Sept. 21, 2003

Colgate, Fordham and Lehigh, the top three teams in the Patriot League standings and all ranked among the Top 25 nationally, all gained victories Saturday as PL teams won three of seven non-League games, including a 3-3 record against Ivy League opponents.

#25 Colgate (3-0, 1-0 PL), a 31-9 winner vs. Dartmouth, and #20 Lehigh (3-0, 2-0 PL), a 28-13 victor over Princeton, both posted road victories while #18 Fordham (3-1, 0-1 PL) topped Columbia, 37-30, at the friendly confines of Jack Coffee Field.

Individual highlights included Lehigh Sr. QB Chad Schwenk throwing for 301 yards and four TDs vs. Princeton, Fordham Sr. RB Kirwin Watson scoring four times and breaking the team record for career rushing TDs, and Colgate Jr. RB Jamaal Branch rushing for 211 yards and three TDs as the Raiders won their ninth-straight game.

Other final scores against the Ivy League Saturday included Bucknell's (2-1, 0-0 PL) 21-19 loss at Cornell, Harvard's 43-23 triumph at Holy Cross (1-2, 1-1 PL) and Yale scoring the most point ever allowed by Towson (2-2, 1-0 PL) in a 62-28 win over the visiting Tigers.

It was the season-opening game for all six Ivy League opponents.

In the only non Patriot League vs. Ivy League crossover weekend contest, Georgetown (0-3, 0-2 PL) gave up the game-winning TD in the final minute for the second time in three weeks in a 12-10 setback vs. visiting Monmouth. Lafayette (1-1, 0-1 PL) had the weekend off.

Next week's action includes one League matchup, Towson at Colgate, and five non-League games. The non-League slate pits Bucknell at Columbia, Georgetown at VMI, Holy Cross at San Diego, Lafayette at home against Princeton and Lehigh hosting Pennsylvania. Fordham has an open week on Sept. 27 and returns to action Oct. 4 at home against Bucknell.

At Hanover, N.H., Branch scored on runs of 40, 15 and 10 yards and gained 211 yards rushing Saturday as Colgate won its ninth straight game, beating Dartmouth, 31-9.

Colgate scored on its first possession and never trailed as it rolled up 451 yards of total offense. Dartmouth (0-1) got field goals of 30, 52 and 38 yards from Tyler Lavin but was stymied twice inside the Colgate 25.

CU QB Chris Brown gave the visiting Raiders its first lead when he connected with J.B. Gamble on a 15-yard scoring pass, ending a 12-play, 69-yard march with 9:22 remaining in the first period.

Branch scored on a 15-yard run in the second quarter, ending a 15-play, 72-yard drive. He added a 10-yard TD run in the third quarter and put the game well out of reach with his 40-yard burst off the Raiders' left side in the closing minutes.

At Fordham, Watson ran for three touchdowns to break Fordham's record for rushing TDs and also caught a scoring pass as the Rams beat Columbia 37-30.

Waston's three rushing touchdowns gave the senior back 34, breaking the mark of 31 set by Rick Hollawell from 1986-89. Overall, Watson carried 36 times for 163 yards.

Fordham's Kevin Eakin was 25-of-36 for 336 yards and two touchdowns. One of them was for 25 yards to Watson.

Columbia's Jeff Otis was 26-for-47 for 300 yards in the Lions' opener. He threw a 21-yard TD pass to Wade Fletcher, who wound up with six catches for 104 yards.

Watson scored on runs of 2 yards and 17 yards in the first quarter. He also grabbed a 25-yard pass from Eakin at 13:25 of the second as the Rams built a 20-0 advantage.

Eakin's 22-yard touchdown pass to Javarus Dudley at 5:37 of the fourth quarter to give the Rams their biggest advantage, 37-16.

Under the lights at Princeton, Schwenk threw for 301 yards and matched his career-best with four touchdown passes in leading Lehigh to a 28-13 victory over the error-prone Tigers.

Linebacker Tom McGeoy intercepted a pass and recovered two fumbles as Lehigh (3-0) forced four turnovers in spoiling the season opener for the Tigers.

The victory was the Mountain Hawks' seventh straight against Princeton since 1996 and their 18th in 19 games against Ivy League opponents since 1997.

Schwenk, who hit 24 of 41 passes, found tailback Jermaine Pugh with scoring passes of 19 and 10 yards to start and end his TD binge. The senior also had a 25-yard scoring pass to tight end Adam Bergen and a 23-yarder to Adam Kovacs in helping Lehigh open a 28-0 lead.

At Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell quarterback Mick Razzano threw for 216 yards and a touchdown and also ran for two scores to lead the Big Red to a tense 21-19 victory over Bucknell.

BU, which tasted defeat for the first time in 2003 after a pair of victories, nearly overcame a nine-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, but freshman kicker Ryan Korn had his 27-yard field goal attempt hit the left upright with 1:43 remaining in the contest.

Raphael Darrington rushed for a career-high 107 yards and quarterback Daris Wilson rushed for 106 and passed for 125 as the Bison racked up a season-high 390 yards of offense. Cornell (1-0) logged 375 total yards, with 241 coming in the first half.

At Harbin Field in Washington, D.C., Pete Raspitzi caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Brian Boland with 18 seconds to play to lift Monmouth to a mistake filled 12-10 win over Georgetown Saturday.

The Hoyas (0-3) held a 10-6 lead after Michael Gillman kicked a 31-yard field goal with 7:33 to play, but for the second time at home this season let a lead get away in the closing seconds.

On their previous possession, the Hawks (3-0) failed to scored from the Georgetown eight and proceeded to miss a field goal. But given one final chance after Georgetown failed to get a first down, Monmouth drove 69 yards for the win when Boland found Raspitzi in the right side of the end zone.

Up to that point, Andrew Crawford's 31-yard pass to Luke McArdle 41 seconds before halftime was the game's only touchdown, which had given the Hoyas a 7-6 halftime lead.

At Fitton Field in Worcester, Mass., Ryan Fitzpatrick passed for two touchdowns and ran for a third as Harvard beat Holy Cross 43-23.

Fitzpatrick set a school record with 471 total yards - 359 passing and 112 rushing - as Harvard (1-0) built a commanding early lead. Ryan Tyler added two TDs as Harvard amassed 636 yards of total offense.

Backup quarterback Brian Schiller passed for two touchdowns as Holy Cross cut an early 27-3 lead to 27-16 with 12:06 remaining in the third quarter. But Harvard answered back with 10 third-quarter points for a 37-16 lead.

At the Yale Bowl, Robert Carr rushed for 120 yards and three touchdowns to lead Yale to a 62-28 win over Towson on Saturday in the first meeting ever between the teams.

The 62 points were the most allowed in Towson history and also the most scored by Yale since a 66-0 win over Alfred in 1920.

The season-opener for Yale marked the return of quarterback Alvin Cowan who broke his leg in the second game of the 2002 season and was sidelined the rest of the year. He came out firing, hitting on 16-of-25 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for another.

Towson (2-2) had pulled even at 14-all early in the second quarter on Jason Amer's 13-yard TD pass to Kelvin Drewery. That was as close as the Tigers would get as Yale scored the next 34 points to break the game open, scoring quickly and often. The Bulldogs closed out the first half scoring 14 points in the final 1:29.