Yale's defense, outside of one play, and special teams had strong performances in Saturday's 24-7 win over Dean College in a scrimmage at the Yale Bowl.

Yale had seven sacks (of course with the no hitting the quarterback rule at the scrimmage, defenders only needed to be in the general vicinity to get some of these sacks.

Carter Deutsch, who is back on defense after a move to the offensive line, had three of the sacks while Cliff Foreman had two sacks. Jordan Haynes led Yale with six tackles (according to my unofficial stats). After Haynes made his presence felt on Dean's first offensive possession, one of their assistant coaches could be heard telling his players "we've got to block the Mike (linebacker). Why can't we block the Mike." I am sure more than a few Ivy League coaches said or thought the same thing since Haynes is the Mike or middle linebacker at Yale. Haynes was not the author of the best hit of the scrimmage. That came from sophomore tight end who rumbled for yardage on his only reception when a Dean player came in and tried to lay a huge hit on Coty. The result was the defender being knocked backwards and Coty continued to move forward as if he was barely touched. The play happened in front of the Yale sideline and Coty's teammates went absolutely crazy after the play.

On special teams, Gio Christodolou brought back a punt 65 yards for a touchdown and a fumble recovery on a dropped Dean punt led to Alex Thomas' 2-yard touchdown. Yale coach Tom Williams was impressed with the efforts of his freshmen punters Parker Toms and Kyle Cazzetta.

He was not as happy with the effort of the first-team offense. At halftime he challenged them to come down the field and score and the Bulldogs did just that. Thomas ran three times for 41 of his team-high 45 yards on the six-play, 79-yard drive which ended with Patrick Witt hooking up with Chris Smith on a 28-yard touchdown.

Witt struggled at times throwing the ball down the field although he finished 13 of 20 for 122 yards with the one touchdowns and an interception. Smith led the team with 51 yards on three catches while Allen Harris had a team-high four catches.

Yale offensive starters were Witt, Mordecai Cargill at tailback, Cameron Sandquist, Deon Randall and Allen Harris at receiver, Kyle Wittenauer at tight end and the offensive line of tackles Roy Collins and Wes Gavin, guards Gabe Fernandez and Colin Kruger and center John Oppenheimer. On defense, it was ends Matt Battaglia and Austin Pulsipher, tackles Reed Spiller and Jake Stoller, linebackers Haynes, Will McHale and Wes Moyer, cornerbacks Drew Baldwin and Dawson Halliday and safeties Geoff Dunham and Nick Okano.

As for the freshmen, William Chism and Ben Carbery saw time on the second-team offensive line, linebacker Will Vaughan, running back Wynston Bouknight and corner Nick LaTesta where the ones I noticed as well as the two aforementioned punters.

There have been some injuries among the freshmen. Running back Kahlil Keys suffered a knee injury during practice earlier in the week and he may miss the season, defensive back Ethan DeSilva had a knee injury late in his senior season at Mission Viejo (Calif.) and will not play this season. Chism hurt his hand in the scrimmage and had an MRI done on Saturday.

As I'm sure it was in football locker room across the country, the members of the Yale football team couldn't help but talk about the tragic accident at Notre Dame when the tower used to film football practice toppled over killing 20-year-old Declan Sullivan yesterday.

"I found out about it this morning when I heard guys in the locker room talk about it," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "It sounds like the conditions were such that I would have had a hard time sending the kid up to the video. If it was 50 mile an hour winds which was what I was told. In Jacksonville (Williams was a defensive assistant with the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars before taking the Yale job) it was one of the thunder/stormy Florida days. The wind was whipping up our video guy said 'Coach, I'm not sending those guys up there.' (Jaguars head coach) Jack (Del Rio) said 'I don't blame you, video's not that important.'

"We obviously keep an eye on the weather. Lightning is our biggest concern here but if anything like that is going on, my responsibility as a head coach is to protect them as best I can."


Running back Mordecai Cargill was the only regular varsity player who did not practice Thursday morning. Cargill underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus last week and figures to miss at least the next two games.

Yale only had four tailbacks on the roster to begin with and with Cargill out of action, receiver Brandis Yarrington has taken some snaps at running back and fellow receiver Deon Randall ran some plays against Penn out of the backfield, something that should continue to happen. Tate Harshbarger, a freshman walk on, also saw some time at tailback in Thursday's practice.

I have kind of a funny story about Harshbarger. In both years that Williams has been the Yale head coach, he has asked myself and the Register's sports columnist Dave Solomon to speak to the Yale team before the season. This year I was waiting in the hallway outside the football offices when Tate came up to me and said he was interested in trying out for the team. It might be the first time I've been confused with being a football coach in my journalism career. When Steve Conn, Yale's SID, came upstairs I told him about Tate's inquiry and he sent him into one of the back rooms to meet with the coaches. I have seen him at practice but today was the first time I saw him taking part in drills. I'd expect to see him get some work in Sunday's JV game against Bridgton Academy (noon, Clint Frank Field). Harshbarger had 115 tackles and ran for 199 yards as a senior at El Rancho High in Pico Rivera, Calif.

