The Boston Globe from Boston, Massachusetts • 61

1 61 THE BOSTON SUNDAY GLOBE NOVEMBER 15, 1992 Procollege football The success of Steve Young (right) is good for the 49ers bad for Joe Montana (left). Pro football Princeton holds .1 An ale mac linch By Joe Concannon GLOBE STAFF Col Miners finer 3 NEW HAVEN They have arrived at the doorstep on an emotional high, and now they can do it for themselves 4V next week in the Ivy League showdown game of this AP PHOIO Harvard's Robb Hirsch covers up as he goes down. arvan Shurmur says their offense is now best season. Princeton brought itseli within reach oi its nrst outngnt league championship in 28 years yesterday by trouncing Yale, 36-7, in chilly Yale Bowl. A win or a tie against Dartmouth would wrap it up nicely.

The Tigers were simply too good in a place where they historically haven't played well. They ran up 565 yards to just a paltry 125 for the Elis. You had to go back to a 45-7 loss to Harvard in 1982 to find a more decisive Yale defeat; had not Darryl Simchak blocked a punt and returned it 8 yards for a touchdown with 5:08 left in this agonizing day, it would have marked the first shutout by the Tigers in the series since 1955. There were indications that the Tigers are peaking at the right time. Quarterback Joel Foote completed a career-high 16 passes for 233 yards and a touchdown, making him 7-0 as a starter.

The elusive Michael Lerch caught 8 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown, and the slippery Keith Elias ran 20 times for 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns. "Today our offense took a big step," said Elias. "We just didn't use the pass game. We just didn't use the run game. Today we mixed it up, and that's TARTING TODAY, YOU WILL SEE THE best San Francisco 49er offense ever assembled, and a unit that may be as good as any I that has ever played in the National Football con kick in League.

MHflBMIIIMdrttlMHriflflUfl what won the game for us. Our coaches called a brilliant game. "It's great that we have a share of the title, but I'm greedy. I don't want to share it. I'm really going to enjoy it tonight but tomorrow it's history." Yale coach Carm Cozza had a 21-6 personal record in this series and had lost just two home games.

"This is the worst game we've played against them since I've been here," said Cozza. "They're talented defensively. They have a great running back. They have a tremendous wideout We're not a very good football team. You put those all together and you're going to have problems." The Tigers (8-1, 6-0 Ivy) led only 6-0 at intermission, as they killed themselves.

The moved to the 24, but Jeff Hogg missed a field goal. They moved from their 1 to the Elis' 11 but had to settle for Hogg's 34-yard field goal. They had a touchdown called back and saw a Hogg field goal attempt hit the right upright. They moved to the 3, but Elias was hit by Dan Melish, fumbled, and it was recovered by Yale's John Saunders. Hogg did kick a 38-yard field goal for the 6-0 lead.

Cozza's team (4-5, 2-4) had just four first downs and 62 yards in the first 30 minutes. The Tigers picked up 2 early second-half points when a snap sailed over the head of punter Scott Eidle and he was tackled in the end zone. Elias handed off to Steve Tufil-laro on a reverse and he sprinted 48 yards up the right sidelines to the 6. Elias danced up the middle on the next play to make it 15-0. Before the third period ended, the Tigers had built a 29-0 lead.

Lerch outsprinted defenders Steve Gruendel and Mike Brown at 11:30 on a 25-yard touchdown pass. Lerch picked up 44 yards on a reception to set up Erick Hamilton's 1-yard run with 45 seconds to go, and this game was a rout. "This is what we worked for," said Princeton coach Steve Toches. "Defensively, you couldn't ask for a better effort. "We shared it in 1989 and we don't want to share it this time." That opinion comes from a guy who has a lovehate relationship with the team that goes back a long way.

"I coached against them when they really had it going offensively with Joe Montana and that bunch through four Super Bowls, and I say this offense they have right now is the best of them," says Fritz Shurmur, defensive coordinator of the Phoenix Cardinals. Throughout the 1980s, when the Niners were rolling over the rest of the NFL, Shurmur lived with their nightmares constantly. During that period, he was the defensive coordinator for John Robinson's Los Angeles Rams, who went head-to-head twice a year with the 49ers for the NFC West title. They just couldn't get past San Francisco. "I have the greatest respect for Joe and those teams, and the great players they had on offense," says Shurmur, "but in my opinion, they are better now than they ever have been.

