented Levitt from reaching the first-down marker. When he saw his teammates dancing around, he clutched Levitt's leg for a few more seconds before relinquishing his hold. The memory he can hang on to forever. Years from now, Betten and the rest of the 1993 Penn football team will be able to recall the 17-14 victory that culminated its perfect season. "I cannot imagine a better or a more befitting way of going out," said senior quarterback Jim McGeehan, trying to hold back tears. "To end on this note makes your life more enjoyable for years to come." Perfection can do that, for only perfection brings no regrets. And perfection is so rare. Saturday marked the third time this century Penn has finished a season undefeated and untied. The last time was in 1986, the same year Halley's Comet made its last appearance. History gave better odds to the comet returning first, as the Quakers' other perfect season this century was in 1904. And never in history had an Ivy League school gone undefeated in league play in both football and basketball during the same calendar year. This team, however, never cared much for history. For the seniors, history meant losing seasons. For fifth-year seniors Betten, Frank Caccuro and Chris Brassell it also meant injuries. These guys elected to stay for an extra year to erase that history. While the fans struggled to tear down the goalposts and then lugged their bounty to the Schuylkill River, Betten and Caccuro revered their treasure – the official Ivy League trophy. Two weeks ago that trophy seemed a certainty. After Penn beat Princeton the fans at Franklin Field tore the goalposts down without much of a fight, and most figured the remaining two games on Penn's schedule would be similarly one sided. They figured wrong. Last week Penn erased a 10-point halftime deficit to win 27-20. Saturday, in the centennial clash between Penn and Cornell, the Quakers turned the ball over four times in the first half en route to a 14-0 deficit, and the Schuylkill appeared safe from a second date with the goalposts. Penn didn't lead until senior Marc Horowitz booted a 30 yard field goal through the goalposts with 5:44 remaining. The kick left the game in the hands of the Penn defense, exactly where Cornell quarterback Bill Lazor had been all afternoon. The Quakers sacked Lazor nine times with Betten and junior end Michael "Pup" Turner the ringleaders. Cornell started its final possession from its own 24, facing a long field and long odds. The Big Red had not achieved a first down in six previous second-half possessions. In the third quarter Cornell gained zero total yards of offense. But nothing had been easy for the Penn fans all afternoon. A chilly wind blew hats around like they were hot dog wrappers. They not only weren't seeing the digits change on the Penn side of the scoreboard, they weren't feeling their own digits. Now they would endure Cornell's last-gasp drive. In five plays the Big Red moved from its own 24 to midfield. Then Lazor hit Ron Mateo on the right side for a 21-yard gain. With two minutes remaining the Big Red faced a third down and five from the Penn 24. Lazor scrambled for an apparent first down, but the Big Red were flagged for illegal procedure. The penalty set up a third down and 10. After an eight-yard gain Cornell faced that decisive fourth and two from the Penn 21. Nobody, however, had a towel over his eyes. "Our defense has played great all season," Terrance Stokes said. "We felt as confident with the defense out there as when we were out there." On this afternoon they should have been more confident. After all the Big Red defense scored Cornell's second touchdown when free safety Terry Golden pranced 33 yards with a McGeehan interception. McGeehan said it was the first time in his life that he had ever thrown an interception that was returned for a touchdown. "We have been through a lot, and I guess we wanted to go through everything," McGeehan said. Stokes also struggled in the first half. He fumbled once inside the Cornell 20, and his second fumble led to the Big Red's opening score. "We were very flat coming out," said Stokes, who finished with 98 yards. "We were uptight and thinking a lot about going 10-0. We were focused on going 10-0 rather than doing the things that got us to 9-0." In the second half, the defense turned the game around. Junior free safety Nick Morris was the booster rocket that propelled the Quakers' comeback. With the offense still struggling early in the third quarter, Morris intercepted a Lazor pass near midfield and returned it to the Cornell 29. Three plays later freshman Aman Abye was in the end zone. Yet, McGeehan appeared out of sync through the first three quarters, throwing over the head of sophomore wideout Miles Macik on several occasions. The wind was certainly a factor, but overthrowing a 6-4 receiver with a 36-inch vertical leap is not typical of Penn's all-time leading passer. In the fourth quarter the offense finally worked out its problems. Penn opened the quarter with an 86-yard march that tied the game at 14 with 10:19 left. McGeehan capped the drive by hitting Macik for a 17-yard touchdown. He finished the day completing 18 of 34 passes for 170 yards. The Quaker defense then stymied the Big Red again, forcing Cornell to punt for the 12th time. Geoff Cochrane's 21-yard kick into the wind gave Penn the ball on the Cornell 37 and the Quakers drove to the Cornell 13 to set up Horowitz's winning kick. "I felt a little bit of what was riding on it," said Horowitz, who missed a 39-yard try in the first half. "I tried my best to make it like a regular kick." Penn coach Al Bagnoli treated the win like a regular win. Bagnoli, however, has made a habit of perfect seasons, as he coached Union College to four undefeated regular seasons. The most excited Bagnoli got in public after the game was when he saw the Quakers had committed only two penalties. Next year Bagnoli will undoubtedly focus on eliminating those nasty penalties. The Quakers, however, have bragging rights over other Ivy teams for a full year now. And the seniors have bragging rights for life.