Great Games in Penn History: Nov. 23, 1985

Nov. 25, 1985 -- In a fitting conclusion to the 1985 football season, Penn defeated Dartmouth, 19-14 Saturday at Franklin Field, ending the year in the same manner they began 10 weeks ago -- as undisputed Ivy League champions. The Quakers (7-2-1, 6-1 Ivy League) will keep the championship trophy in Philadelphia for the entire year to come, after Harvard -- which entered Saturday's play tied with Penn for first place -- lost at Yale, 17-6. Thanks to clutch performances by a host of players not accustomed to the spotlight and the stellar play of a defense that allowed only 61 total yards in the second half, the 1985 Quakers ensured their place in the school's record books by wrapping up an unprecedented fourth consecutive Ivy title. "This is the greatest," co-captain Tom Gilmore said after a typically all-American three-sack 11-tackle performance that ranked as one of his most inspired ever. "You can't ask for more than this, to win four straight championships. Hardly anyone can say that they did that. It says that we're the best team in the league for four straight years." It was a fitting end. Penn made its last game of the season look like its first one, a sloppy 10-6 victory over Cornell. It was slightly less than vintage football, as the Quakers' offense totaled a mere 234 yards, including a season-low 26 net yards passing (no wide receiver caught a pass). They were flagged for a season-high 11 penalties (for minus-90 yards), they converted on a mere four-of-15 third-down conversions and their long play of the day was one of 19 yards. None of that mattered. It was ugly, but it was gloriously vintage [Penn coach] Jerry Berndt. Vintage Jerry Berndt means winning, and winning ugly if need be. "This game was an example of what our program is all about," Berndt said afterward from a locker room that stunk sweetly of cigar smoke. "When the time comes, we ask all of our players to be ready." Berndt was speaking, of course, about fullback Mike O'Neill, third-string tailback Jim Bruni and backup quarterback Scott Morcott. "[Their] time came up," Berndt continued, surveying the final stat sheet, "and they were ready." Pressed into workhorse duty because of injuries to running mates Rich Comizio (bruised hip) and Chris Flynn (sprained ankle), O'Neill seemed to relish the role. In addition to providing crushing blocking for Bruni, O'Neill carried a career-high 20 times, racked up 80 yards and scored the game-clinching touchdown on a four-yard run at 12:07 of the third quarter. Bruni -- a sophomore whose vital statistics entering the contest were 15 attempts for 65 yards -- picked up the rest of the slack. He carried the ball 12 times and churned out 87 yards, including 39 in a game-clinching 48-yard drive at the end of the third quarter. "This," Comizio said, pointing to the mob gathered around the midfield victory celebration, "takes away some of my pain. This is the best. "You always want to be out there, but Jim was running well. He and O'Neill did a helluva job." "We said [before the game] we were going to hammer them a lot," Berndt explained, "and that's what we did. We did not want to put our defense in a difficult situation." Morcott -- named to start early in the week after Jim Crocicchia was benched for missing two team meetings following Penn's loss to Harvard -- completed only three of five passes for 18 yards, but he guided Penn to both of its touchdown drives. The first, which came after Duane Hewlett recovered Bill Daly's fumble of the opening kickoff, took only 42 seconds and covered only 13 yards. Comizio ran three times to eat up the ground, the last carry a five-yard jaunt for the score. Morcott, whose only other start came against Columbia when Crocicchia was sidelined with bruised ribs, left in favor of the incumbent after the series. "Of course, I like being able to show what I can do," Morcott said, "but Jim is the starter and I know my contribution [this year] was a significant one. In that sense this [title] is a lot better than the one last year. And the start meant a lot to me." It was the way Morcott finished, however, that meant the most to Penn. He directed the Quakers to their final, game-clinching touchdown. Without a single pass attempt, the Quakers drove to a touchdown that came with 2:51 left in the third quarter. Penn tacked on a 19-yard Ray Saunders field goal with just over four minutes remaining for insurance. They almost needed it when -- with 1:20 left in the game -- the Quakers' punt coverage broke down. Dartmouth's Scott Truitt fielded a Dave Fassnacht punt at his own 21-yard line and weaved his way through and around the Quakers' special teams for a 79-yard score. "It did get a little too interesting at the end," Berndt confessed. But other than that score and an 80-yard drive put together before halftime, Dartmouth struggled all day long to move the ball against a rugged Penn