Great Games in Penn History: Oct. 27, 1984

If last Saturday's football game between Penn and Yale -- the only colleges to have played 1,000 games -- stirred feelings of deja vu among Quakers fans, it was with good reason. Because at one time or another it appeared the game was following the pattern of contests earlier this season with Dartmouth, Davidson and Army. But in the end, the only important parallel was the one with the four previous games that Penn had won, as the Quakers hung on to defeat a stubborn Yale team, 34-21. The victory, before a Homecoming crowd of 36,975 at Franklin Field, left Penn with a 5-1 record (4-0 Ivy), while the Bulldogs dropped to 3-3 (2-2 Ivy). At first, the game looked like a carbon copy of Penn's opener against Dartmouth, where the Quakers scored 14 quick points before the fans in Hanover, N.H., had settled into their seats. On Penn's first play from scrimmage, quarterback John McGeehan dropped back and found wide receiver Jim O'Toole slanting over the middle, one step ahead of Yale cornerback Tim Kotkiewicz. McGeehan threw the ball 40 yards in the air, hit O'Toole in stride, and the result was a 72-yard touchdown reception. "We went into the game with four plays we thought we might open with," Penn coach Jerry Berndt said. "That pass was one of them. We saw that the safety was lining up closer to the back side [hashmark] , and we felt we could beat the cornerbacks. I told John [McGeehan] that I liked the play, and it didn't take much to persuade him." Mike Cyr, who started at quarterback for Yale in place of the injured Mike Curtin, was unable to move the Elis against the Penn defense. Although the next Quakers possession ended with a fumble by Steve Ortman, Penn regained possession again with 6:49 remaining in the first quarter and embarked on a 12-play, 80-yard touchdown drive. The touchdown, which made the score 14-0, came on a two-yard pass from McGeehan to Ortman with 30 seconds left in the quarter. Down 17-0 in the second quarter, Yale coach Carm Cozza removed Cyr and inserted sophomore Mike Stewart at quarterback. Stewart, who had played split end and wingback earlier this season, is a quick player who soon proved to be an excellent running quarterback. And Cozza had designed new plays last week especially for Stewart, including an option and a quarterback sweep. The Quakers, who had been preparing for Curtain or Cyr, had a difficult time adjusting to the new quarterback. Stewart led the Elis on a 75-yard touchdown drive, all on the ground. The sophomore ran for 45 of those yards himself. Dave Kline capped the drive with a one-yard plunge to bring Yale back within 10 points. "How can you prepare for a guy like [Stewart]?" Berndt said. "We didn't see him at quarterback in any of the films. I think when the score was 17-0 and they had that long drive, they found out they could play with our defense, and that really helped their confidence." Stewart's entry into the game seemed to fire up the Bulldogs. Conversely, Penn's next three possessions ended in a fumble, a punt and an interception. The interception, by Yale linebacker Carmen Ilacqua, was the most damaging. Ilacqua raced 44 yards after picking off the pass, and after a personal foul was tacked on, Yale had the ball at Penn's 12-yard line. With only 27 seconds remaining in the half, Cozza reinserted Cyr to try to throw for the score. When three straight passes fell incomplete, Bill Moore came on to kick a 29-yard field goal with five seconds remaining that narrowed Penn's lead to 17-10 at halftime. Moore kicked another field goal, this time from 31 yards out, to make the score 17-13. With Penn fans sitting on the edge of their seats, the Quakers offense roared back to life. Penn received the kickoff and took possession at its own 30-yard line. After Ortman ran for a first down, Lal Heneghan caught a 24-yard pass from McGeehan barely in bounds. Four plays later Rich Comizio burst through the left side of the Quaker line for a 2-yard touchdown run and a 24-13 Penn lead. "We had a lot of success with that play," Comizio said. "We made some mistakes earlier, but we finally stopped playing like we were asleep." But the Bulldogs, particularly Stewart, were not through yet. Stewart almost singlehandedly led Yale on another long drive (67 yards, 14 plays), which culminated in a two-yard touchdown run by Kline with 6:14 left to play. The lead was now 24-19, and just as in the Army game, the Quakers were having trouble containing quick backs going around the ends. Yale lined up to kick the conversion, but called a fake in which the holder, Mike Luzzi, took the snap and ran straight up the middle. The fake took the Penn defense by surprise, and after the two-point conversion the Elis were only three points behind. After Penn added a 45-yard field goal from Murphy, the Quakers held a tenuous six-point lead with only 3:44 remaining. But with the game on the line, the Penn defense came up big. Yale took possession on its own 24-yard line, and Stewart was promptly penalized for intentionally grounding. After an illegal motion penalty and an incomplete pass, the Bulldogs were faced with a third-and-29 situation from their own five. Stewart's desperation pass was picked off at the Yale 48. A 20-yard touchdown screen pass from McGeehan to Ortman iced the victory for the Quakers. "There was no doubt in our minds that we were going to find a way to win the game," Berndt said. "For some reason, we just seem to have to make Homecoming games exciting."