Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • Page 80

E10 THE HARTFORD COURANT Sunday, October 24, 1999 STATE COLLEGE FOOTBALL 7 0-14 7 13-48 7 0 0 28 Connecticut James Madison SCORING SUMMARY UConn Can't Stop JMU As Keaton Scores 5 TDs Yale Breaks Out, Holds On First quarter UC-Small 14 pass from Hoffmann (Hickok kick), 9:39 Second quarter JM-Joyce 15 pass from Connelly (Glover kick), 12:33 JM-Keaton 23 run (Glover kick), 12:1 1 JM-Keaton 47 run (Glover kick), 10:46 JM-Keaton 12 run (Glover kick), 4:41 Third quarter JM-Keaton 5 run (Glover kick), 7:52 UC-Small 1 run (Hickok kick), 2:59 Fourth quarter JM-Keaton 11 run (Glover kick), 14:49 JM-Carson 1 run (kick failed), 8:59 Atlantic 10 Overall PF PA Conf. Playoff Hopes All But Over TEAM STATISTICS 186157 213132 231223 191 175 167 226 184208 218179 172 169 147 171 143 191 164266 James Madison UMass Villanova Delaware UConn Wm. Mary Richmond N.H. Maine Rhode Island Northeastern By TOMMY MINE Courant Staff Writer NEW YORK On a record-breaking day by a Yale quarterback, two of the Bulldogs' biggest plays came from a defensive back. By TERRY PRICE Courant Staff Writer HARRISONBURG, Va.

UConn took a simple plan into Saturday's game with James Madison: Stop Curtis Keaton. UC 27 35-39 292 37-58-1 0 5-43 1-1 7-60 35:11 JMU 24 51-408 71 5-9-0 25 2-39 1-0 4-50 24:49 First downs Rushes-yards Passing Comp-Att-Int Return Yards Punts-Avg. Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Time of Possession Yale needed two late-game interceptions by Yeah, right Keaton INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING-Connecticut: Small 20-55, Hoffmann 9-10, Perrin 1-3, Chandler 1-3, Timko 1- (minus 6), Richmond 3-(minus 26). James Madison; Keaton 28-237, Connelly 10-120, Carson 8-31, Joyce 2-13, Evans 1-5, Fitzgerald 1-4, DeFilippo 1-(minus 2). PASSING-Connecticut: Hoffmann 33-49-1-278, Richmond 4-9-0-14.

James Madison: Connelly 5-9-0-71. RECEIVING-Connecticut Fitzsimmons 8-111, Small 8-42, O'Connor 7-62, Drayton 6-23, Sorrells 5-44, Timko 1-5, Deignan 1-5, Chandler 1-0. James Madison; Carson 2-36, Joyce 2- 24, Bacote 1-11. James Madison 48, UConn 14 PLAYER OF THE GAME JMU running back Curtis Keaton rushed for 237 yards and five touchdowns. The five touchdowns are the most scored in a game by a player against UConn, and the rushing total is the second-highest by an opposing back.

Keaton's day included touchdowns of 23, 47, 12, 5 and 1 1 yards. He also broke free for a 53-yard gain to set up another TD. PLAY OF THE GAME Keaton provided a season's worth of highlights with his record-setting performance. But his 47-yard touchdown run in the second quarter exhibited the expanse between the play of the teams. It also gave JMU a 21-7 lead that was never threatened.

THUMBS UP Despite torn ligaments in his left thumb, UConn wide receiver John Fitzsimmons caught eight passes for 1 1 1 yards. Fitzsimmons leads the team with 34 catches on the season. THUMBS DOWN The UConn defense should have done a better job of containing Keaton. With JMU forced to go with freshman walk-on quarterback Mike Connelly, the Huskies knew Keaton would shoulder a heavy load. OF NOTE UConn coach Randy Edsall made sure to note that he did not bench starting quarterback Brian Hoffmann (33 of 49, 278 yards, one TD, one interception) for poor play.

"I didn't take Brian out because of his performance. I took him out to try and get Luke Richmond some work. Hoffmann was very upset about that, which I'm glad. It shows the competitiveness in the young man." The 58 passing attempts by UConn were the second-most ever Barry Saturday James Madison 48, UConn 14 New Hampshire at South Florida, late Massachusetts 26, Delaware 19: In Newark, Del, Marcel Shipp rushed 44 times for 176 yards and two TDs as Massachusetts overcame a 19-7 sec-ond-auarter deficit Villanova 45, Northeastern Ducar-mel Augustin ran fo; 133 cf his career-high 147 yards in the second haif, and scored three TDs as Villanova won its second straight, defeating visiting Northeastern. Rhode Island 23, Maine 1 In Kingston, R.I., Ken Mastrole threw two TD passes and Matt Birkett caught eight passes for 175 yards to lift previously winless Rhode Island.