defense. With the score 7-7 at halftime, defensive line coach Ed Zubrow told his defense all they needed to hear. "Coach Zubrow yelled to us, not at us," safety James Fangmeyer said, puffing on a victory cigar. "He told us we were the best group of players he had been associated with at Penn. That meant a lot. He told us we were gonna win it, just take it play by play. He said we weren't concentrating on the play at hand." "At the half, when we came in 7-7, we just sat for a while," Fangmeyer continued. "It wasn't like they were hurting us or anything. We knew we weren't going to lose it -- we knew we couldn't lose it." They didn't, because Dartmouth had trouble moving the ball all afternoon and could manage only 197 total yards. This was due largely to Fassnacht's clutch punt placements, which forced the visitors to start from their own 12, 20 and 25-yard line in the first half and from their two and 16-yard lines at times in the second half. One punt in particular changed the complexion of the ball game. Trying to operate from their own two-yard line after a 39-yard boot midway through the third quarter, the Big Green got mowed down by Penn's swarming, stunting defense. Jeff Fortna burst through Dartmouth's offensive line and buried Tim Duax in the end zone for a safety and a 9-7 lead with 8:13 left in the quarter. "That's what my job is to do -- pin them back," Fassnacht explained, "and let the defense do the job. I'm not the one to get the big tackle or make the big touchdown. But it does feel good on the sideline after a punt play like those [pinning them deep in their own territory]." "When we scored the safety I knew it was over," Gilmore said. "From that point on when we were in the huddle, everybody was saying, 'They're not going to block me,' and 'They're not going to pass on us.' " The huddle-talk proved right. Dartmouth was limited to 12 net yards of offense in the third quarter. "We felt at the half that they were not going to score anymore," Berndt said. "And they didn't, except for that breakdown on the return." Then it was mostly a question of whether Yale could defeat Harvard in New Haven. They could -- and did -- of course, assuring Penn of its second straight undisputed title. "We knew before the half that Yale was winning, but it made no difference," Fangmeyer said. "We couldn't worry about that. Sure, it was a little disappointing that we lost to [Harvard], but they had to line up like we did today. We won, they didn't. We're the Ivy champs." "Whoever says we backed into this title is ignorant," Morcott said. "We are the best team in the Ivy League." Call it an ugly victory. That it was, but for the fourth straight year the water level of the Schuylkill River rose on Penn's final football Saturday. The Ivy championship trophy will have to get more and more used to the sights and sounds of 33rd and Spruce Streets, the address of its Weightman Hall residence. And the words "Ivy Champs" will, for the fourth time in as many years, be situated next to the words 'Pennsylvania Quakers' in the annum's record books. The Schuylkill is getting crowded now -- for the fourth straight year, the east end zone's goalposts were ceremoniously deposited into the river for a burial at sea. "Each one is special in its own way," Berndt said. "Number four is special in its own right." "It's great to be a part of this title," Fangmeyer said. "It's an awesome feeling." The players owe a lot of that to Berndt, who from Day One of his arrival has taught his team how to win. On a day when they admittedly played a sloppy game offensively, the Quakers still found a way to win. And that has been their trademark ever since Berndt arrived on the scene in 1981. Dynasty? Perhaps. When the same team wins its league for four straight years, the temptation is to start calling it exactly that. Dynasties are made through consistency and longevity. The consistency is here. The longevity? The players said it best at the postgame celebration. If the chanting "Five, five, five," is indicative, Berndt may be onto something. "We'll give them next week off," Berndt said, "until after Thanksgiving. Then we start a weight training program." So it's on to next year. Except for the seniors, who will revel in number four. The Class of 1986 lost a total of two league games and set a litany of records in its four-year career. "We lost to Harvard, and that tie with Brown?" Gilmore said. He paused. "And that's it, right?" he asked. Someone had to remind him of the 17-14 loss to Princeton two years back. He needed help remembering. Maybe it was the cigar smoke. Maybe it was the champagne. Maybe it was the fact that there were so few losses -- and so many accomplishments -- that it was actually just hard to remember. But at that point it didn't matter. All that mattered was four straight. Four years ago, who ever would have thunk it.

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