Alone at last; Football takes Ivy League lead

Penn's 27-14 win over Princeton leaves the Quakers one game ahead with two to play. PRINCETON, N.J. -- Four long years have come and gone since the Ivy League crown has seen Franklin Field. On Saturday, however, Penn took one more step toward ending the title drought. The Quakers' 27-14 triumph over Princeton (4-4, 3-2 Ivy League) placed Penn (6-2, 4-1) in sole possession of the Ivy League lead, one game ahead of the Tigers, Harvard, Yale and Brown. "Right now, life is good," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We have two games left. We don't really want to share this with anybody." On a perfect brisk day for football at the new Princeton Stadium, the home advantage the Tigers had enjoyed all season was absent. With Princeton students on fall break and a less than capacity crowd of 20,230, it was the Penn fans who made the most noise and turned the new building into Franklin Field North. Meanwhile, many Tigers fans took their time entering from the parking lots. All they missed was a 21-point Penn explosion in the first 4:48 of the game, courtesy of Princeton turnovers and Quakers execution that took any existing air out of the Tigers faithful. On the opening kickoff, Tigers wide receiver Ray Canole fumbled the return at the Princeton 31-yard line. Penn's ensuing five-play drive ended in a touchdown pass from Quakers quarterback Matt Rader to a very wide open Brandon Carson. The Quakers wide receiver found himself alone on the left side for the 13-yard Rader throw for the early 7-0 lead. "When I saw the defensive backs were back [away from] me, I realized I was not going to be covered," Carson said. "I didn't want to start yelling and make myself visible, but when I got out there I gave Matt [Rader] a little wave, and hoped that he saw me. And he did." "It was not a trick play," Bagnoli said. "Carson just came out of the huddle. I don't know if [Princeton] tried to flip-flop corners, I don't know what happened, but that was the weirdest play I've ever seen." After Princeton went three and out on its next possession, Quakers co-captain Joe Piela returned the ball 34 yards to the Princeton 28-yard line. The big return set the stage for Quakers running back Jim Finn to enhance his quarterback rating through the now-familiar halfback option. For the second time this season, Finn found an open receiver in the endzone. Quakers tight end Brandon Clay was the beneficiary of the 28-yard completion, giving Penn a 14-0 advantage. To complete its disastrous start, Princeton running back Derek Theisen fumbled the ball on a hit by Quakers linebacker Jim Hisgen, who recovered the loose football at the Princeton 18. On the very next play, Rader sat patiently in the pocket until he fired a touchdown pass to Quakers wide receiver David Rogers in triple coverage. Penn held an unexpected 21-0 lead just 4:48 into the contest. Down by three touchdowns, Princeton slowly gained some offensive momentum. In the early second quarter, the Tigers finally controlled the ball and put together an 11-play, 71 yard drive for Princeton's first points of the game. Later, with 1:48 to go in the first half, Princeton quarterback John Burnham got into a quick rhythm against the Quakers' secondary, putting together five passes in 57 seconds. A five-yard touchdown pass to Princeton wideout Philip Wendler narrowed the Penn lead to 24-14. Throughout the drive Burnham found himself with time to search for receivers revealing a Quakers secondary that struggled to stop Princeton's new-found momentum. "Penn's safeties were looking to come forward a lot of times, and we knew their cornerbacks were biting really hard on outside moves," Wendler said. "We then knew we could run a couple of play-action passes, and some of our longer passes broke well." Princeton continued to chip away at the Quakers in the second half, but Princeton kicker Alex Sierk, usually automatic from short range, missed a 24-yard field goal attempt. Sierk hit the ball perfectly straight, but with the spot of the ball being outside the right pole, the kick went wide. Instead of pulling within a touchdown and continuing their momentum, the Tigers gave the ball over to the Quakers and never seriously threatened again. For the Quakers, Finn finished with 39 carries and 164 yards rushing and Rader went 12-of-23 for 159 yards. Carson led Quaker receivers with four catches and Rogers had the team's most receiving yards with 58. In addition to the pass defense, three areas of additional concern still affect the Quakers. First, the kicking game regressed as Quakers kicker Jason Feinberg missed two field goals on flat kicks, one from 46 and another from 34. The Quakers now will prepare for what may be the biggest contest since the championship season of 1994 -- next weekend's home contest against Harvard. Despite the one-game lead and the home field advantage, some people remain skeptical of Penn's place in the Ivy race. "You know, I really think there is a chance [for Harvard to beat Penn]," Burnham said. "As long as they [Harvard] don't do what we did in the first five minutes of the ballgame, Harvard's as good a team as Penn." "Penn's a tough football team -- I'm not going to take anything away from them. But they're by no means dominant."