In a matchup against the only other undefeated team in Ivy League play, the football team (5-2, 4-0 Ivy) prevailed Saturday with a 34-27 win over Penn (4-3, 3-1) in Philadelphia. Quarterback and co-captain Michael Dougherty '09 led the offensive attack with four touchdown passes, two of which went to receiver Buddy Farnham '10, who had six receptions for 120 yards.
Running back Nkosi Still '09 started things off for the Bears with a 42-yard return on the opening kickoff, giving the offense the ball at the Brown 49-yard line. The Bears picked up two first downs on completions to Farnham and receiver Bobby Sewall '10, and on third-and-15 from the Penn 32, Dougherty got Brown into the red zone with a 23-yard completion to Farnham. On first and goal, Bruno got on the board first, on a 9-yard run by Sewall, to take a 7-0 lead. Sewall also added a touchdown reception later in the game for his league-leading ninth overall touchdown of the season.
On Penn's first drive, the Quakers moved the ball deep into Brown territory, but the defense held them to a 22-yard field goal to preserve the lead.
On the next drive, the Bears got big plays from some unexpected sources, as running back Wayne Ritter '10 started off the drive with a 21-yard run, the longest of his collegiate career, and tight end Alex Prestley '11 made the first catch of his collegiate career, a 15-yard reception on third-and-10.
"Teams try to key on our normal contributors and forget about the other guys we have who can make plays as well," Dougherty wrote in an e-mail to the Herald.
Unfortunately for the Bears, the 65-yard drive failed to produce any points, as a 27-yard field goal attempt from kicker Robert Ranney '08.5 was blocked.
The Quakers had a chance to grab the lead midway through the second quarter, when their offense moved the ball down to the Brown 26, but receiver Tyler Fisher fumbled the ball, and linebacker Jonathan May '09 secured the recovery for Brown.
Penn did eventually grab the lead, though, when running back Bradford Blackmon found receiver Luke DeLuca for a 3-yard touchdown, putting the Bears behind 10-7 with 1:15 remaining in the first half.
But the Bears refused to go to the locker room with a deficit, and after an incomplete pass, Dougherty found Farnham for a 57-yard touchdown strike to give Bruno a 14-10 halftime lead, against a Penn defense that had been allowing only 13.0 points per game heading into Saturday.
"We didn't do anything different, we've always been a big play offense," Dougherty wrote. "We ran the same offense we normally run, and I think that Penn hadn't played an offense with the kind of firepower we have which is why they've been so impressive statistically."
Coming out of halftime, though, it took the Quakers just four minutes to grab the lead back, as a 46-yard kickoff return gave Penn great field position to set up an eventual 12-yard touchdown pass.
On the next Penn drive, momentum swung Brown's way when quarterback Robert Irvin fumbled, and lineman Michael Lemmons '10 recovered the ball at the Penn 11. Just two plays later, with 8:24 remaining in the third quarter, Dougherty found Farnham for an 11-yard touchdown pass, Farnham's second touchdown of the day and his fifth receiving touchdown of the year.
For the rest of the third quarter, the defense continued to shut down Penn's offense, and late in the quarter, tackle David Howard '09 jarred the ball loose from Irvin in the backfield, and fellow lineman Joseph McPhee '09 scooped the ball up at the Brown 45. The play gave Howard three forced fumbles this season, which ties him for the Ivy League lead, and McPhee's fumble recovery gave the offense another short field to work with.
"Almost every drive was started from mid field or closer and you have the whole playbook at your disposal," Dougherty wrote. "You can take more risks, which I think resulted in the big plays we had."
The Bears took advantage of their field position, as Dougherty completed a 29-yard pass to tight end Colin Cloherty '09 to move the ball to the Penn 12, and two plays later, fired a strike to Sewall to open up a 28-17 lead for Bruno with 12:45 left to play. Sewall finished the game with six catches for 47 yards. He currently leads all Ivy League receivers with 54 receptions, 744 yards and six touchdown catches.
The Quakers made it a one-possession game again on a field goal with 9:33 remaining, and the Penn defense then forced the Bears to punt on the following drive. On their next drive, the Quakers were faced with a fourth-and-2 from their own 28, with 4:23 remaining. Penn took their biggest risk of the day, challenging their defense by opting to go for the first down, but the Brown defense made them pay dearly. On a keeper by Keiffer Garton, Still came up with the tackle at the line of scrimmage to give the Bears the ball on downs at the Penn 28. Dougherty wasted no time capitalizing on the momentum, completing a 29-yard touchdown pass to Cloherty on the second play of the drive to open up a 34-20 lead. The touchdown was the second of the season for Cloherty, who finished with 58 receiving yards on the day.
Though the Quakers threatened again, the defense came up with another big stop when defensive end James Develin '10 intercepted a pass at the Brown 9. Develin finished the game with five tackles, including 1.5 tackles for loss.
Starting a drive at their own 9 with 3:04 remaining, the Bears looked to run out the clock with three consecutive running plays, but disaster struck when on fourth down, Ranney's punt was blocked and recovered by the Quakers in the end zone, to cut Bruno's lead to 34-27 with 1:21 left.
But Penn's comeback effort fell short, when Farnham secured the onside kick recovery for the Bears, allowing Dougherty to kneel out the clock and hand the Quakers their first conference loss of the season.
The win gives Brown sole possession of first place in the Ivy League standings, with a 4-0 conference record. Next week the Bears will take on Yale (4-3, 2-2 Ivy) at home. They will then travel to Hanover, N.H. the following weekend to take on a currently winless Dartmouth team, before wrapping up their season at home against Columbia (1-6, 1-3 Ivy) on Nov. 22.
"We just need to keep doing what we've been doing, practicing hard and playing every game as if it were a championship game," Dougherty wrote. "We still need to clean up some things and continue to improve but we're a very confident team right now."
