This past weekend was a disappointing one for most of the Ivy football teams. Half of the Ancient Eight had in-league competition while the other half was subjected to non-conference opponents.
In the upcoming days, Princeton (1-4, 0-2 Ivy) will have to recover from two losses: a defeat against Brown (3-2, 1-1 Ivy) and the loss of star-linebacker Scott Britton. Britton, a leading tackler, went down with a knee injury in the first half and should be sidelined for the rest of the season.
The Tigers’ 34-17 loss to Brown keeps them winless in the Ancient Eight so far this season. The game had some bright spots, however, as many players stepped up and posted big numbers. Sophomore quarterback Tommy Wornham threw for 193 yards and a touchdown. Junior Meko McCray caught seven passes, including one for a touchdown, and rushed for 24 yards, while junior linebacker Steven Cody led the Tigers with 10 tackles—his fourth straight game in double-digits.
Brown’s most notable player was senior wide receiver Buddy Farnham, who was named Ivy League Offensive Player of the Week with 309 all-purpose yards including a 92-yard kickoff return and an 80-yard pass reception, both for touchdowns.
Bears quarterback Kyle Newhall-Caballero threw for 309 yards and completed 23 of 36 passes in the winning effort, while junior running back Zack Tronti led the offense with 126 rushing yards. On the other side of the ball, senior defensive back Chris Perkins led the defense with 13 tackles.
In the day’s only other in-league contest, Penn defeated Columbia 27-13 in a game riddled with turnovers—seven in the first half alone. Despite the excessive amount of errors, there were many impressive performances from both teams.
Two Penn players, sophomore linebacker Erik Rask and freshman punter Scott Lopano, received Ivy League honors as Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, respectively. Rask had an interception and a sack as well as a team-high of six tackles. Junior defensive back Josh Powers and senior linebacker Jake Lewko also had six tackles apiece. Lopano had six punts averaging 44.6 yards each, including a 73-yard long punt in the second quarter.
Light Blue quarterback Millicent Olawale threw for 192 yards with the help of senior wide receiver Austin Knowlin, who had five receptions for 109 yards. On the defensive side, senior defensive end Lou Miller, junior free safety Adam Mehrer, and sophomore linebacker Evan Miller led the team with 10 tackles each.
Harvard did not fare much better than Princeton or Columbia, dropping to 3-2 overall (2-0 Ivy) with a 35-18 loss to Lafayette. Major contributions for the defense were provided by junior defensive back Collin Zych with 10 tackles and junior defensive end Josue Ortiz with eight. Offensively, junior wide receiver Chris Lorditch had four receptions for 100 yards while junior wide receiver Marco Iannuzzi had 175 all-purpose yards.
Cornell (2-3, 1-1 Ivy) was another Ivy League team whose hopes were dashed this weekend as it fell 39-27 in its Homecoming game to Fordham. In the matchup, senior linebacker Chris Costello led the defense as he notched 14 tackles including a sack and two forced fumbles. Offensively, senior wide receiver Stephen Liuzza rushed for 166 yards and two touchdowns while fellow senior wide receiver Bryan Walters had a touchdown and 338 all-purpose yards. Walters is now the fifth player in the Ancient Eight to have over 5,000 all-purpose career yards; at 5,096 he is second in Cornell history and third in the Ivy League.
Dartmouth (0-5, 0-2 Ivy), the only team in the Ancient Eight yet to post a win, dropped its fifth game of the season to Holy Cross, 34-14. Sophomore quarterback Conner Kempe outhrew Holy Cross senior quarterback Dominic Randolph with 312 passing yards in the losing effort.
Big Green junior wide receiver Tanner Scott had seven catches and his first career touchdown. Sophomore running back Nick Schwieger led Dartmouth with 83 yards rushing while fellow sophomore free safety Anthony Diblasi topped the defensive charts with nine tackles and an interception.
The only Ivy League team to win outside of the Ancient Eight this weekend was Yale. The Bulldogs (3-2, 1-1 Ivy) defeated Lehigh 7-0 thanks to a 40-yard touchdown run from junior linebacker Paul Rice on a fake punt.
In a low-action game, the entire Bulldog team only rushed for a net 103 yards and passed for 86. Sophomore defensive back Drew Baldwin led the team with six tackles while Rice and sophomore defensive back Geoff Dunham each contributed five.
A full weekend of in-league action commences on Saturday as Harvard hosts Yale, Cornell takes on Brown, Columbia travels to Dartmouth, and Penn faces Yale.
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