Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 80

E10 THE HARTFORD COURANT Sunday, November 15, 1998 STATE COLLEGE FOOTBALL Cardinals' Finale Bittersweet Yale Sees Opening To Beat Princeton Themistocles Rushes Into Record Book By TOM YANTZ Courant Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN As dusk descended on Andrus Field on the final football Saturday of the season, Wesleyan tailback Tom Themistocles lingered. He hugged two of his fellow quad captains: linebacker Ross Stafford and fullback John Pascucci. Themistocles looked back one last time, walked through the end zone and departed. By BRUCE BERLET Courant Staff Writer NEW HAVEN Little in life beats redemption. Yale quarterback Joe Walland began berating himself as linebacker Craig Foote returned an interception 39 yards for a touchdown to give Princeton its first lead Saturday with 8 minutes, 47 seconds left.

After being consoled by teammates, Walland fired back. fj A fjT' si lV "Lots of emotion; lots of tears for being my last HIilllH i game and for beating "I got rattled, made a bad throw and wanted to shoot my Trinity." he said. "This was like having a sundae with a big cherry on top." Themistocles was immense in Wesleyan's 49-35 victory. He rushed for three touchdowns and 145 yards to set a school season record. He also completed a pass for 28 yards and blocked a punt.

"It probably was my best overall game of my career," he said. The timing was perfect for the Cardinals (6-2), who defeated rival Trinity (2-6) for the second consecutive year. This last occurred in the 1985-86 seasons. "Give Trinity credit, because they didn't lie down after we got up 27-6," Wesleyan coach Frank Hauser said. "We wouldn't have expected anything less." Trinity, which entered the game averaging 12.3 points, had its best offensive showing of the year.

Quarterback Gregg Wysocki passed for a career-high 338 yards and four touchdowns. Tight end Sean Furey also had a career day with nine receptions for 183 yards and two touchdowns. The Bantams outgained Wesleyan in total yards, 477-439. But two interceptions in the first half, seven penalties for 55 yards and one fumble hurt Trinity. "Everything was going our way," said Wesleyan quarterback Jake Fay, who passed for two touchdowns in the first half.

"Then boom, they're right back in it." Wysocki's 33-yard scoring pass to J.R. Fa- ciofrpo I Ht PIAK I hUHU AGAINST A TRAINLOAD of Trinity defenders, Tom Themistocles (145 yards, three TDs) keeps his engine moving. to trail, 34-27." "We didn't play like a 2-6 team," Furey said. "We showed more heart and guts than a lot of winning teams." "We were challenged," Pascucci said. So Themistocles took a pitch and ran left for 16 yards and his final touchdown to give the Cardinals a 42-27 advantage late in the third quarter.

Another Trinity rally never materialized because of Matt "Perceval's 45-yard touchdown catch in the final quarter. All that was needed Was entering Themis tocles' name in the record book. His 145 yards on 31 carries gave him 871. The previous season record was 869 by Dave Cottrell in 1993. Themistocles also had his fifth consecutive 100-yard rushing game to match Cottrell and Pascucci for a school record.

"That's it for all the seniors on both teams," Pascucci said. "If you're on the other side, it's the worst, to finish this way. My first two years we lost to Trinity. Then wei won last year and ended it like this. And Tom, well, he couldn't have capped off his career any better." get 10 seconds before halftime brought Trinity to 27-13.

The Bantams continued their surge in the third quarter when Furey caught a 45-yard touchdown pass from Wysocki. But Themistocles, whose first rushing touchdown was from the 1 in the first quarter, answered on Wesleyan's next possession with a 15-yard touchdown run. Wesleyan led, 34-20. Steve Cella took the kickoff and returned it 88 yards with just over five minutes left in the third quarter. Trinity had climbed back Atlantic 10 Southern In Familiar Place With A Familiar Ending Conf.

Overall PF PA self," he said. "But that's why you've got to bounce back." And Walland Co. had a trump card; left He had noticed Princeton free safety 'Ryan Dernier cheating forward on running plays, and assistant coach Keith Lamb told the offense at halftime to be ready to try a deep post pattern off a fake. One play after Foote's return, Walland faked a run and arched a perfect pass to Jake Fuller. Fuller's catch and run for 76 yards produced Yale's longest offensive play of the season and a 31-28 victory before 18,210 at Yale Bowl.