"With John Taylor due back today from an injury and Jerry Rice as wide receivers, you have the best combination in the league, and Rice is as good as anyone that has ever played that position. "Brent Jones is the best two-way tight end they have had. He has great hands and he has really improved his blocking. Ricky Watters is a bigger threat at tailback than they have had in that spot before. He is capable of making more big plays than Roger Craig did.

Tom Rathman is as good as any fullback in the league. He is a terrific blocker, a solid short-yardage runner, and has great hands. "The quarterback now, Steve Young, presents more problems than Joe did the last three or four years Joe was running the show. This kid scares you to death. He is simply a great runner.

He just doesn't go for the first down and the slide, he is looking to make big plays. Joe wasn't doing that. And because of that ability to run, he is every bit as dangerous as Joe was passing the ball. "Their offense is different with Young running it, but it is more effective because he has more great weapons. What team has the offensive skill people that can match up with Young, Watters, Rathman, Jones, Taylor and Rice? I don't think there are any.

I don't know of any team that ever had that kind of firepower. There's just no way you can defense all of it. You have to cheat on defense and hope you can get away with it a while before they catch on." No go, Joe More on the Niners: Unless something strange happens, Montana has probably played his last game as a starter in San Francisco. The coaching staff and management are completely happy with Young. He is going to start even if Montana's rehabilitation restores his ailing throwing arm.

Montana could see some service as a backup, but the future is with Young. When the season is over, Montana will either retire as a 49er or move on to another team, if one wants to take a gamble on him. Over the past two years, the Niners have paid him more than $6 million and he hasn't played. They will not pay him big money again next year to be Young's backup. How many teams would take a chance on a 36-year-old quarterback who has a questionable arm and a big contract? Happy Chief executive Speaking of contracts, the deal for Kansas City Chiefs general manager Carl Peterson is all but done.

Peterson's initial contract will expire this season, and there were stories all around the country that he might wind up somewhere else next year because he was having problems getting a new deal done with owner Lamar Hunt. But Peterson said Friday, "Lamar and I have talked about a new contract and we are pretty much in agreement I haven't signed anything yet, but it will get done. Why would I want to go anywhere else? I have the best owner in football." Peterson and his hand-picked coach, Marty Schottenheimer, have done a good job restoring the credibility of the team. When Peterson arrived, the Chiefs were not doing well at the gate. Now they sell out virtually every home game.

Peterson was smart he had an attendance clause put in his contract that eventually earned him more than a million dollars You can bet the Giants' front office is not thrilled at the pronouncements of Phil Simms and Lawrence Tay--lor the past few weeks. Simms says he is going to come back next year. And now LT, after being knocked out for the year with an injury, reportedly might try a comeback after saying he would retire. LT had surgery on his Achilles' tendon, but reportedly told Beasley Reece he might try to play again because he didn't count on ending his career this way. It is no secret that management wanted to phase out Simms, Taylor and other veterans to concentrate on rebuilding the team.

Even if Simms and Taylor do come back, how much will they play? Would either start? Both make more than a million dollars a year. This is going to be a tough public relations problem. We are the world As we hear it, former Minnesota Vikings owner Mike Lynn is trying to find owners for his proposed Globe League. Lynn had a run at being the commissioner of the failed World League of American Football, where he fell in love with the idea of pro football overseas. Lynn is carrying on a campaign he calls "Project Blitz" trying to find owners in a hurry to start up teams in six European cities next spring (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Milan, Dusseldorf and Barcelona).

London, Frankfurt and Barcelona drew well in the old WLAF. Lynn's scheme calls for adding two European teams in 1994, Athens and Berlin, and proposes eight Pacific Rim teams to-start operating in 1995 in such places as Hawaii, Tokyo, Seoul, Hong Kong, Singapore, Osaka, Nagoya and ChibaYokohama. The Lynn Dream calls for a 20-game "split" season, with 12 games in the spring and eight more in the fall, between the first of September and the end of October. Four teams would be in the playoffs, with the championship game the second week in November. Lynn's league would be independent from the NFL.