One last bit of news. Although junior defensive end Matt Battaglia has practiced all week, Williams wasn't sure if he'll play on Saturday and mentioned that a decision may not be made until pre-game warmups on Saturday.

COLUMBIA'S GROSS HONORED
Columbia senior linebacker Alex Gross, the Ivy League's leading tackler, was named as one of the 16 National Football Foundation National Scholar-Athlete. Gross, the only Ivy Leaguer so honored, will receive an $18,000 postgraduate scholarship and is a candidate for the Campbell Trophy, often referred to as the Academic Heisman.

Yale senior linebacker Jesse Reising was one of the 121 candidates but he did not make the list of 16 finalists.

Junior defensive end Matt Battaglia has returned to practice. Battaglia has missed four games this season with a knee injury and will be one of the defensive ends being asked to contain the running plays of Columbia quarterback Sean Brackett.

Other than tailback Mordecai Cargill, who figures to miss the next two games as he recovers from knee surgery, Yale should have all of its players available on Saturday.

Leading rusher Alex Thomas (ribs), center Jake Koury (knee) and Patrick Witt (shoulder) were held out of practice this morning as a precaution but all should return to practice on Wednesday.

Neither starting tailback Alex Thomas nor reserve Mordecai Cargill practiced today and both are questionable for Saturday's game against Fordham although Thomas would have to be considered more questionable than Cargill.

Thomas didn't return to Saturday's game against Dartmouth after injuring a rib while falling on the ball after a carry. Cargill was able to come back into the game despite dealing with an ankle injury.

"We'll wait and see," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "We have a few more days of practice. Our policy is you have to have some practice time before you play. He (Thomas) went to the doctor so we won't know more until later today. He fell on the ball awkwardly and they are going to have an MRI to see if there is any damage."

Williams also said that defensive end Matt Battaglia and center Jake Koury are unlikely to play against Fordham because of the knee injuries which they suffered against Albany.

One last item isn't so much of an injury update as it is a sign that Yale football players are cut from a different cloth than the usual college football player.

Starting offensive tackle Alex Golubiewski missed the Dartmouth game not because of injury or a lack of performance.

"He had to take the LSAT on Saturday," Williams said. "That's Yale. That's what Yale students do. He did reschedule and there was going to be a huge penalty at another time so he had to take it. He looked at every avenue and that was the only thing he could do. I told him I hoped he did really well but he said he thought he did really well."

For those who have Sirius Radio, Saturday's Yale/Dartmouth game will be aired on channel 130 with the Dartmouth crew of Bob Lipman and Wayne Young handling the duties. WELI-960, as always, will be broadcasting the game as well with Rob Vaccaro and former Yale coach Carm Cozza on the call.

There wasn't much more off Thursday's practice worth reporting. Yale coach Tom Williams said he had yet to name a starting kicker but was impressed by the efforts of starter Alex Barnes and Philippe Panico. Williams reopened the competition following last week's fiasco when a field goal, punt and extra point were all blocked.

The one position where there will be a change is at center because a knee injury is sidelining starter Jake Koury. Jeff Fell will start in his place and is the focus on my advance to the game. Defensive end Matt Battaglia is also expected to miss the game with a knee injury but team captain Tom McCarthy will be back after missing the last two games with a calf strain.

Starting quarterback Patrick Witt injured his throwing hand in Saturday's loss to Albany but he threw the ball pretty well at the portion of practice I was at on Thursday. If he is limited at all, Yale has a pretty nice Plan B as reserve quarterback Brook Hart threw for 390 yards against Dartmouth last season.

Yale senior defensive end Tom McCarthy (Achilles, calf strains) and sophomore running back Mordecai Cargill (hip flexor) are back at practice and should be good to go for Saturday's game at Dartmouth.

McCarthy hasn't played since the first quarter of the season opener against Georgetown and with a knee injury expected to keep the other starting defensive end Matt Battaglia out of Saturday's game, the timing of McCarthy's return could not be more ideal.

"Having your captain back for his first Ivy League game, we are hoping it will give us a boost," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "I know he is excited to play. I know the guys are excited that he is back. We hope all of those things will equate to a chance to win a game on Saturday."

Center Jake Koury will also be out against Dartmouth after suffering a knee injury. Jeff Fell will replace Koury in the starting lineup. Fell is also being pushed by Kyle Wittenauer for the starting long snapper role while Williams said he has reopened the kicking competition since Yale is 0 for 4 on field goals this season with three of the FGs being blocked. Alex Barnes is the incumbent while Philippe Panico is being given a 50-50 chance to earn the kicking job.