"I was really upset and told myself I had to step up and not think about the interception because it would affect my play," Walland said. "I was really glad they called the play because I felt like crap and wanted to throw the ball right away. I wanted to go right out and redeem myself." Fuller beat cornerback Gerry Giurato, and without any defensive support, Fuller had clear sailing the final 40 yards. "I hadn't run the play all game," Fuller said, "but Coach Lamb had said something about trying it." Yale (54, 4-2) remained tied for second in the Ivy League with Brown, one game behind Penn. "We gave up a lot of yards 351 but made the big plays when we had to," said safety Nate Boxrucker, playing with two screws in his right thumb from an operation three weeks ago.

Befitting the topsy-turvy game, Boxrucker and Than Merrill got Yale's fifth and sixth interceptions in the final 2:40. It was Boxrucker's third of the game. The six interceptions accounted for 163 yards, a school record. "We'd been behind every other game, so I guess we had to get behind a ninth time and make a big play to win," Yale coach Jack Siedlecki. "It was a very strange game where the penalty flag flew on the first play and kept changing the momentum." There were 17 penalties for 166 yards, and many others were declined.

Penalties nullified three TDs in five minutes in the second quarter. Yale tailback Rashad Bartholomew had a 74-yard run wiped out and Princeton quarterback John Burnham had two TD passes nullified in three plays. One play later, Boxrucker got his second interception and Yale declined a holding penalty. Mike Murawczyk's 24-yard field goal and interception returns by Boxrucker (83 yards) and Scott Benton (36 yards) gave the Elis a 17-0 lead. Murawczyk's field goal was a school record 11th of the season, breaking a tie with Ed Perks (1990), and Boxrucker's return tied the second-longest in Yale history.

Burnham's TD passes to Philip Wendler, Ryan Crowley and Ray Canole and Foote's return gave Princeton (4-5, 3-3) a 28-24 lead. Then Walland threw his dagger. Stafford Takes Them 58 Yards Continued from Page El bone to face a team that had lost seven regular season home games in the last decade. "It seemed like all week everybody gave up on us, everyone was crashing down on us," Holtz said. For most of the second half, UConn looked to be in crash mode as the Tribe (7- New England UMass 6 1 8 2 353281 UConn 5 2 8 2 361300 Maine 3 5 5 5 295258 N.H.

3 5 4 7 287274 Rhode Island 2 5 3 7 204230 Mid-Atlantic Richmond 6 1 8 2 256134 Wm. Mary 4 3 7 3 329273 Delaware 3 4 6 4 331285 Villanova 3 4 5 5 331319 Northeastern 3 5 5 5 238207 James Madison 2 5 3 7 219259 3, 4-3) scored 17 points on three successive, clock-draining possessions and led 26-21 with 9 minutes, 6 seconds left. UConn drove to the Tribe 6 and went for a mi iMn ii Saturday UConn 34, William Mary 26 UMass 55, Maine 34: Todd Bankhead passed for his team's first five touchdowns to lead UMass in Amherst, Mass. Marcel Shipp scored UMass' last three touchdowns on fourth-quarter runs of 3, 82 and 2 yards and set a school single-season record with 1,692 rushing yards. Bankhead finished 20-for-29 for 353 yards.

New Hampshire 9, Rhode Island 7: Jerry Azumah capped his record-breaking career by gaining 186 yards as New Hampshire won at home. Azumah surpassed Tony Dorsett's NCAA Division I rushing record of 6,082 yards in the first half and finished with 6,192 yards. Richmond 45, Delaware 6: Jasper Pendergrass scored three touchdowns and Richmond handed visiting Delaware its worst Atlantic 10 loss a week after the Blue Hens beat UConn by 42. Delaware coach Tubby Raymond's 72nd birthday was spoiled by six turnovers and an offense that gained only 263 yards, 35 on the ground. Delaware entered averaging 459 6 yards and 36.7 points.

Richmond set a school record with its eighth consecutive victory. Villanova 65, Buffalo 34: Brian West-brook scored four touchdowns and rushed for 170 yards and Chris Bo-den threw for four TDs as Villanova (5-5) won at home, setting a school record for points. Westbrook set a school record for career touchdowns with 35, breaking the 31 by Brian Finneran and Mike Siani. Next Saturday UConn at UMass James Madison at Delaware Northeastern at Maine Lehigh at Lafayette William Mary at Richmond Rhode Island at Villanova and-6, then Dumas finished the desperate drive with an 8-yard run to make it 24-14 with 12:50 left. Southern's defense held and the offense was driving again when Dickinson, running inside the Albany 20, was hit from behind by Greg Green and separated from the ball.