To make the plan work, he offers, each team should have sponsorship that generates $3 million per year Evidently, the old WLAF teams just aren't going to roll over. Larry Benson, former owner of the San Antonio franchise, says he and some fellow former owners are trying to make a deal with the Canadian Football League. "The idea is to have San Antonio, Sacramento, Montreal and Portland Ore. become part of the CFL," says Benson. "We are trying to get it done within two weeks." Suspension of disbelief Bills owner Ralph Wilson wasn't happy when he heard that Steelers tight end Eric Green was suspended last Monday, a day after playing against Buffalo in a game Pittsburgh lost, 28-20.

"I said to myself, how does Green play Sunday and then get suspended Monday for six weeks?" says Wilson. "They didn't know before our game that he had this problem? This guy Green is a great player. He is the kind of guy that can turn a game around. What if Pittsburgh beat us and that cost us the division title or the playoffs? I'm going to try to find out what this is all about I don't know how something like this could happen." Green can't return until the final game of the season, if his drug suspension is lifted by the league at that time. He could have appealed the ruling and bought more time, but the longer he let it go, the better the chance he would not play in the playoffs if the Steelers make them Suspended University of Washington quarterback Billy Joe Hobert might have a surprise coming.

Hobert was broomed out of the Huskies' program for borrowing $50,000 from a friend, but says he will get the money back when he turns pro. However, two scouts said this past week that he is currently considered a fifth-round pick at best. Plenty of nothing The Patriots have been around winless seasons in pro football before, on one side or the other. Former quarterback Tom Yewcic recalls the final game of the 1962 season: "We are in Oakland to play the Raiders. They haven't won a game all year 0-13.

We can get to the championship game if Houston loses in New York on Saturday and we beat the Raiders on Sunday. Houston beat the Titans, 59-14, or something like that, to knock us out of it. As soon as that game was over, most of our guys left the hotel and kept on going until it was game time. We got beat, 19-0. They killed us.

No one on our team wanted to play. All they wanted to do was get it over and get on the plane." This kept the Raiders from being the first team in the modern era to go without a victory. In 1976, the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers reached that dubious mark, going 0-14. Their opponents the final game? The Patriots, in Tampa. "They gave us plenty of trouble in that game," says Yewcic, who was then an assistant coach with the Patriots.

"We clinched the playoffs the week before and had nothing to gain. We were lucky they didn't beat us. We needed a long interception return for a touchdown by Sam Hunt to win the game." The current Patriots have a legitimate shot at breaking the Tampa Bay record. The Bucs, though, went 0 for 26 before finally getting the franchise's first victory in the 13th game of 1977 If the 49ers have to cut someone to activate Taylor, the most likely candidate will be former Patriot Garin Veris. That should illustrate the difference in talent level between teams on the top and bottom in the NFLj, Do you think Sam Janko-vich will be smiling if Veris gets whacked? By Matt Kelly SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE rJl PHILADELPHIA Eliminated weeks I.

ETitWi ago from the Ivy League race, Harvard had nothing to lose when it visited Penn at Franklin Field. The upstart Quakers have been the surprise team in the Ivies this fall and were the favorites yesterday. So when Penn scored to take a 21-12 lead with 5 minutes remaining, it looked as though the Crimson were done for the day. But Harvard, paced by quarterback Mike Giardi's career-high 114 rushing yards, rallied to within 2 with under a minute to go. Giardi ran five times on the final drive, bringing Harvard to the Penn 34.

From there, it was up to kicker Mark Hall to deliver the Crimson their biggest win of the year. But in this season of disappointments, Hall's 51-yard attempt fell about 5 yards short and Penn held on for a 21-19 victory before 21,626. Penn improved to 6-3 overall, 4-2 in the league. Harvard slipped to 2-7, 2-4, and was left to ponder another painful setback. "The kick looked pretty good coming off my foot," said Hall, who hit a 51-yarder last year against Dartmouth.

"It looked dead-on accurate. "That situation is every kicker's dream. But it fits right into the scheme of things for this season. We've come so close so many times. This one would have erased a lot of bad memories." Giardi appeared to be orchestrating some good memories after Penn's final touchdown.

Starting from their 41, the Crimson marched to the Penn 15 thanks to 27- and 15-yard runs by Giardi. From there, on third and 12, senior Mike Hill (11 carries, 55 yards) ran it in. Hall's point-after made it a 21-19 affair. But the Crimson attack, harassed by the fourth-best defense in Division 1-AA, ran out of gas on its last drive. "It was tough because we were out of timeouts and Penn was playing the ball well," said Giardi, who was brought down three times.

