The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page D03

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER www.philly.com D3 COLLEGE FOOTBALL Temple bows in its Big East farewell Sunday, November 21, 2004 By Kevin Tatum INQUIRER STAFF WRITER On a day when 21 seniors suited up for the last time as Temple football players, the Owls also said goodbye to the Big East Conference at Lincoln Financial Field. As had been its habit, Temple fell behind early yesterday. As usual, the Owls never showed any signs of throwing in the towel. But also not out of the ordinary was the result. Despite losing starting quarterback Paul Peterson to a broken throwing hand in the first half, 19th-ranked Boston College stayed on a track for a berth in the Bowl Championship Series by handing Temple a 34-17 loss before 14,081.

"If there's one thing I can leave with the guys, it's to never give up, just like we haven't during the four years I've been here," said Lawrence Wade, a senior defensive back for the Owls. Temple, which is set to play an independent schedule next year, ended the season 2-9 overall and 1-5 in the Big East. Its victories were over Syracuse and Division I-AA Florida The Owls, who won 14 conference games in 14 seasons of Big East competition, were voted out of the league in 2001 when the league presidents determined that they had had failed Boston College 34, Temple 17 to meet minimum criteria. "I've been proud of our players all year long," coach Bobby Wallace said after the completion of his seventh season. "We played hard, and it takes a lot of character week in and week out to do that against good teams," added Wallace, who wound up coaching 10 of Temple's Big East victories.

"The record is not good, and that's the bottom line for everybody else. But with the state of the program, I think we're competitive. "There were just things we could have done a little better this year. I thought we should have won more games." Temple quarterback Walter Washington completed 25 of 38 passes for 283 yards and a pair of touchdowns and rushed for 73 yards on 21 carries yesterday. He broke the school record for total yards in a season with 3,086, bettering the 2,577 amassed by quarterback Henry Burris in 1994.

Boston College (8-2, 4-1 Big East), which will move into the Atlantic Coast Conference next season, saw its chances of getting a BCS bowl bid hurt when Peterson, a senior, suffered a broken right hand in the second quarter. Peterson was replaced by freshman Matt Ryan, who completed a drive that led to a field goal and a 17-3 halftime lead for the Eagles. Ryan, who had played in four games before yesterday, helped BC increase its lead to 24-3 when he and wide receiver Larry Lester teamed up on a 32-yard pass play with 13 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in the third period. "Matt's playing next weekend," BC coach Tom O'Brien said. "Championship or bust." The Eagles need to defeat Syracuse on Saturday to assure themselves of a least a tie for the Big East title.

They can take the crown outright if they win and West Virginia loses at Pittsburgh on Thanksgiving Day. If the Eagles were to tie West Virginia for the conference championship, they could still represent the Big East in a BCS game by virtue of their victory over the Mountaineers this season. However, if West Virginia finished five spots or more ahead of them in the final BCS standings, it would get the bowl JERRY LODRIGUSS Inquirer Staff Photographer Cornerback DeJuan Tribble of Boston College extends himself but can't come up with an interception of a pass intended for Buchie Ibeh of Temple. Ibeh caught one of two touchdown passes thrown by Walter Washington as the Owls, who finished 2-9, tried to rally. ter that the score is, no matter what the outcome or what it looks like." raced for his second touchdown of the game to seal the win.

"Give Temple a lot of credit," O'Brien said. "This is a tough situation for them and a tough game. They played till the end, and they never give up, no mat After a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Ohliger put Boston College up by 27-3, Washington hooked up with wide receivers Buchie Ibeh and Phil Goodman for touchdowns that cut BC's lead to 27-17 with 5:13 to play. After his touchdown, Goodman was flagged for throwing the ball into the stands. Temple was penalized 15 yards on the kickoff that followed, and BC wound up starting its possession at the Owls' 39.

On first down, tailback L.V Whitworth Contact staff writer Kevin Tatum at 21 5-854-2583 or ktatumphillynews.com. Your Car Donate tricky Purple Heart "A Name You Can Trust" Call 888-414-GIVE (4483) TREADMILL SALE spot. Going into this weekend, BC was 21st in the BCS standings. West Virginia was 23d. Wallace said the Owls did not talk about yesterday's being their last Big East game.