William ft Mary 35, VM1 14: In Lexington, Va, Corey Nesmith rushed for 83 yards and two TDs and William Mary finished with 473 offensive yards. Virginia Military Institute (1-7) has now lost 28 straight to l-AA opponents. Next Saturday Richmond at UConn, 1:30 p.m. Rhode Island at UMass Delaware at Northeastern South Florida at James Madison Villanova at New Hampshire Maine at William Mary record by an opposing player. Keaton had touchdown runs of 23, 47, 12, 5 and 11 yards.

UConn played the game with eight players up close to the line in anticipation of Keaton playing a major role for JMU. "He was tremendous," UConn safety Jeff DeLucia said. "A lot better than us, obviously. They made plays. We didn't make any plays.

We didn't tackle, we didn't do anything." DeLucia said UConn's defensive effort demonstrated "lack of heart, lack of -1 don't know. "It was disgraceful. It was embarrassing. For a defense to play like that, there's no excuse for it." UConn has given up 1,033 yards in total offense and 96 points in its past two games. The Huskies lost to Villanova 48-45 in triple overtime last week.

JMU took charge of the game with a 21-point blitz in 1:47 of the second quarter. The three-touchdown surge gave the Dukes a 21-7 advantage, which they stretched to 28-7 at the half. JMU's 21-point outburst included two touchdown drives that lasted one play each. Keaton bolted 23 yards for a touchdown following an interception at the UConn 23. Then he romped 47 yards following a UConn punt.

UConn had a couple of opportunities to get back in the game. But one drive stalled at the JMU 13 late in the first half and another faltered at the JMU 7 early in the third quarter. JMU upped the lead to 35-7 on a four-play, 92-yard touchdown drive that included a 53-yard run by Keaton. Keaton finished the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. UConn, which had led 7-0 on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Hoffmann to running back Taber Small, was completely stunned by JMU's dominance.

"Everybody knew we had to come out and produce," Hoffmann said. "The bottom line is we didn't We might have had, as a team, one of our worst outings ever." Chandler, who lost a key fumble against Villanova, got the ball only once and gained three yards. Taber Small scored two more touchdowns. He has 13 on the season, the fourth-highest, single-season mark in school history. INJURIES UConn's game plan and completely doused the Huskies' flickering postseason plans by running for 237 yards and five touchdowns.

By the time the 5-foot-ll senior was finished, so were the Huskies, 48-14. "Good running backs are going to look good when you don't tackle," UConn coach Randy Edsall said. "I knew this kid was a real good back. He's quick and he can make cuts. He didn't disappoint me in terms of what I saw of the kid, but we just didn't tackle.

"You can't play that way. You've got to be able to stop people." UConn (3-4, 2-2 Atlantic 10) became the sixth consecutive victim of James Madison (6-1, 6-0), which has experienced a rapid turnaround under new coach Mickey Matthews. Everything Matthews has done has turned to gold. Against UConn, he decided to play walk-on freshman quarterback Mike Connelly, who has not taken a snap all season. JMU's usual starter, Charles Berry, had been limited by knee and ankle injuries the past few weeks.

Connelly responded with a cool performance that included 120 yards rushing. "He's very athletic and he seemed like he's a heck of a competitor," Edsall said. "We had no idea he was going to be playing until we got down here and saw the newspaper. The young man is not even listed as a quarterback on their depth chart that we got." Fullback Matt Feschak did not make the trip because of a neckshoulder injury Fitzsimmons played with an injury sustained in practice on Thursday. Richmond bruised his right hand, but was able to return.

NEXT UP The loss, before 12,500 at Bridge-forth Stadium, mathematically eliminated UConn from the A-10 title picture. With four losses, the Huskies' hopes of returning to the Division I-AA playoffs for a second season were also dashed. UConn needed to beat JMU to keep their options open. "It's very tough to get in the playoffs at 8-3. It's next to impossible," said UConn quarterback Brian Hoffmann, who went 33-for-49 for 278 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

"It's kind of self-explanatory if we finish 7-4." Keaton's rushing total was the second most against a UConn defense. The five touchdowns set a Vs. Richmond, Saturday at 1:30 p.m., Storrs. The Spiders (4-3, 2-3 Atlantic 10) will be the first of three consecutive home games for the Huskies. Terry Price Todd Tomich to preserve a 41-29 Ivy League victory over Columbia Saturday after the Lions made a lopsided game close with 19 fourth-quarter points.

