Sept. 17, 2011

Center Valley, Pa. - The Patriot League got the leg up in its annual football series with the Ivy League on Saturday, as four of seven teams posted a victory against their opponent from the Ancient Eight.

Big plays lifted Holy Cross and Fordham to victories at home in the afternoon, while four-touchdown efforts from their quarterbacks guided Lafayette and No. 16/19 Lehigh to wins on the road in the evening. The Patriot League posted a 4-3 mark while playing five of the seven games on the road at Ivy League foes. Georgetown, Colgate and Bucknell all dropped their games on the road.

Ryan Taggart threw for a career-high 320 yards while both passing and rushing for a touchdown and Andrew Zitnik had a 97-yard interception return for a score as Holy Cross beat Harvard, 30-22.

Nick Womack set a Patriot League record and tied an NCAA mark with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown and freshman Peter Maetzold threw for 212 yards and two touchdowns as Fordham defeated Columbia 21-14 to win the Liberty Cup from its cross-town rival for the second year in a row.

After dropping its first two games on the road, Lafayette broke loose against the Ivy League favorite with a 37-12 victory at Penn. The Leopards outscored the Quakers 21-0 in the second half and won behind four touchdown passes from junior Andrew Shoop.

No. 16/19 Lehigh received yet another outstanding performance from its quarterback, with Chris Lum completing 28-of-38 passes for 384 yards and four touchdowns in a 34-22 win at Princeton. Ryan Spadola was the main target, catching nine balls for a career-high 214 yards and three scores.

Each of the teams that fell on Saturday were very much in the game. Bucknell drove inside the Cornell 10 down by four with less than two minutes to play, but turned it over on downs and gave up a late touchdown as the Big Red came away with a 24-13 victory. Georgetown led into the second quarter before Yale pulled away in the second half for a 37-27 victory, while Dartmouth did the same after intermission to Colgate in a 37-20 win over the Raiders.

A synopsis of each contest will be posted later in the evening. Links to recaps and box scores from each of Saturday's games are included below.

at Holy Cross 30, Harvard 22
Box Score

Worcester, Mass. - An outstanding effort from quarterback Ryan Taggart and a timely interception return for a touchdown by Andrew Zitnik lifted Holy Cross (2-1) to a 30-22 win over Harvard (0-1) on Saturday at Fitton Field.

The Crusaders trailed 14-3 early in the second quarter when Taggart found Josh Hauser for a 68-yard touchdown to cut the gap. Less than five minutes later Taggart ran in for a score and a field goal with 3:25 left in the half gave Holy Cross a 20-14 lead at the break.

The Crusaders added a field goal in the third quarter, but early in the fourth it looked like Harvard would get closer. Zitnik had other things in mind, intercepting a pass near the goal line and returning it 97 yards for a touchdown to put Holy Cross up 30-14 with 13:47 left in the game. Harvard responded with a touchdown and two-point conversion less than a minute and a half later, but the Holy Cross defense held up the rest of the way and Chandler Fenner sealed the victory with an interception in the final seconds.

Taggart completed 22-of-35 passes for a career-high 320 yards and a touchdown, and ran for 34 yards and a score. Mike Fess caught five passes for 102 yards. Zitnik shared team honors with nine tackles in addition to the interception, while Mike Tucker had seven tackles and two sacks. The Crusaders defeated Harvard at home for the third straight time.

at Fordham 21, Columbia 14
Box Score

Bronx, N.Y. - Fordham (1-1) scored 21 consecutive points and held off Columbia (0-1) for a 21-14 win to retain the Liberty Cup on Saturday at Jack Coffey Field.

With the Rams trailing 7-0 late in the second quarter, Nick Womack set a Patriot League record and tied an NCAA mark with a 100-yard interception return for a touchdown to even the score. The Rams took the lead for good with another big play in the third quarter, as a pair of freshmen connected when Peter Maetzold threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Sam Ajala for a 14-7 lead with 5:45 left in the period. Maetzold tossed a scoring strike to Carlton Koonce with 5:19 left in the game to complete the scoring run, and the Rams recovered an onside kick after a late Columbia touchdown to seal the win.

Maetzlod completed 22-of-30 passes for 212 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, with Koonce (5-32-1) and Ajala (4-76-1) doing most of the damage. Darryl Whiting ran for 100 yards on just 18 carries. The defense recorded five sacks, with 1.5 from both Womack and Jake Rodriquez. Fordham has won the Liberty Cup from Columbia in two straight and three of the past four seasons, with each victory coming by seven points.

Lafayette 37 at Penn 12
Box Score

Philadelphia, Pa. - After suffering a pair of road losses to open the season, Lafayette (1-2) took out its frustration on the Ivy League favorite with a dominating 37-12 victory at Penn (0-1) on Saturday evening at Franklin Field.

The Leopards trailed 3-0 into the second quarter before taking over. Andrew Shoop threw a 44-yard touchdown pass to Ross Scheuerman for a 7-3 lead, and followed a Penn touchdown with a 37-yard strike to Mark Ross for a 13-12 advantage late in the half. Austin O'Brien added a 48-yard field goal to close the half with a 16-12 Lafayette lead.