"We did not talk about that one time," he said. "I know our kids are aware of it. I mentioned the fact that we were playing a top-20 team and we had the opportunity to beat a top-20 team, knock them out of the BCS situation, and do our program some good." win for ous affinity for turning third downs into fourth downs. The season-long malady that has been Penn's kicking game showed no signs of improvement. Freshman Derek Zoch suffered two blocked field-goal tries, the second coinciding with the Big Red's discovery that they were a highly capable opponent.

"It took us a few quarters to figure out that we can play with these guys," said Jim Knowles, Cornell's first-year coach. The Quakers improved their lead to 14-0 off a neat bit of guile they employed 16 seconds before halftime. On five plays that followed a fumble recovery by Kevin Yunge, the Quakers' senior defensive end, Penn drove to the Cornell 8-yard line, positioning Zoch for a 22-yard field-goal attempt, with Gabe Marabella in his usual spot as the holder. But a split second after the snap, Marabella bounced up and dashed to his right, catching the Cornell defenders momentarily off guard. The play ended when Marabella lofted a 5-yard pass to J.J.

Stanton, the sophomore noseguard from Haddonfield who caught the ball deep in the end zone. It was the first touchdown pass of Marabella's career and 500off! Boston College Temple 7 10 10 7-34 3 0 7 7 17 First quarter BC-Whitworth29 run (Ohliger kick), 9:59. Second quarter BC-Miller3 pass from Peterson (Ohliger kick), 6:29. BC-FG Ohliger 43, :22. Third quarter BC-Lester32 pass from Ryan (Ohliger kick), 13:15.

BC-FG Ohliger 32, 10:45. Tem-lbeh 20 pass from Washington (Lux kick), 2:26. Fourth quarter Tern-Goodman 1 1 pass from Washington (Lux kick), 5:13. BC-Whitworth39 run (Ohliger kick), 4:57. 14,081.

BC Tern First downs 23 24 Rushes-yards 32-183 37-120 Passing 236 288 Comp-Att-Int 20-30-0 26-39-1 Return Yards 13 (-5) Punts-Avg. 5-35 5-38 Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1 Penalties-Yards 4-45 8-61 Time of Possession 26:49 33:11 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Boston College, Whitworth 17-151, Callender 9-34, Peterson 3-11, team 1 -(minus 3), Ryan 2-(minus 10). Temple, Washington 21-73, Brown 9-26, Allbrooks 1-11, U.Ferguson 6-1 0. Passing: Boston College, Ryan 8-1 5-0-1 21 Peterson 12-15-0-115. Temple, Washington 25-38-1-283, Brown 1-1-0-5.

Receiving: Boston College, Lester 5-61 Miller 5-33, Adams 4-82, Hazard 3-53, Whitworth 2-2, Koziol 1-5. Temple, Brown 8-31, Goodman 6-59, Ibeh 4-88, Chuku 4-63, Harris 1-18, Allbrooks 1-17, U.Ferguson 1-7, Washington 1-5. By Ron Reid INQUIRER STAFF WRITER ITHACA, N.Y. Through 32 quarters of a season-ending matchup with Cornell yesterday, Penn gave several indications that it would actually finish off a game with no need for late heroics or any comeback drama. That was some misleading stuff.

In what Penn coach Al Bagno-li called "a microcosm of our season," Penn once again had to hang on for dear life in a worrisome 20-14 victory that probably was one play removed from winding up as a loss. The win was Penn's fifth straight against Cornell, and it left the Quakers' Class of 2005 with a 26-2 Ivy League record that equaled the mark set by the Penn Class of 2004. For the season, Penn finished with an 8-2 overall record and a 6-1 mark as the Ivy League runner-up to Harvard. Cornell (4-6, 4- 3) finished third. The game also saw Bryan Walker, the Quakers' freshman quarterback, complete 19 of 36 passes for 257 yards.

Dan Castles, the senior wide receiver, caught eight of them for 124 yards to climb to second place on Penn's career reception yardage list. But with greater intensity, the game also brought back memories of the narrow escapes Penn endured earlier this season against Yale, Brown and Princeton. "It's what this season has been," Bagnoli said. "It's never easy for us. I give credit to our kids for fighting back and finding a way to win." This was after Bagnoli had seen his vaunted defense get beaten for touchdowns twice in the final 8 minutes, 44 seconds to rev up the uneasiness that marked the last five minutes.