Yale coach Jack Siedlecki took most of the blame. "A lot of it's me," said Siedlecki, who replaced quarterback Joe Wal-land with Yale (5-1) leading 41-16 and less than 13 minutes to play. "I wanted to get Joe out of the game and I may have pulled the trigger a little early. "The same thing happened at Holy Cross," a 34-14 Yale victory. Still, in only three quarters against the Lions, Walland played long enough to put his name in Yale's record book.

He completed 13 of 26 passes for 185 yards and ran for 38 yards to move ahead of Kelly Ryan in career total offense, If Walland remains healthy, he should be able to pass Ryan in career passing yards, attempts and completions before his senior year is through. "It's nice, but being tied for first place is more important," Walland said. "It's going to be an interesting four weeks." The. Bulldogs, 2-1 in the Ivy League, are one of five teams with one loss and they will play three of those teams Pennsylvania, Cornell and Harvard over the next four weeks. It's not likely Yale will have the margin of error it enjoyed against Columbia (24, 0-3) Saturday.

"It's hard to keep momentum when the game is out of reach," Siedlecki said. "Kids get confident, emotions change, momentum swings. If you don't play with tremendous emotion, anybody in this league can beat you. We're not that much better than anyone else. "They did a nice job taking the ball down the field.

We didn't get a couple of first downs. It ended up being a heck of a game. Game over. We won. Move on.

We put 41 points on the board. You have to feel good about how the offense is playing." The Bulldogs scored on their first four possessions and led 24-3 at the half. The offense converted six consecutive third-down plays and scored on fourth down twice. "There were lots of third-and-longs, and the offensive line did a good job," Walland said. "There were huge lanes open for scrambling and you have to take advantage of what the defense gives you." When Walland wasn't passing, Rashad Bartholomew was running (131 yards, 27 carries).

It was the third consecutive week he passed the century mark. "We made some huge plays early," Siedlecki said. "We made some big plays and some huge catches. Columbia didn't give anything to us. "Rashad made a couple of big runs.

Jeff Ditman made some huge catches. Joe scrambled when he had to. We made huge plays on third and fourth down. If you want to win championships, you have to do that." Amherst Runs Past Wesleyan By TOM YANTZ Courant Staff Writer AMHERST, Mass. Wesleyan's 14-0 lead was blown away as easily as the wind stripped leaves off the trees surrounding Pratt Field Saturday.

(7 -fiA-v s9A -i Amherst dominated both lines of scrimmage in a 28-14 Little Three vic Yjk Ivy League Conf. Overall I PF PA JOHN LONGTHE HARTFORD COURANT FINDING HIMSELF in a bad spot after trying a quarterback sneak on third-and-1, Kyle Quinn is buried by Trinity's defense. Trinity Gives Bowdoin No Opening 5 1 4 2 5 1 4 2 tory. The Lord Jeffs (3-2) outgalned Wesleyan 405-179 in total yards. Wesleyan (3-2) had 22 yards and three first downs in the second half.

"Our big guys didn't make big plays," Wesleyan coach Frank Hauser said. But this void wasn't limited to quarterback Jake Fay (5 of 18, 76 yards, one interception), wide receiver Matt Perceval (two receptions for 18 yards) or the defense. "We didn't stop them; it was as simple as that," defensive tackle Kevin Lenane said. Amherst running backs Kevin Kinnard (29-122) and Okay Ugwonali (22-75) and quarterback Peter Honig (12-50) combined for 247 rushing yards. Honig was 11 of 22 for 149 yards.

Wesleyan struck early as cornerback Derrick Brantley pounced on a lateral 1:49 into the game at the Amherst 4. Larry Woolard then scored on the first of his two 1-yard touchdown runs. His next touchdown came early in the second quarter. The 14-0 advantage could have been bigger. Ronald Jacobs rushed for 66 of his 70 yards in the first half.

But David Frankel blocked a 32-yard field goal try by Brian Walker and Wesleyan failed to make plays inside Amherst's 25. After Kinnard scored on a 1-yard run and Derrell Wright caught a 22-yard touchdown pass, Perceval fumbled the ensuing kickoff at the 24. Liam Fleming's 25-yard field goal on the last play of the half put the Lord Jeffs ahead, 15-14. Any hopes of a Wesleyan comeback were squashed when Amherst used 11:05 and 19 plays to drive 81 yards into the wind to score another touchdown a 2-yard keeper by Honig in the third quarter. "It seemed like we were out there all day," outside linebacker Terry Sears said.

