EAST ROUNDUP : Penn State Ends Long Series With Syracuse on a Winning Note

A bitter rivalry came to an end Saturday at State College, Pa., where Penn State earned a 27-21 victory over Syracuse in the 68th and final game between the two schools.

Penn State two years ago announced it was dropping Syracuse from its schedule because the school refused to give the Nittany Lions an extra home game during a 10-year contract.

On Saturday, Penn State quarterback Tony Sacca scored on a 16-yard touchdown run and completed 13 of 26 passes for 183 yards and a touchdown as Penn State (3-2) boosted its series lead to 40-23-5 over Syracuse (2-2-2).

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno took the occasion to emphasize that Penn State football still is very much alive.

“People are saying, ‘Penn State football has had it, they’re not the kind (of team) they’ve been in the past.’ ” Paterno said. “That bothered my players. It bothered me. Those are the things we’ve been thinking about.”

The Nittany Lions led, 17-14, in the fourth quarter when Sacca connected with David Daniels on a 36-yard touchdown pass play.

Craig Fayak added a 42-yard field goal to complete the Nittany Lions’ scoring.

Navy 17, Akron 13--Quarterback Alton Grizzard, still recovering from a bruised lung injury he incurred two weeks ago, came off the bench in the third quarter to lead the Midshipmen (3-3) to a comeback victory over the Zips (3-3-1) at Annapolis, Md.

Senior Dominic Flis put the Midshipmen ahead with 9:22 left in the final quarter on a 17-yard touchdown run.

Boston College 41, Army 20--The Eagles (3-2) spotted the Cadets (2-3) a 10-7 lead, then took command at Newton, Mass., for a third consecutive victory for the first time since 1986.

Army quarterback Bryan McWilliams rushed for 165 yards in 32 carries, but the Cadets lost their third consecutive game because they were unable to overcome turnovers.

Army, which entered the game leading the nation with an average of 358.3 yards rushing, piled up 357 on the ground. Mike Mayweather, ran for only 68 yards in 19 carries after rushing for more than 100 yards in four consecutive games.

Pittsburgh 45, Rutgers 21--Glenn Deveaux rushed for three touchdowns and Alex Van Pelt connected with Olanda Truitt on two touchdown pass plays to lead the Panthers (3-2-1) over the Scarlet Knights (2-4) at Pittsburgh.

Deveaux scored on runs of two, one and one yards. Van Pelt completed 15 of 32 passes for 238 yards.

West Virginia 28, Cincinnati 20--Rico Tyler rushed for 102 yards and had a nine-yard touchdown run with 4:24 left in the third quarter that insured the Mountaineers’ victory at Morgantown, W.Va.

West Virginia is 3-3. Cincinnati dropped to 1-5.

Bucknell 14, Princeton 10--Todd Hatajik and Lester Erb connected on a 26-yard touchdown pass play in the third quarter and Bucknell (5-1) withstood a fourth-quarter rally to beat the Tigers (2-3) at Lewisburg, Pa.

It was Bucknell’s fifth consecutive victory and first against Princeton in 11 games dating to 1903.

Holy Cross 55, Brown 0--Tom Ciaccio passed for 312 yards and three touchdowns as Holy Cross (4-1-1) beat Brown (0-5) at Providence, R.I.

The Crusaders had a 24-0 halftime lead, then scored on each of their first five second-half possessions to stretch their lead into the final margin.

Pennsylvania 21, Columbia 6--Doug Hensch passed for 163 yards and two touchdowns as Penn ended a three-game losing streak--and assured Columbia of its 19th consecutive non-winning season--with the Ivy League victory at Philadelphia.

Penn is 2-3 and 2-0.

Columbia (0-5, 0-2), which hasn’t had a winning season since 1971 when the Lions finished 6-3.

Dartmouth 27, Yale 17--Shon Page rushed for 126 yards and Neal Martin scored two touchdowns to lead the Big Green (2-2-1, 1-1) to an Ivy League victory over the Elis (2-3, 1-1) at Hanover, N.H.

Martin’s second touchdown on a two-yard run in the third quarter gave Dartmouth a 20-17 lead.

Harvard 19, Fordham 13--Matt Johnson gained 110 yards in 10 carries and a touchdown at Cambridge, Mass., as the Crimson (3-2) won its first ever game with Fordham (1-4).

New Hampshire 38, Colgate 22--Barry Bourassa scored four touchdowns, including one on an 85-yard kickoff return to lead the Wildcats (5-0-1) over the Red Raiders (4-2) at Hamilton, N.Y.