Another item I brought up at the weekly press conference at Mory's was reaction to the arrest of former Yale football player Jordan Jefferson during a New Haven police department raid on the Elevate Lounge on Crown Street. The raid, in which some of those on site have accused the police of brutality, came two weeks after there was a shooting on Crown Street.

"We already talked about it as a team, (the importance of) making good decisions," Williams said. "We always talk about that but the one thing we said in light of
what happened downtown with the gunfire is that everybody is on edge. We can’t add fuel to the fire so if you are in the situation when an officer is talking to you about doing something, you’d better do it, you’d better do it right away.

"We had this conversation long before this happened with Jordan. Unfortunately he is not on our team right now so he missed that conversation. When you are under the circumstance that our police are under, you are edge so we don’t need to do
anything to add to that. We need to help diffuse those situations."

Jefferson was a freshman tight end on Yale's 2009 squad. He appeared in two varsity games and although he did not have a reception, he did make a tackle on special teams. He has a medical condition which kept him from being cleared to return to the football field.

While it is possible that Jefferson could play for the Bulldogs again, Williams said "I don’t know what the odds are so there is a chance, you never say never but based on the last conversation I had, it was slim."

While I'll have more info when I head to practice this week but the early word on the injured Yale players are:

Quarterback Patrick Witt had a bruised hand but should be OK.
Center Jake Koury has a strained MCL and figures to miss some time but the length of his absence is yet to be determined.
Defensive end Matt Battaglia suffered a knee cap dislocation but his knee injury is likely not as serious as Koury's.

Now for Yale's JV opener against Milford Academy, the final score was 39-20 in favor of Milford Academy who returned two interceptions for touchdowns, intercepted five passes and recovered a fumble. Milford Academy also got a rare defensive two-point conversion when Milford Academy blocked an extra point and what followed was a bizarre series of events ending with the Falcons' William Hayes intercepting a pass from kicker Philippe Panico and racing down the Milford Academy sideline to make it 23-20. Panico put in a request with me on the sidelines not to have his Garo Yepremian moment (to those younger readers, I suggest doing a google search on Garo Yepremian and Super Bowl VII) but that play was too bizarre not to make mention of it, sorry Philippe. On the positive side, it was a pretty good field across the field unlike Yepremian's bumbling pass attempt.

The other unusual aspect of the game was the way Yale rotated quarterbacks on a series by series basis - all six of them. It was a far cry from a year ago when quarterback turned defensive back Bryan Farris moved back to quarterback just so Yale would have two QBs for the JV games.

The six quarterbacks were intercepted four times and tailback Elijah Thomas also threw an interception on a halfback option. They also threw three scoring passes as Kerr Taubler hooked up with McConnell Smith on a 17-yard touchdown, Henry Furman connected with Trevor Peterson on a 20-yard TD and John Whitelaw hit Cameron Sandquist for a 44-yard score.

If I had to pick Yale MVPs from the game, my picks would be Elijah Thomas (148 yards on 23 carries), linebacker Ben Ashcraft 11 tackles, one interception and one fumble recovery and defensive end Dylan Drake who had eight tackles, a sack, another tackle for a loss and had another sack wiped out when Yale accepted a holding penalty. Other defensive stats (pretty unofficial since I was the one keeping them) worth mentioning were Brian Leffler and Josh Grizzard had seven tackles each while Scott Williams, Ryan Falbo and Kyle Aberton had five tackles each.

Milford Academy also benefitted from two failed Yale onsides kicks including one former Hyde star Andrew Greene returned 40 yards for a touchdown.

I spoke with Greene after the game about his touchdown and his decision to attend Milford Academy which could land him a scholarship with a BCS school.

"It was great to come to my hometown and be able to play one last time here and be able to make a big play," Greene said.

"It has been going pretty good. I am playing a new position out there, a safety but overall I have been picking it up prety fast and I have been getting some pretty good looks (from colleges). Temple, Pitt or Rutgers (are the schools he would like to attend) but I am waiting to see what happens. I don't have anything written in stone just yet.

"I knew when I was in high school that I wasn't going to be a linebacker all my life so when I got here, they showed me different coverages. This has given me an opportunity to show my athleticism."

Now completely off the subject, Yale lost a heartbreaking 23-20 game at Albany on Saturday but I'll give credit to junior defensive tackle Jake Stoller for graciously agreeing to pose for a photo with a couple of my friend Ann's sons after the game. Stoller is one of the most intense players on the Yale team and I am sure he took the defeat pretty hard as I would imagine nearly every Yale player did but it was a class move by Stoller to put his disappointment aside and make the day of the three kids who were in the picture with him.

Yale senior defensive end and captain Tom McCarthy is not wearing pads or going through pre-game drills so it's safe to say he will miss his second straight game.