"They got pressure on me and we couldn't get any farther. "The game typified our season. We made early mistakes and then played well at the end." Harvard's biggest mistake of the first half was failing to capitalize on a golden opportunity late in the first quarter. After jumping to a 7-0 lead on Sundiata Rush's 73-yard run, Penn appeared poised to add 7 more points when it set up shop at the Harvard 7. But defensive back Rob Sonne picked off an errant Jimmy McGeehan pass at the 3 and returned it to the Penn 33.

Harvard went nowhere from there, and was forced to punt. In fact, Harvard really couldn't put together any sustained drives until the' third quarter. The Crimson amassed just 71 yards to the Quakers' 224 -in the first half. Penn tallied 143 yards on the ground but took only that 7-0 lead into the locker room. "They had so many opportunities in the first half," Harvard coach Joe Restic said.

"But they squandered them. We came out unscathed and were feeling very good at halftime." They must have been feeling very good after intermission as well, when James Ellis returned the opening kickoff 61 yards to the Penn 30. Hill plowed into the end zone from 8 yards at the 12:59 mark to make it 7-6, Penn. Hall's PAT was blocked -the fourth time that's happened this season. Harvard played an inspired second half, refusing to succumb to the better team.

Tfyi offense clicked lata, but couldn't pull this one off. Conf. All W-L-T W-L-T Princeton 6-0-0 8-1-0 Dartmouth 5-1-0 7-2-0 Cornell 4-2-0 7-2-0 Penn 4-2-0 6-3-0 Harvard 2-4-0 2-7-0 Yale 2-4-0 4-5-0 Columbia 1-5-0 2-7-0 Brown 0-6-0 0-9-0 PENN, 21-19 at PMWelpMi Harvard (2-7) 0 0 6 13 19 Penn (6-3) 7 0 7 7 21 Rush 73 run (Horowitz kick) Hill 8 run (kick blocked) Stokes 21 run (Horowitz kick) Giardi 14 run (rush failed) Stokes 2 run (Horowitz kick) Hill 15 run (Hall kick) Attendance First downs 19 19 Rushes-yards 49-203 60-321 Passing yards 64 106 Return yards 120 20 Passes 15-7-0 22 11-2 Punts Fumbles-kKt 3-1 0-0 Penalties-yards 3-20 7-56 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rnshiaf Att. Yds. Ave.

LG Giardi, 22 114 5.1 27 Hill, 11 55 5.0 15 Rush, 21 164 7.8 73 Stokes, 17 85 5.0 29 Yds. TD Int. Giardi, 7 15 64 0 0 McGeehan, 10 19 85 0 2 Receiving No. Yds. TD Taylor, 3 29 0 Hubbard.

1 19 0 Baker, 5 55 0 Cobb. 2 25 0 PRINCETON, 36-7 Princeton (8-1) 23 7 36 Yale (4-5) 0 0 0 7 7 Jeff Hogg 34 FG Hogg 38 FG Safety, Eidle tackled in end zone Keith Elias 6 run (Hogg kick) Michael Lerch 25 pass from Joel Foote (Hogg kick) Erick Hamilton 1 run (Hogg kick) Elias 23 run (Hogg kick) Darryl Simchak 8 fumble return (Peter Swartz) Attendance 16,450. First downs 24 10 Rushes-yards 59-314 36-48 Passing yards 251 77 Return yards 28 8 Passes 26-17-0 22-6-1 Punts 3-0 6-41 Fumbles-lost 4-3 3-2 Penalties-yards 10-113 8-78 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RubMrs Att. Yds. Avg.

LG Elias, 20 140 7.0 37 Tufillaro, 1 48 48.0 48 Price, 15 52 3.4 11 Hetherington, 8 36 4.5 11 Passing Com. Att. Yds. TO Int. Foote, 16 24 233 1 0 Mills, 4 14 48 0 0 Receiving No.

