Penn 17 - Yale 7: Quakers run record to 18

NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- They do not talk about it in the locker room or on the sidelines. Many Ivy League football fans may not even be aware of it.

While it may not have the aura of New England's 21-game win streak in the NFL, Penn has a new record to be proud of, 18 consecutive Ivy League wins.

Putting the Red and Blue into the record books was a 17-7 triumph over Yale on Saturday. With the win, the No. 22 Quakers surpassed the previous mark of 17 set by the 1992-95 Penn squad, which set the Division I-AA football record for consecutive wins, 24 in all, which still stands today.

"I think the streak is more for the media more than for the players in general," said Penn junior running back Sam Mathews, whose pair of touchdown runs against Yale put the Quakers on top. "I'm coming in and I want to win every game and it doesn't have to do with a streak or anything else like that."

Penn head coach Al Bagnoli prefers not to draw attention to the Quakers' run, but he is certainly aware of its significance.

"I haven't even brought it up," Bagnoli said. "I was hoping they didn't know about it, but I'm sure they did.

"When you think in the context of 50 years of this league and what they've accomplished, it speaks volumes in terms of their consistency and their effort and their determination."

And Saturday's win took all of the above.

The Quakers (5-1, 3-0 Ivy) manufactured a 69-yard opening drive, which Mathews capped off with a 1-yard run into the end zone for the game's first score.

The Elis (3-3, 1-2) answered just before the end of the first quarter, as senior quarterback Alvin Cowan found junior Chandler Henley in the end zone for a 20-yard strike.

Despite this being a game that featured Yale's all-time leading rusher, senior Robert Carr, and Cowan, who set the Elis' mark with 36 career touchdowns, seven points was all Yale could muster.

"They've just played very well here over a long period of time and have done great things for our program," Yale coach Jack Siedlecki said of Carr and Cowan. "It's too bad those records had to come in a loss."

The Penn defense once again reasserted its status as one of the top corps in I-AA, allowing Yale just over six minutes of possession in the second half.

"I thought our kids played just a fabulous second half," Bagnoli said. "We were really trying to ratchet up the pressure in terms of both offense and defense. ... We just never let them have enough momentum."

Meanwhile, the Quakers' offense got the job done.

Sophomore Peter Stine, who was promoted last week from the sprint football team, nailed his first varsity field goal -- a 25-yarder in the third quarter -- to put the Quakers ahead for good.

"There's always a bit of butterflies, and it's just that much more being at the varsity level," Stine said. "But I'm just doing the same thing no matter where I'm doing it."

Stine is the third kicker the Quakers have used this season, assuming the role after seniors Evan Nolan and Bryan Arguello proved to be too inconsistent, missing a combined eight field- goal attempts.

Despite his efforts, Stine still became part of a kicking controversy. The Fort Washington, Pa., native booted a 26-yard attempt in the fourth quarter that appeared to sail true over the uprights. The officials, however, disagreed, claiming the kick was wide to the right.

Video evidence later showed the kick to be inside of the Yale Bowl's short uprights, and both Stine and Bagnoli were less than happy about the call.

"It's tough with the lower uprights they have here," Stine said. "It was on the inside of the post, and I guess it's the judges' call whether it would have gone in or out after it brushed the inside."

In the end, however, the denied three points would not be needed.

The Elis got their hands on the ball just once in the fourth quarter, and were knocking on the door until Penn junior defensive back Brad Martinez took the wind out of their sails.

Cowan had marched the Elis 65 yards down the field and was on his way to making it a three-point game again. The 6-foot-2 senior hit is favorite target, classmate Ralph Plumb, inside the Penn 21-yard line. Martinez was able to get a hand on the ball, and Plumb could not hold on.

Neither could the Elis. Penn defensive back Doug Middleton scooped up the loose ball, and the Quakers' offense did the rest.

"I was just going for the tackle," Martinez said. "He tried to cut it back and I got my hand around it."

Mathews sprinted 40 yards into Yale territory on the ensuing snap and the Quakers burned off the remaining six minutes of clock to secure the victory.

"It was a big play," Bagnoli said. "Both teams made very few mistakes, very few turnovers, but when they did it was costly because of where it was."

While the Quakers played a consistent game for 60 minutes, Yale's game was a story of two halves, and missed opportunities.

"We made some of the stupidest offensive mistakes we've made since I've been here," said Siedlecki, who is in his eighth season at Yale. "We lined up in the wrong formation twice. I mean, you've got to be kidding me."

Carr, who came into the game seventh in I-AA in rushing yardage, tore off 144 yards in the first half alone against a Penn line that surrenders just 79.4 yards on average. But the tables turned in the second half. With the all-time Yale rushing record in hand, Carr managed only 23 yards after the intermission.

"He did a nice job," Bagnoli said. "It wasn't until halftime that we were able to get in there to regroup, and fortunately for us we made some adjustments and closed that play down."

For the final 30 minutes, the Elis were shut down. On four possessions, Yale managed just three first downs -- all of which came on the final drive. Cowan only had the opportunity to call 17 plays compared to 40 in the first half.

"In the second half they were absolutely what we expected," Siedlecki said. "They were in the dime every time we were in the looks that didn't have two backs in the backfield. We just didn't get it done."

The loss puts Yale in a precarious position in terms of the Ivy title race, while Penn and Harvard remain the Ancient Eight's only unbeatens.

NOTES: Senior wide receiver Dan Castles, who made eight catches for 131 yards Saturday, remains one touchdown catch shy of tying Miles Macik for the Quakers all-time record. Macik logged 25 scores from 1993-95.

Penn remains the No. 22 team in the country according to this week's ESPN/USA Today poll, while Harvard drops one spot to No. 20 despite defeating Princeton, 39-14.

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