Penn, Brown sit alone atop Ivies

One thing is sure: it certainly isn’t lonely at the top of the Ivy League.

With the sixth week of play officially in the books, Brown (4-2, 3-0 Ivy) sits in a tie with Penn for first place. Saturday’s match between the two will determine who will have the prime position in the race for the conference title.

After defeating Cornell 27-14 in Providence, R.I., the Bears are undefeated three games into the Ivy slate for just the second time in the program’s history.

Against the Big Red, Brown took an early lead on a 45-yard field goal from freshman placekicker Alexander Norocea. Currently ranked second in the League in scoring at 7.8 points per game, Norocea racked up nine of the Bears’ 27 points and was named both Ivy Special Teams Player of the Week and Ivy co-Rookie of the Week.

Though the Big Red responded with a touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Houska — who scored both of Cornell’s touchdowns — Brown ended the first quarter with a touchdown of its own. From there, the Bears never looked back and scored 20 unanswered points.

The win brought a strong showing from senior quarterback Joe Springer, who passed for two touchdowns to cement Brown’s lead. Springer had his best game of the season, completing 20 of 33 passes for 287 yards. As a result, he was named an Ivy co-Offensive Player of the Week.

On offense they’re grrreat — but not good enough. Though Princeton surpassed its highest points total in a conference game this season, the offensive outburst could not bring the Tigers their first Ivy win of the season.

In its fourth consecutive loss, Princeton fell 45-28 to a Harvard squad that had its way with the Tigers defense.

In the first half, Princeton looked poised for an upset. Just two minutes into the game, senior Andrew Kerr caught a 22-yard pass in the endzone to put his team on the board.

After Harvard failed to move the chains on the next drive and Princeton drove the ball to the Crimson 25 on the ensuing possession, Princeton appeared ready to cruise to an early two-possession lead.

But an intercepted pass at the 6-yard line switched the game’s momentum.

Crimson running back Gino Gordon took command, opening the drive with a 52-yard run and ending it with a touchdown. Gordon went on to earn a career-high 204 yards on the ground and received Ivy co-Offensive Player of the Week honors.

Princeton, meanwhile, will try to fight its way out of the bottom of the League this weekend when it takes on a Cornell squad that is also looking for its first conference victory.

So fresh and so clean. Given the number of streaks it has erased this year, the 2010 Dartmouth team might as well be sponsored by Windex.

After thirteen consecutive Ivy road losses, the Big Green scored a late touchdown to defeat Columbia 24-21.

Quarterback Conner Kempe led the game-winning drive, completing four passes for 35 yards.

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