Yds. TD Lerch, 8 151 1 Nance, 3 43 0 Kmak, 1 15 0 Hunt, 2 34 0 DARTMOUTH, 51-28 Dartamitli 20 14 7 10-51 Bran 0 6 0 22 28 D-Bajari 32 punt return (Durkin kick) Martin 1 run (kick failed) D-Arsenault 1 run (Durkin kick) B- Taylor 20 pass from Pienias (kick failed) D-Brzica 41 pass from Fiedler (Durkin kick) D-Tosone 12 pass from Fiedler (Durkin kick) D- Bajari 16 punt return (Durkin kick) Ovalle 7 pass from Camp (Taylor pass from Camp) D-Torres 1 run (Durkin kick) Taylor 27 pass from Camp (Warden kick) Forman 63 run (Warden kick) FG 26 Durkin Dirt First downs 23 20 Rushes-yards 57-280 22-156 Passing 234 266 Comp-Att-Int 10-19-2 24-56-2 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-1 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Arsenault 19-73, Torres 8-78, Martin 11-70. Forman 1-63, Brown 12-49. PASSING -D, Fiedler 18-10-2-234. Pienias 30-11-1-122, Camp 26 13-1-144.

RECEIVING Brzica 2-57, Clifford 1-57, Tosone 3-53. Nakane 7-97, Taylor 6-81, Sharkey 5-35. COLUMBIA, 35-30 Cornell 0 7 9 14-30 ColmaMa 13 7 7-35 Col Werthman 4 run (Teal kick) Col Werthman 1 run (kick failed) Col Andrzejewski 1 run (Werthman pass from Doolittle) Corn Mateo 38 pass from Lazor (Cochrane kick) Com FG Cochrane 35 Col Andrzejewski 7 run (Werthman kick) Corn Berryman 10 pass from Lazor (run failed) Col Mundt 2 pass from Andrzejewski (Werthman kick) Corn -Mateo 15 pass from Lazor (Cochrane kick) Com Woods fumble recovery in end zone (Cochrane kick) A Con Col First downs 31 24 Rushes-yards 21-47 32-101 Passing 400 294 Comp-Att-Int 37-59-0 33-50-0 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING Cornell, Oliaro 13-31. Columbia, Andrzejewski 13-43. PASSING -Cornell, Lazor 37-59-0-400.

Columbia, Andrzejewski 33-49-0-294. RECEIVING -Cornell, Jamin 10-108, Case 10-90. Oliaro 7-73. Columbia, Sardo 13-94, 6-36. MacPherson is doing well Patriots coach Dick MacPherson is resting comfortably following successful colon surgery, the team announced yesterday.

According to MacPherson's personal physician, the coach is doing well following surgery Friday Ivy League roundup Dartmouth rolls; Cornell stunned ASSOCIATED PRESS Jay Fiedler threw for two touchdowns and 234 yards, leading Dartmouth to a 51-28 victory over winless Brown yesterday in Providence. The win kept the Big Green (7-2) in the hunt for a share of their third straight Ivy League title. They face undefeated Princeton next week; a Dartmouth win would leave both teams with 6-1 Ivy records. Dartmouth got on the board after 0-9 Brown's first possession when Brian Bajari recovered a blocked punt and ran 32 yards. Bajari scored on an almost identical play in the second half.

The Big Green's Dennis Durkin set an Ivy record for career points by a kicker with 129. Columbia 35, Cornell 30 Chad Andrzejewski riddled Cornell for 33 completions and 294 yards and Des Werthman scored 16 points, leading Columbia to the upset in New York. Columbia (2-7, 1-5) had a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter after Werthman ran for first-period touchdowns of 4 yards and 1 yard, and Andrzejewski scored from the 1. Cornell (7-2, 4-2), which had a seven-game winning streak snapped, drew withjg, 21-10 early in the third quarter. night to remove a diseased fT-Dortion of his lower colon, if d) MacPherson has been in Masssachusetts General Hospital since Nov.

4 to treat acute diverticulitis. The surgery was performed by Drs. Ashby Mon-cure and Alex Althausen, the club said. There was no word MacPHERSON Stay indefinite on how long MacPherson would be hospitalized. "The coach is doing very well in the first day of post-surgery," said James Dineen, MacPherson's doctor.

"His only message is to beat the Indianapolis Colts." MacPherson, 62, also missed last week's game against New Orleans. Dante Scarnecchia, the Patriots' special teams and tight ends coach, is taking over in MacPherson's absence. PETERlAY.