COLUMN: Penn seniors finish up careers in style

From Eric Goldstein's "A Front Row View," Fall '95 But all the talk of four-way ties and a third-straight Ivy League championship for Penn were drowned out Saturday with one 22-yard field goal in Hanover, N.H. With the Quakers dominating Cornell at Franklin Field, Princeton's game-tying field goal with one second left virtually assured the Tigers the Ivy title. About 30 minutes later, when the Franklin Field clock hit 00:00, it was official -- Princeton had won the crown. When Penn jumped ahead of the Big Red 21-0 early in the second quarter, Quakers fans immediately turned their attention to the Princeton-Dartmouth score. But the public address announcer did not announce the result until it was final -- Princeton 10, Dartmouth 10. Before getting the official word, the crowd had heard second-hand the Big Green was up 10-7 late in the game. The police stormed into Franklin Field by foot, by car and by bicycle to protect the goal posts and further pollution of the Schuylkill River. As Penn's lead grew, so did the curiosity of the fans. Cheers of "Let's go Dartmouth!" drowned out the pro-Penn chants of the cheerleaders. But with the one p.a. announcement, the crowd, which had been anticipating a storming of Franklin Field and the abduction of the west-end goal posts, was devastated. The season had been lost -- so thought the fans. But the players on the field kept playing. It was a loss to the program -- three straight Ivy crowns would certainly have pleased the alumni and help in recruiting. But to the players, especially the seniors, who had never even lost a game until this year, the championship was lost two weeks earlier with a 22-9 loss to the Tigers. Sharing the title with half the conference just would not have done. "I was lined up for a punt when I heard the score, and the guy next to me started cursing," senior captain Tom McGarrity said. "I said to him, 'Who cares? We're having fun out here. Let's go.' It was my last time on a football field. I didn't care what Princeton did. I wanted to win." While the careers of the seniors came to an anti-climactic end, the legacy of excellence they have established will be of far greater lasting than that of one more banner. They pushed Penn into the national spotlight -- mention on ESPN, stories in Sports Illustrated, features in the New York Times -- the type of recognition usually reserved for Division I-A schools. They shoved their way into the I-AA polls, topping out at No. 13 last year. And for the first time since Joe Valerio was selected in the second round of the 1991 draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, there may be a Penn alum in the NFL. Wide receiver Miles Macik has dazzled Franklin Field fans for three years with his sure-fire hands and amazing body control. He has caught passes intended to go out of bounds to avoid a sack. He has pulled in touchdowns with little more than his big toe actually being inbounds. He's jumped over three defenders to pull down a first down. He goes over the middle. He goes down the sidelines. He even holds for field goals. Along with his degree, Macik will graduate with the Ivy record for receptions and the Penn record for touchdown catches. After his seven-catch, 147-yard afternoon against Cornell, he finished with an even 200 receptions on his career -- just 54 yards behind Don Clune in Penn receiving yardage. On the other side of the ball, the Quakers will lose the last members of last year's defense -- the top-ranked unit in the nation. McGarrity, along with safeties Dana Lyons and Nick Morris and cornerback Kevin Allen, were known for their big-play ability -- a gift they demonstrated Saturday. On a day when the Penn offense only gained 33 more yards than Cornell, it was the defense's six forced turnovers that proved to be the difference. McGarrity had perhaps the key play of the game, when he scooped up a Chad Levitt fumble at the Quakers goal line and sprinted 66 yards to the Cornell 29 yard-line. While McGarrity provided the spark for Penn, Lyons pulled the plug on the Big Red. With just under 13 minutes remaining and the Big Red looking to overcome a 30-10 deficit, Lyons picked off a Steve Joyce pass. Morris is perhaps the most vital cog in Bagnoli's 5-2 defense. With the defense so heavily stacked up front, it is Morris's responsibility to stop everyone who makes it past that first line of defense. Against the Big Red, Morris recorded 10 tackles, giving him 106 on the season. Much will change in the Penn football program over the next 12 months. Many familiar faces will move on next spring, guys who have given us fans three years of their lives. And although we will have to get used to new players next year, the legacy of Miles and Nick and Tom will always be there. They may have walked off Franklin Field for the last time, but they will never truly leave. Back-to-back Ivy titles and 24 straight wins will not soon be forgotten. Although Princeton won the Ivy title, the Penn seniors will always be remembered as champions.