Wesleyan had the ball for 5:07 in the second half to 24:53 for Amherst The Cardinals, losing their sixth consecutive game to Amherst, didn't get their first first down of the final half until there was 10:17 left in the fourth quarter. Fay, who was averaging 305 total yards per game, finished with 68. Kinnard rushed for Amherst's last touchdown early in the final quarter from the 1. And Wesleyan's quest to win the Little Three title outright for the first time since 1970 vanished. Its final Little Three game is Nov.

6 at home against Williams. 212 177 152 143 208 79 143 108 152 142 50 163 104 189 88 127 Brown Cornell Yale Harvard Penn Dartmouth Columbia Princeton 2 4 2 4 By WOODY ANDERSON Courant Staff Writer Friday night the Trinity football team met without its coaches and decided to shut out Bowdoin. "It was a realistic goal," said free safety Sean Joyce. "Normally our goal True To Its Word, Completes Shutout Bowdoin got into trouble on the opening kickoff when it tried an onside kick. Trinity recovered on its own 47 and never had bad field position.

And Bowdoin was always backed up deep in its own territry. Trinity linebacker Jeff Iudice was surprised at the onside kick. "That's a defeatist move. You're saying you've got to trick us to beat us. It reflects badly on your team." Iudice didn't use any tricks in producing a career-high 18 tackles, 2.5 sacks, a tackle for loss, one fumble caused, and an interception.

The Bantams defense couldn't wait to get at Polar Bears junior quarterback Kyle Quinn, ranked last in the NESCAC with a 41 percent Bantams' defense, which intercepted five passes, had four sacks, four other tackles for completion rate and only two touchdowns and five interceptions. To the Bantams, that meant that the Polar Bears offense was mostly run-based. "When he's under pressure he lobs it up quite often," Joyce said of Quinn, who was 8-for-28 for 109 yards. Joyce intercepted Quinn's first pass along the left sideline, got two blocks and scored on a 24-yard return, giving the Bantams a 7-0 lead with 7:09 left in the first quarter. Iudice had a good view of the play.

"They came out in a formation we practiced against all week and they ran a play we expected," Iudice said. "It jacked us up." Trinity's defense got the best of Quinn again in the third quarter when linebacker Dale Phelps returned an interception 48 yards to the Bowdoin 10. Four plays later freshman tailback Brian Fabrizio, the top rusher in the with 95 yards and two touchdowns, scored the Bantams' last touchdown on a 1-yard run. Trinity quarterback Gregg Wysocki, who came in ranked third in the NESCAC, also struggled passing (7-of-26, 66 yards, one touchdown). But his 21-yard run to the Polar Bears 12 set up his 5-yard touchdown pass to Kevin Waters.

Saturday Yale 41, Columbia 29 Brown 44, Pern 37: Steve Campbell caught four touchdown passes and James Perry threw for 440 yards and five touchdowns to become the Ivy League's career leader in passing yardage as Brown held off Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Harvard 13, Princeton 6: In Boston, quarterback Brad Wilford ran into the end zone from the 1-yard line with two seconds left to carry Harvard. The Tigers had tied the score at 6-6 when Taylor Northrup kicked a 52-yard field goal. But Northrup turned from hero to goat on the ensuing kickoff as he fell while kicking off and Harvard took over on their 42. Dartmouth 20, Cornel 17: In Hanover, N.H., Brian Mann and Reggie Bel-homme ran for TDs as the Big Green ended the longest losing streak (10) in school history.

Next Saturday Penn at Yale, 1 p.m. Dartmouth at Harvard Brown at Fordham Wagner at Cornell Columbia at Princeton is three interceptions, five sacks." Mission accomplished. The Bantams unleashed one of their best defensive displays in recent memory in a 26-0 victory over Bowdoin Saturday, their first shutout since beating Bowdoin 33-0 in 1996. Although thick mud on Dan Jessee Field made passing treacherous, it didn't slow the losses and recovered a fumble. Of Bowdoin's 81 plays, 40 were either no gains, losses or turnovers.

The Polar Bears, who beat Trinity 19-0 last year, averaged 2.7 yards a play and got inside the Trinity 32-yard line only once. Trinity (4-1) is the turnaround story of tht New England Small College Athletic Conference. The Bantams were 2-6 last year..