Yale, Dartmouth and Penn Take Ivy Grid Openers

Turnovers, defense, and home field advantage keynoted the "non-Harvard" games in the Ivy League's first week of football business.

Highlighting the three other intraleague contests was Yale's stingy 10-9 victory over Brown in the Yale Bowl.

The opening game dogfight between what most consider the Ivies' two top teams wasn't decided until the last minute of play, when the Bruins, trailing 10-7, had the ball second and goal at the Yale two yard line.

In the ensuing two plays, the Brown offense, led by quarterback Mark Whipple and fullback Wally Shields, moved the ball 71 inches closer, only to have Shields stifled on fourth down by a wall of Bulldogs.

With only 35 seconds left Yale was content to surrender a safety and run out the clock.

Ah, but for that minute of excitement there were approximately 58 minutes of classic Ivy League bordom. Yale superback John Pagliaro looked strong, carrying 25 times for 88 yards, 23 of which came on his first-quarter touchdown scoot to give the Elis a 7-0 halftime lead.

A third quarter field goal by Peruvian soccer player Dave Schwartz (Dave Schwartz?) boosted the Eli margin to 10-0 before Whipple cranked up Brown's offense in the final quarter, as he hit Mark Farnham, gifted sibling of last year's Brown star, Bob, on a 52-yard touchdown pass with 13 minutes remaining.

The stage was set for the final stand of the Yale defense. Who says Ivy League football isn't exciting?

In the two other games played on Saturday, Dartmouth nipped Princeton 14-11 and Penn turned the lights out on Cornell 17-7 in the first night football game ever in the Ivies.

Up in oddly warm Hanover, Dartmouth led from the outset, scoring touchdowns late in the first quarter and early in the fourth to lead by a 14-3 margin.

With less than four minutes remaining the Tigers scored their first touchdown and converted for two points to make it close, before a 61-yard punt by Dartmouth kicker Steve Terrell buried the Jerseyans.

Penn's strong wishbone running attack broke open a 7-7 half-time deadlock with ten second-half points for its opening victory over Cornell and prodigal coach Bob Blackman, who returned to the Ivies this year after a seven-year stint at Illinois.