Yale wins opener

The Tom Williams era of Yale football began with a 31-10 win at Georgetown.

Quarterback Patrick Witt completed 22 of 27 passes for 216 yards including touchdowns to tight ends A.J. Haase and John Sheffield. Tailback Jordan Farrell ran 17 times for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Sheffield and Peter Balsam had six catches each. Freshman Mordacei Cargill added 37 yards rushing on 11 carries. Sophomore Alex Thomas did not play because of an ankle injury suffered in practice.

Defensively, Drew Baldwin and Tim Handlon had interceptions and Joe Young had a sack as Yale held Georgetown without an offensive touchdown. Larry Abare led the Bulldogs with seven solo tackles and five assists.

Tom Mante had a 50-yard field goal, recovered his own onsides kick and punts of 49, 65 and 73 yards.

Those are the highlights. Now for the other side. Witt had some fumbling issues (losing two of his four fumbles) including one which Georgetown's Paul Sant'Ambrogio returned 38 yards for a score with 1:02 left in the second quarter. Georgetown, which lost to Yale 47-7 last year, was driving for the tying touchdown in the third quarter before self destructing. Two fourth-quarter touchdowns by Yale made the game sound more one-sided than it actually was. Witt was also sacked six times meaning he was sacked one for each six passing plays which is not the recipe for success. Then again, none of the five offensive line starters had started a collegiate game before. The defensive line managed just one sack even though Georgetown freshman quarterback Isaiah Kempf attempted 59 passes.


Still, Yale came away with a win in Williams' first game something that hadn't happened at Yale since the Bulldogs defeated UConn 3-0 on Sept. 28, 1963 in John Pont's first game as Yale's head coach.

The Bulldogs play Cornell at noon on Saturday at the Yale Bowl in the home and Ivy League opener.