ON THE SIDELINES: Princeton savors very sweet victory

After watching Penn celebrate two years ago, the Tigers got their chance Brock Harvey, Princeton's mobile quarterback, was able to erase some painful memories with the Tigers' 22-9 victory over Penn Saturday. Penn had won the last two of these clashes and had gone on to capture the last two Ivy titles. And the Quakers fans, known to be the most raucous in the Ivy League, let the Tigers know it in grand style. "There was a lot of revenge in this game," said Harvey, who admitted that this was his biggest game in his life. "Two years ago, the [Penn] fans ripped down the goal post and we had to watch it. And last year, the fans tried to do it on our field. I can't explain it to anybody who hadn't been there." It got to the point where the police had to threaten to arrest any students trying to tear down the goal posts Saturday. But Princeton, outplaying the Quakers in every facet, made that policy moot in improving its Ivy record to a perfect 5-0. The game was preceded by a level of nastiness and lunacy unprecedented in the Ivy League. Princeton coach Steve Tosches had griped about the Quakers' recruiting practices in a Sports Illustrated article. The sports editor of The Daily Princetonian called the Quakers "rule-bending wretches" in a recent column. At halftime, the Penn band assaulted a stuffed animal of a Tiger repeatedly until the stuffing exploded on the field. At game's end, the wind had scattered the insides all over the field. Tosches held his fire after the game, perhaps realizing his team's success this year undermined what he had been saying. In fact, he acted as if it was just another game. "Nah," Tosches said with a chuckle regarding any extra gratification in beating Penn. "This is just game number eight, and it keeps our season going. That's all. They all feel the same." Princeton captain Dave Patterson did not support his coach's assertion. He complained about being five-point underdogs. "We weren't getting the respect we deserved," he said. Patterson played like he was on a mission. Patterson, a senior linebacker who came into the game neck-and-neck with Penn all-American Miles Macik for Ivy League player of the year honors, bolstered his chances with 10 tackles, eight of them unassisted. Macik, who was double- and even triple-teamed all day, caught only three passes for 35 yards. After the Quakers recovered a Princeton fumble with 8:40 left in the contest, Patterson and defensive end Darrell Oliveira were key in stopping Penn's last-ditch effort to make a game of it. Penn had the ball at Princeton's 18-yard line, but two unassisted tackles by Patterson and a crushing nine-yard sack by Olivera ended any touchdown dreams of the Quakers. "We knew it was our chance to put the game away when they were down in the red zone," Patterson said. "We stepped it up and put them away." Also put away were some painful memories.

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