Last minute defeat won't break football's spirit

JULIA TIERNAN/YH The Bulldogs, led by star Rashad Bartholomew, SY'01, came within seconds of defeating Brown on Sat., Sept. 18.

Not everyone agrees on why the Yale football team lost to Brown on Sat., Sept. 18, but they do agree on one thing: no one will ever see a game like it again.

When Brown came back from a 14-point fourth quarter deficit to close to within one point, at 24-23, on a touchdown pass with 14 seconds left in the game, the game took a spectacularly bizarre turn. Ben Blake's, PC '00, block of Brown's potentially game-tying extra point initially caused celebration among the Bulldog players and fans. But watchful Brown players refused to play dead. Brown's Mike Powell, '01, scooped up the ball and pitched it to Rob Scholl, '00, who headed into the end zone to score a two-point conversion, giving Brown the win, 25-24.

"I've been in this for 24 years and I've never seen that one," Head Coach Jack Siedlecki said. "We made the play to win the game and it actually cost us the game instead."

"It was the rarest of rare—rarealy is an extra point blocked, and when would you ever think someone's going to pick it up, pitch it, and run it into the end zone," Blake said. "Now we have to put the game behind us and get ready for next week."

The bizarre ending overshadowed an impressive team effort from the Bulldogs against a Brown team picked to finish ahead of Yale in Ivy League play. Quarterback Joe Walland, TD '00, led the offense, completing 12 of 22 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown. Captain Jake Fuller, BR '00, had four receptions for 61 yards and a touchdown, and wide receiver Tommy McNamara, PC '01, had a breakout game with four catches for 57 yards. Strong safety Than Merrill, JE '01, wreaked havoc on the defensive side of the ball with two interceptions and a team-high 10 tackles. Defensive end Eli Kelley, PC '00, led the Elis with two sacks.

Indeed, the squad has reacted well, remaining remarkably upbeat this week as it prepares to take on Valparaiso at the Yale Bowl on Sat., Sept. 25. After the heartbreaking defeat, the Valparaiso matchup takes on extra importance as the Bulldogs look for redemption.

"This Valparaiso game is a huge game for us now, because we are 0-1," Siedlecki said. "We need to get a win under our belts, and we need to get better. I think we've reacted the right way. Our guys can't wait to go out and play Valparaiso. They're itching to get out there and play again."

"I think everybody was in shock over the way it ended last week, but guys have done a good job of putting it behind them and moving on," Fuller explained. "We just have to work hard and see what kind of character the team has by going out this Saturday and playing well."

Valparaiso, 2-0 this season and riding a four game winning streak that dates back to last year, will present a difficult challenge to the Bulldogs. The Crusader defense returns 10 of 11 starters and ranks among the top eight in the nation in Division I-AA in three categories. However, like Yale, Valparaiso has had to rebuild its offense after losing four of five starters on the offensive line. Quarterback Andy Huegli, '00, and linebacker Brian Vladika, '01,who earned Pioneer League Player of the Week honors in the Crusaders' 17-13 win over Robert Morris last week, will be players to watch out for on the Valpo side of the ball.

Still, the freak two-point conversion play will be stuck in the minds of Bulldogs players and fans for the near future. "At the end, we had basically shifted to thinking about overtime," defensive end Peter Sarantos, MC '00, said. "But there was that very slim chance that we actually might block the kick, so we were all hoping for that. When it really happened, I think everyone in the stands and all the players felt a great sense of elation and joy, and then to just have it trampled on like that—you experience the entire realm of human emotions in the span of only seconds. It was so intense that you come out of that and don't even know how to feel or how to react."

Siedlecki added, "I think it is one of the things in athletics that you can compare to life. Our kids are going to have all kinds of experiences in life where even when they work as hard as they can, they'll be disappointed or they won't get what they want. I think [learning to handle adversity] is just part of what athletics does for you."

Blake was less philosophical. "Last week, we had Brown down, and then we didn't complete the game. We let them come back. This week, we have to play a full game and keep the pressure on."

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