Volume LXVVIII, No. 6
October 21, 2017
YALE FOOTBALL NEWS Published by the Yale Football Association
Bulldogs Beat Penn 24-19 Yale bounced back from its only loss of the season with a dominating win over Holy Cross. This week, in a tough battle at Penn, it proved capable of overcoming a late deficit and staving off a desperate opponent to close out a victory.
Chris Williams-Lopez caught the go-ahead touchdown, a 4-yard pass from Kurt Rawlings, with 4 minutes, 11 seconds remaining in the game to lift the Bulldogs to a 24-19 victory over Penn on Saturday at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Yale’s defense stopped the Quakers on the next drive before the Bulldog offense took over and ran out the final minutes to secure the win.
It sets up a showdown with undefeated Columbia this weekend at the Yale Bowl. The Bulldogs (5-1, 4-1) can claim a share of first place with a victory. Columbia (6-0, 5-0) is thirsty for its first league championship since 1961.
For Yale, the victory helped ease concern after failing to hang on to a fourth-quarter lead at Dartmouth two weeks ago. The Bulldogs four other wins this season were all by at least three touchdowns and in the bag before the fourth quarter. “It’s something we haven’t done this season, we’ve been fortunate that we’ve had games where we’ve had big leads,” said Tony Reno, Yale’s Joel E. Smilow Head Coach of Football. “So, this was a great piece for us. As a coach, you don’t ever hope for a game like this, but we needed this to see where we were at. We needed to see if we could do what we needed to do at the end. We had to come back in the fourth quarter and score a touchdown. We had to make a stop and we had to run the clock out. I’m very proud of the guys and very proud of their ability to focus on winning plays.”
Penn (2-4, 0-3) has been a thorn in Yale’s side for most of the new millennium, particularly in Philadelphia. The Quakers were 19-6 against Yale over the past 25 seasons. And the last time the Bulldogs won at Franklin Field was in 2007. Will Fischer-Colbrie, the Penn quarterback, gave his team an early 7-0 lead when he found Justin Watson for a 23-yard touchdown pass early in the first quarter. Yale tied it later in the first when freshman running back Zane Dudek (12 carries, 103 yards) scored on an 8-yard run, his eighth rushing touchdown of the season.
The teams traded second-quarter field goals before the Bulldogs took the lead just before halftime. A poor Penn punt set up strong field position for Yale, which marched 53 yards on four plays. Quarterback Kurt Rawlings hit Reed Klubnik for a 13-yard touchdown, with linebacker Matt Oplinger catching the 2-point conversion pass to make the score 18-10 in Yale’s favor.
Publication authored by Chip Malafronte coverage and made eye contact with Kurt and I knew. He put a great ball on me and we got it. But, our success today relied on our offensive line and Kurt.” Once again, Yale’s defense allowed the opponent little room to establish a running attack. Penn managed 60 yards on 37 carries. The Bulldogs also got through Penn’s offensive line for five sacks. With another win in the bank, Yale can look ahead to a crucial game with Columbia.
“One of the good things that make the Ivy League so great is the parity that exists,” Reno said. “The way the Ivy League is set up is that no one gets a huge advantage in recruiting. Columbia has done an incredible job if you look at what they’ve done with facilities and they’ve really made a commitment to win football games. I think you’re seeing the result of that right now.”
There’d be no more scoring until the fourth quarter, when Penn took charge. A 44-yard field goal cut Yale’s lead to 18-13. And when Rawlings fumbled away possession, the Quakers scored a touchdown to take a 19-18 lead with 9:03 remaining.
Yale wasn’t down for long. Rawlings completed 6-of-7 passes on the next drive, hitting Williams-Lopez for the winning score from 4 yards away.
“I saw Chris out there and took a shot, put it in his hands,” Rawlings said. “I really got to give it to the guys up front, they seal the deal, we just have to put up the points to get the win. I give it to Chris on that, and give a lot to our defense.” Said Williams-Lopez, “I had to go based on where we were on the field, I looked at the
“We had to make a stop and we had to run the clock out. I’m very proud of the guys and very proud of their ability to focus on winning plays.” Tony Reno, Joel E. Smilow ‘54 Head Coach of Football