Lafayette pulled away throughout the second half. Shoop threw a 73-yard touchdown to Ross and a 28-yard strike to Kevin Doty sandwiched around a 31-yard interception return for a touchdown by Kyle Simmons as the Leopards held a 21-0 advantage after intermission to cruise to the 37-12 win.

Shoop completed 14-of-23 passes for 230 yards and the four touchdowns without an interception. Scheuerman had 89 rushing yards in addition to the touchdown reception. Ross caught four passes for 126 yards and the pair of touchdowns. Simmons led the defense with 15 tackles and two interceptions, while Tyler McFarlane and Ben Eaton each had 10 tackles. Lafayette beat Penn for the fourth time in the past five years.

No. 16/19 Lehigh 34 at Princeton 22
Box Score

Princeton, N.J. - No. 16/19 Lehigh (2-1) put on another offensive show as quarterback Chris Lum and wide receiver Ryan Spadola had amazing individual efforts as the Mountain Hawks beat Princeton (0-1), 34-22, on Saturday evening at Princeton Stadium.

Lum completed 28-of-38 passes for 384 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, and now has 14 touchdown passes and 1,131 yards through the air in three games this season. Spadola caught nine passes for a career-high 214 yards and three touchdowns.

Lehigh did not get on the board until the second quarter, when a 49-yard touchdown pass from Lum to Spadola made it 7-3 early in the period and a 12-yard hookup between the pair with 23 seconds left until the half gave Lehigh a 13-6 lead at the break.

Lum and Spadola were at it again early in the third quarter, with a 46-yard play giving Lehigh a 20-6 lead just over a minute into the period. Lum's fourth touchdown of the day, a two-yard pass to Sean Farrell, gave Lehigh a 27-9 lead early in the fourth quarter. Princeton battled back to cut the Mountain Hawk lead to 27-22, but Keith Sherman ran in from two yards out with less than two minutes to play to seal the 34-22 victory.

Sherman had 52 rushing yards and the score, while Lehigh racked up 486 yards of total offense. Sam Loughery led the defense with 14 tackles, while Mike Groome recorded 12 stops. Lehigh beat Princeton in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2002-03.

at Yale 37, Georgetown 27
Box Score

New Haven, Conn. - For the second year in a row, Georgetown (2-1) saw its season-opening two-game win streak snapped at Yale (1-0) as the Bulldogs came away with a 37-27 win over the Hoyas on Saturday at the Yale Bowl.

The first half went back and forth, with Georgetown holding leads of 14-7 and 17-14 before Yale came out with a 21-20 lead at the break. The Bulldogs pulled away in the second half, scoring 16 straight points for a 37-20 lead and holding off the Hoyas the rest of the way.

Scott Darby and Isaiah Kempf shared duties at quarterback and had similar numbers, each completing 16 passes and throwing for a touchdown. Darby also caught a touchdown pass. Kevin Macari had five receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown, while Max Waizenegger caught seven passes. Dustin Wharton led the Georgetown defense with 10 tackles, while Andrew Schaetzke had six tackles and a sack.

at Dartmouth 37, Colgate 20
Box Score

Hanover, N.H. - With All-America running back Nate Eachus out of the lineup, Colgate (1-2) got a strong day from quarterback Gavin McCarney but could not keep up in the second half of a 37-20 loss at Dartmouth (1-0) on Saturday at Memorial Field.

McCarney had his first of three touchdown runs in the first quarter to even the score at 7-7, but Dartmouth had three consecutive field goals to build a 16-7 lead in the third quarter. McCarney cut the gap to 16-14 on another touchdown run with 5:07 to play in the third, but Dartmouth scored the next two touchdowns and the Raiders never closed within single digits again despite a third touchdown run from McCarney in the fourth quarter.

McCarney accounted for most of Colgate's 384 yards of total offense, rushing 23 times for 122 yards and three touchdowns and completing 26-of-34 passes for 200 yards. Chris Looney made eight receptions for 83 yards, while Danny Epstein ran for 46 yards in place of Eachus. Jordan McCord and Patrick Friel led the defense with nine tackles apiece. Colgate fell to Dartmouth for the first time since 2005, and just the second in 12 meetings under Head Coach Dick Biddle.

at Cornell 24, Bucknell 13
Box Score

Ithaca, N.Y. - Bucknell (2-1) nearly started 3-0 for the first time since 1997, but was stopped inside the 10 yard line late in the game and Cornell (1-0) added an insurance touchdown for a 24-13 win over the visiting Bison on Saturday evening at Schoellkopf Field.

The Bison trailed 10-0 at the end of the first quarter, but battled back with a touchdown run by Tyler Smith in the second period and a pair of field goals by Drew Orth in the third to grab a 13-10 lead. Cornell took just 15 seconds to re-gain the advantage after Orth's second field goal, with a 64-yard touchdown pass for a 17-13 lead with 3:09 left in the period. That was still the score when Bucknell drove inside the Cornell 10 with under two minutes to play. On a fourth-and-three play with 1:35 to go, Brandon Wesley was stopped on a run and Cornell sealed the win with an 87-yard touchdown pass three plays later to hold off the Bison.

Wesley completed 22-of-35 passes for a career-high tying 267 yards, and fellow sophomore Victor Walker caught five balls for 108 yards. The Bison defense forced three turnovers, with Sean Rafferty leading the unit with eight tackles. Bucknell fell to Cornell for the fifth straight season.