Fred Daughtry recovered with 9:15 left, and Albany's offensive line closed the game out. Running the ball for five first downs, the Great Danes turned it back over to SCSU on downs inside the Owls 1-yard line with only 42 seconds left. "We believed we could come in here and win," Williams said. "This is a great team if we play the way we're capable of playing, and today we did." Central 17, Monmouth 13: Touchdown runs by Darryl Taylor and Mark Strasser and a field goal by Charles Eger gave Central (4-5) a victory over Monmouth (5-5) in West Long Branch, N.J. Taylor had a 6-yard TD run early in the second quarter and Strasser (125 yards, 25 carries) scored on a 24-yard run early in the third.

Monmouth scored for the first time late in the third quarter when QB John DiPasquale connected with Anthony Galella for a 9-yard TD pass. Fairfield 48, St. Peter's 0: Tailback Dan Fitzpat-rick ran for three touchdowns and quarterback Jim Lopusznick threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third as Fairfield (8-2, 6-1 MAAC) beat St Peter's (0-9, 06) in Fairfield. The victory clinched Fairfield's first conference championship and extended the Stags' winning streak to seven. Fitzpatrick (23 carries, 174 yards) had a 26-yard touchdown run on Fairfield's first possession.

He also scored on runs of 4 and 3 yards. Lopusznick ran for a 12-yard touchdown and threw scoring passes of 19 and 41 yards to Eric Wise and Steve Hadley. New Haven 26, Robert Morris 24: Adam Roman caught touchdown passes of 20 and 9 yards to lead New Haven (5-5) past Robert Morris (4-5) in Moon Township, Pa. David Cockrell rushed for 94 yards on 16 carries and Roman caught seven passes for 70 yards for New Haven. Quarterback Jason Barnett completed 16 of 29 passes for 197 yards.

Donald Dorsey rushed for 120 yards on 14 carries for Robert Morris. Sacred Heart 42, Bryant 28: Kiheme Cowan scored four touchdowns as Sacred Heart (2-8) defeated Bryant (2-5) in Fairfield. Cowan, a freshman, scored on runs of 8 and 45 yards while rushing for 144 yards on 16 carries. He also scored on passes of 46 and 4 yards, finishing with five catches for 80 yards. Western.17, Norwich 0: Senior fullback John Ga-gliardi rushed for 104 yards as Western Connecticut (5-5) defeated Norwich (4-6) in Danbury.

Western jumped to a 10-0 lead on Adam Kennett's 25-yard field goal and the recovery of a blocked punt in the Norwich end zone. Kings Point 46, Coast Guard 7: Jeff Turpin' threw three touchdown passes and ran for two as Kings Point (6-3) routed Coast Guard (1-8) in Kings Point, N.Y. Dan Yadrick (19-for-32, 248 yards) threw a TD pass to Marcus Canadv for Coast Guard. ft Staff reports included Central Defeats Monmouth By DOM AMORE Courant Staff Writer The last thing Southern Connecticut football players saw as they left their locker room Saturday were the newspaper clippings from a year ago, taped to the wall by the door. The Owls lost to Albany, missing their chance for the Eastern Football Conference championship, in 1997.

Now they had a second chance. But with the same stakes Saturday, Albany came to Jess Dow Field and dealt Southern another heartache, forcing five turnovers and scoring on three big plays to beat the Owls 24-14 before 1,070 fans in New Haven. Albany (9-1) will host the EFC championship game next week. Southern (8-2) is finished "You want the truth? It feels crappy, real crappy," said senior tight end and co-captain Matt Hitchcock, who grew up in the Albany area. "It wasn't supposed to end this way." After the school's best season since 1982, Southern players showered and dressed slowly, some burying faces in hands and contemplating the loss, still in uniform, a half hour after the clock ran out "Eventually, we'll feel good about the season," coach Rich Cavanaugh said.

"But right now, it's a little tough to sit back and reflect on it This team showed a lot of character we had a great group of seniors and really good leadership. We got some tough and came from behind to win. It's just disappointing we didn't get it done today." The Great Danes won the big game last year, 42-40. This time, they came in with a streak of three shutouts, and allowing a league-low 12.2 points a game. SCSU came in with a seven-game winning streak.

On the second play, Albany quarterback Eric Williams threw a short swing pass to fullback James Miner, who slipped a couple of tackles and broke free down the left sideline for 94 yards and a TD, the longest pass in school history. The rest of the half was a turnover-fest, with Owls running back Rashaan Dumas, who had not fumbled in two years, losing the ball twice. "They were really hitting my hands; they're all bloody now," said Dumas, who carried 33 times for 184 yards. "They were really keying on the ball." With 5 minutes, 3 seconds left in half, Ra-Heem Duncan caught a 10-yard pass from Kevin Dickinson to tie the score for Southern. Having allowed only three points in the third quarter all season, the Owls had reason to be confident at the half.