Defensive end Matt Battaglia and running back Mordecai Cargill are out there so I'd assume they will be available although we'll have to see how much they are out there.

I caught the last half hour or so of Yale's practice on Thursday and senior defensive end Tom McCarthy is still being held out because of a calf strain. It's likely that the Yale captain will miss his second straight game.

"Here is what my thinking is, instead of having him come back and play in a non-conference game - we could use him - but I’d rather get him another week of rest and get him ready for Dartmouth," Yale coach Tom Williams said. "If we had to play him, if this is Harvard, I think he’d play but we are going to err on the side of being smart with the season as opposed to just this game."

Also, running back Mordecai Cargill, slowed by a hip flexor and is questionable. If Cargill is held out, sophomore Javier Sosa would likely be the top backup to starting tailback Alex Thomas while promising freshman Elijah Thomas could also figure into the equation.

There's been no decision on whether Matt Battaglia, who has practiced all week, will get the call at defensive end. Battaglia started the opener before missing last week's Cornell game with a hamstring issue. Williams said Battaglia will be evaluated to see how he feels before making a final decision. If Battaglia doesn't start, sophomore Allen Davis figures to be in there after recording 2 sacks in just 20 defensive snaps against Cornell.

Williams said that Nathan Burow, a former starting offensive lineman, will not play again because of a torn labrum. Burow will follow the path of another former starting lineman Nate Blair by becoming a volunteer assistant coach/manager with the team.

REISING A CAMPBELL TROPHY SEMIFINALIST
Yale senior linebacker Jesse Reising is one of 28 Football Championship Subdivision and four Ivy League players named as semifinalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy, considered to college football's premier scholar-athlete award.

Players are nominated by their schools and must have at least a 3.2 grade point average, be a key contributor on the field and according to the release put out by the National Football Foundation "demonstrate strong leadership and citizenship."

Reising, a first-year starter, is second on the 2-0 Bulldogs with 12 tackles and has also broken up two passes. Reising is planning to enroll in Marine Corps Officer Candidate School after graduating from Yale. Reising has a 3.75 GPA in economics/political science.

Brown's Kyle Newhall-Caballero, Columbia's Alex Gross and Dartmouth's Tanner Scott are also among the candidates as is Albany's Chris Blais.

Yale got one of its starting defensive ends back when junior Matt Battaglia took part in practice on Tuesday morning. Yale captain and fellow starting defensive end Tom McCarthy was forced to miss practice again with a calf strain. McCarthy's status for Saturday's game against Albany will be determined by when McCarthy is able to return to practice but Battaglia should be good to go on Saturday.

"We didn't give him (Battaglia) a million reps but they were quality reps and he didn’t report any soreness," Yale coach Tom Williams said.

Sean Williams, who has been named among Yale's players of the game both against Georgetown and Cornell, and Allen Davis, who had 2 1/2 sacks in 20 snaps against Cornell, are making things interesting in the fight for playing time at defensive end.

"What we said to the injured players is you will never lose your starting position because of injury but if you can’t beat the guy out who took your place, that is just the way it goes," Williams said. "All the guys understand that but they also know we are going to play them all."

One other item of note, the junior varsity opener against Milford Academy is back to a 1 p.m. start on Sunday at Clint Frank Field.


They are experienced, they are big on both lines and they’ve got enough skill players. Their running back is a good player, they have a receiver (Hutchins), they have a couple of guys on the outside who can catch the ball. Thye are - to date - the most talented team that we play. Their record doesn’t indicate their talent level

While today's game against Cornell will not be televised, I've been getting alerts that it a live stream is available. I've never tried this particular service so can't vouch for its quality, I figured I would pass on the info to those who want to check out the game.

The one position for Yale I am most interested in checking out today is defensive end. At the mid-week practice I attended both starters Tom McCarthy and Matt Battaglia were held out. McCarthy has a lower left leg issue but apparently is not a reaggravation of his troublesome Achilles tendon injury which knocked him out of the season opener against Georgetown while Battaglia is bothered by a hamstring issue.

Yale football coach Tom Williams said he believes that defensive end is one of the Bulldogs' deepest position so if McCarthy and Battaglia can't go, players like Sean Williams (who had a strong effort against Georgetown), Austin Pulsipher and Cliff Foreman are among the players who can be plugged in.

Williams said he expects seven freshmen to travel for the first road game. Offensive tackle Wes Gavin is expected to make his first start, receivers Deon Randall (who will also play quarterback in the wildcat formation) and Cameron Sandquist, defensive back Nick Okano, either tight end/h-back Beau Palin or Keith Coty, quarterback John Whitelaw and linebacker Brian Leffler, who is a sophomore academically but missed all of last season with a knee injury so Williams considers him to be a freshman.