The game ended in Penn's favor thanks to the poetic justice of an end-zone interception by Michael Johns, the Quakers' 5- foot-9 junior cornerback. Johns had been called for Another $100 Savings on al! fold up models Savings on EVO Smooth non-fold models $500 OFF on Smooth 9.2S series Penn the first touchdown reception of Stanton's. Contact staff writer Ron Reid at 21 5-854-4469 or rreidphillynews.com. Penn 20, Cornell 14 Penn Cornell 7 7 6 0 20 0 0 0 14 14 First quarter P-Fallon 1 7 interception return (Zoch kick), 1 0:07. Second quarter P-Stanton 5 pass from Marabella (Zoch kick), :1 6.

Third quarter P-Ambrogi14run (kick failed), :07. Fourth quarter C-Busch 1 run (Weitsman kick), 8:44 C-Johnston 4 run (Weitsman kick), 4:54. 4,242. Penn Corn First downs 18 16 Rushes-yards 31-88 43-89 Passing 262 232 Punt returns 3-9 5-26 Kickoff returns 2-22 4-32 Interceptions ret. 2-17 1-0 Comp-att-int 20-37-1 15-29-2 Sacked-yards lost 4-17 1-9 Punts 7-287 7-227 Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-2 Penalties-yards 5-55 2-20 Time of possession 28:02 31:58 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing: Penn, Ambrogi 17-49, Bryant 5-18, Makovsky 3-12, Mathews 1-6, Carre 1-6, Walker 3-(minus 1), DeSmedt 1 -(minus 2).

Cornell, Johnston 18-71, Kuhn 12-21, Busch 6-4, Ibegbu 4-2, Jackson 1 -(minus 1), Team 2-(minus 8). Passing: Penn, Walker 19-36-1-257, Marabella 1-1-0-5. Cornell, Busch 1 1-19-2-177, Kuhn 3-9-0-32, Baumgartel 1-1 -0-23. Receiving: Penn, Castles 8-124, Carret 4-67, Marabella 4-35, Ambrogi 2-9, DeSmedt 1 -22, Stanton 1-5. Cornell, Romney 7-1 15, Jackson 3-71, Nice2-27, Johnston 2-(minus 4), Tarsi 1 -23.

up to OFFER ENDS NOV. 27 Cannot Be Combined With Any Othei Offci $200 0 'A FINANCING for 12 Nontiis do Payment, So (Merest when balance is paid Wore im date PLUS GET A FREE TREADMILL MAT smoothfitrtess.com FITNESS SUPERSTORES "It's what this season has been. It's never easy for us. I give credit to our kids for fighting back and finding a way to win." Penn head coach Al Bagnoli, on how his team hung on for the win, something it has had to do often this season. pass interference earlier in the fourth quarter, on a play that saw Cornell receiver Anthony Jackson push off the Penn defender in order to get open.

The 15 penalty yards helped Cornell to its first touchdown, a 1-yard quarterback sneak by D.J. Busch. About four minutes later, the fired-up Cornell offense scored again on a 4-yard run by Joshua Johnston. But Johns had the last laugh with his theft of Busch's errant pass, which he caught with 1:21 left. "The ball just spun out of my hands," Busch said.

"I'll be thinking about that one for a long time. I'll say it right now: We should have won that game. I've been playing too long to have the ball fall out of my hands." That the Quakers' season ended on so nerve-racking a note probably should have been expected. At Thursday's practice, Adam Francks twisted his ankle, and Bagnoli lost his best punt-return specialist. Yesterday, Sam Mathews got poked in the eye on his second carry, and Bagnoli lost his No.

1 running back. Before 4,242 fans shivering in the wet gloom of Schoellkopf Field, however, the Quakers forged a 20-0 lead despite those injuries, a pair of turnovers, a seven-minute disadvantage in time of possession, and a dubi WT-' THE Mori tgomeryville (next to Circuit City 215-362-2505 King of Prussia Gateway Shopping Ctr. 610-225-7233 Cherry Hill 1410 U. Kings Hwy. 856-427-9524.