But Williams, who completed 12 of 23 for a career-high 265 yards, put 17 points on the board in the third quarter. He threw a perfect post pattern to Greg Butryn for 47 yards, giving Albany the lead. After Deron Regev's 39-yard field goal, Williams threw up a jump ball and Mike Ettz came down with it for a 75-yard catch-and-run to make it 24-7. The Owls, who overcame a 26-7 deficit to beat AIC in October, came back with a frenzy. Dickinson (H-for-30, 169 yards) completed a 35-yard pass to Duncan and a 9 van'' pass to Bert DcFoe on a fourth- Ivy League Conf.

Overall I Pf PA Penn 5 1 7 2 262 192 Brown 4 2 6 3 255 238 Yale 4 2 5 4 219 22 Columbia 3 3 4 5 143 165 Harvard 3 3 4 5 129 202 Princeton 3 3 4 5 194 152 Cornell 1 5 4 5 138 165 Dartmouth 1 5 2 7 129 191 Saturday STAFFORD touchdown on fourth-and-goal. Stafford was sacked. The Tribe took over on their 16 having only to get a couple of first downs to run the clock down. They didn't get any. The defense forced a punt, giving UConn the ball on its 42 with 2 minutes remaining.

Stafford, who was 25 of 38 for a career-high 360 yards with two interceptions, led the Huskies through one of the biggest drives in school history. He opened with a 23-yard pass to Fitzsimmons to the Tribe 35 with 1:52 left. Flashback: Fitzsimmons had dropped a touchdown pass in the first quarter and came off the field flailing his arms. Holtz came over to calm him. "He told me, 'You're going to make a big play later in the game.

We're going to come tack. Keep your head in Fitzsimmons said. Second play: Stafford overthrew Tory Taylor over the middle. Taylor had the wind knocked out of him and was slow to get up. Third play: Stafford overthrew Wendell McDuffie with 1:36 left.

Fourth play: It's third-and-10. Taylor lines up in the right slot and runs a Zorro pattern. He could go inside or outside and chooses outside and Stafford connects with him just before he goes out of bounds for a 1 1-yard gain and a first down at the 21. Fifth play: Tailback Barry Chandler loses 2 yards. Sixth play: Stafford overthrows Taylor with 57 seconds left.

Scoring play: Holtz calls "908," which sends Fitzsimmons to the left corner of the end zone, Taylor to the middle of the end zone and Carl Bond to the riiht corner of the end Yale 31, Princeton 28 Penn 41, Harvard 10: Matt Rader passed for 260 yards and two touchdowns and Jim Finn gained 106 yards and scored three times in Philadelphia. The victory guaranteed Penn at least a tie for the league championship. Finn, who has 16 touchdowns, gave the Quakers a 6-0 lead with an 8-yard run with 12 minutes, 37 seconds left in the first quarter. After a 32-yard field goal by Harvard's Mike Giampaolo, Rader connected with Brandon Carson for a 78-yard touchdown. Brown 28, Dartmouth 21: James Perry's 24-yard touchdown pass to Zach Burns with 5 seconds remaining lifted Brown in Providence.

The Big Green had tied the score with 44 seconds left on Mike Coffey's 32-yard pass to Damon Ferrara in the back of the end zone on fourth-and-goal. Columbia 22, Cornell 10: Chris Tillotson returned a fumble 70 yards for a touchdown and intercepted two passes as Columbia rallied from a 10-0 deficit in New York. Next Saturday Yale at Harvard Dartmouth at Princeton Penn at Cornell Brown at Columbia zone. Flashback: Earlier in the game, on the same play, Stafford saw that safety Jim Cerminaro had been shading toward Taylor. He knew Fitzsimmons would be one-on-one with cornerback Darvin Alexander.

"I knew the safety wasn't going to lie a factor," Stafford said. "When I let it go, Fitzsy had him beat. I knew it would be a jump ball. He came up with a great play." The Tribe scrambled to make something of its 50 remaining seconds but UConn cornerback faban Marsh intercepted and returned 45 yards to the Tribe 15, leading to Re-colon Jumpp's 1-yard touchdown. Who would ever think that a UConn touchdown with 3 seconds remaining cm.

Id tV meaningless?.