Unbeaten Penn Flies High at Yale, 23-7; Quakers Take Control of Ivy Title Race

NEW HAVEN, Conn.--The Penn offensive and defensive lines dominated their Yale counterparts here Saturday to lead the Quakers to a 23-7 victory in front of 23,449 fans at the Yale Bowl.

Penn's win, coupled with Princeton's 11-6 defeat of Harvard, put the Quakers (now 5-1, 4-0 Ivy) in the driver's seat in the Ivy race.

The Red and Blue are now a full game in front of Harvard and Princeton (both 3-1 Ivy) and a game-and-a-half in front of the conquered Bulldogs (2-1).

But Penn's next two Ivy opponents are Harvard and Princeton--the two biggest obstacles in its drive for a third consecutive Ancient Eight title.

"We have Princeton next week," Penn Coach Jerry Berndt said after his team had defeated Yale for the fourth consecutive year. "We don't look beyond anyone. We'll give our kids the night off and start tomorrow preparing for Princeton."

"They [Penn] are going to hit tougher teams than us," Yale Coach Carm Cozza agreed, adding that he felt both Princeton and Harvard "are playing a lot better football than us."

The visiting Quakers played by far the better football Saturday. Dominating the lines of scrimmage, Penn gained 304 yards on the ground while holding the Elis to just 67.

Running back Rich Comizio benefited most from the big boys in the trenches, picking up 203 yards on 27 carries and scoring his team's first touchdown on a four-yd. run. The junior tailback also caught a 39-yd. pass for a score.

"I thought we won the game up front," Berndt said. "I thought we controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the field."

"They beat us up front," Cozza added," no doubt about it."

The other key in the first quarter--where Penn took a commanding 10-0 lead--was field position. Penn started its drives at the Yale 43, the Yale 29 and its own 45.

Meanwhile, the hosts were mired deep in their own end of the Bowl, starting from their own 22, 4, 22, and 16 yard lines.

Comizio's first touchdown capped off a 29-yd., five play drive--set up by a 17-yd. punt return by Chris Flynn--and put the visitors ahead to stay.

But it was the Connecticut native's second touchdown which sealed Yale's coffin. Penn quarterback Jim Crocicchia, facing a second-and-10 from the Yale 39 midway through the second quarter, hit Comizio with a little dump pass in the left flat.

Comizio ran behind a wall of blockers for several yards, but then cut sharply to his right, running diagonally through virtually the entire Yale defense and into the endzone. Ray Saunders' extra point made the score 17-0.

The Bulldogs did manage to negotiate a 75-yd, scoring drive in the third quarter and even recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff. But Penn held on fourth-and-goal from the 11, and the food fights in the Yale stands--which had halted temporarily at signs of an Eli comeback--resumed at full force.

The most intriguing feature on Yale's side all day--save the flying food and a striptease by several male members of the band--was the Bulldogs' tag-team quarterbacking.

Three-year starter Mike Curtin started, and even managed to move into second place on the all-time Yale passing yardage list with 100 yards for the day (nine for 20, two interceptions).

But sophomore Kelly Ryan replaced Curtin early and often--as he has in every game this year--and was at the helm during Yale's aborted comeback.

Ryan--more mobile than his senior partner though a worse passer--and Curtin combined to fling a team-record 44 passes.

But without a credible running game, the Bulldog offense was helpless as the Penn linebackers and secondary sat back in deep coverage and batted away most of the on-target passes.