Football stays perfect in Ivies

PRINCETON, N.J. -- The Princeton football team convinced a lot of people last week that it was capable of producing an underdog win against Penn. The Tigers were in a position to steal Penn's undefeated league record and set themselves up for a piece of the Ivy League crown.

But, for that to have happened, a different Princeton team would have needed to show up Saturday afternoon.

The Quakers (7-1, 5-0 Ivy League) took command as soon as the whistle blew, and en route to a 44-13 victory, all but demolished the Tigers (5-3, 3-2).

"There's not much to say, the score pretty much reflects how we played today," Princeton coach Roger Hughes said. "Penn beat us in every phase of the game. I give credit to this Penn team."

What many anticipated to be a tight, highly-competitive game quickly disintegrated into another Penn blowout.

"I thought we'd have to play one of the best games of the year," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We fully expected this game to come down to the last play, the last series."

Penn jumped out to an early lead just 5:43 into the game, as senior linebacker Travis Belden stormed past Princeton's offensive line and sacked Tigers' quarterback Matt Verbit in the endzone.

The Quakers' offense took a nod from the stellar defensive effort and began its own dominance in the matchup.

Penn quarterback Mike Mitchell marched the Quakers down the field, and Mike Recchiuti scored Penn's first touchdown of the game on a one-yard run. The Quakers would score five more that afternoon.

Although the Quakers only held a 9-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, Penn struck only six seconds into the second.

With solid running from Recchiuti and flawless connections with senior wide receiver Rob Milanese, the Quakers secured their third score of the day. Senior running back Stephen Faulk capped off the 71-yard, 11-play drive with a one-yard touchdown run. That marked Faulk's ninth score of the season, the highest of any Penn player.

Penn notched one more touchdown, again off a one-yard Recchiuti run, that put the Quakers up 23-0 heading into the locker room at halftime. Recchiuti's prime position came after Princeton punter Elliot Bishop mishandled a snap and accidentally downed the ball on his own 3-yard line.

Princeton's offense was futile in the first half, posting only 29 offensive yards on 26 plays. Just as the Tigers' offense began to muster any participation, the Red and Blue would strike. Vince Alexander picked a Verbit pass -- his fifth interception this season -- just as the Tigers began to string together a series of completions and to eye crossing the 50-yard line.

"You always want to be a better team at the end of the game than at the start," Hughes said, "but I think we took a step back today."

In the second half, it was much of the same. Fred Plaza squashed any chance of a Princeton comeback when, 7:28 into the third quarter, he intercepted a Verbit pass and ran it 30 yards into the endzone, putting the Quakers up, 30-0.

Princeton gave the crowd of 19,758 a glimpse of its ability in the fourth quarter, scoring two touchdowns in a five minute span.

But Princeton's lone touchdowns were countered quickly by Penn's Kevin DeSmedt and Todd Okolovitch, who both ran for their own scores in the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.

In a nearly identical setting to last season, the Ivy League's two undefeated teams -- Penn and Harvard -- will meet next weekend at Franklin Field.

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