Harvard at Columbia:

The Crimson maintained their unbeaten streak in the Ivy League on Saturday afternoon when they defeated Columbia in Manhattan 27-12. Although the New York City area was spared much of the precipitation from the tropical storm that raced up the Eastern Seaboard, they were not spared the swirling winds. Harvard won the toss, but elected to defer until the second half. Columbia took the ball all the way to Harvard's 29 yard line, but elected to go for it on a fourth and five but quarterback Craig Hormann's pass was broken up by the Crimson secondary. Pizzotti methodically marched his team down the field and found Corey Mazza on a 6 yard touchdown pass in the crimson went ahead 7-0. The drive ran and 13 plays on 71 yards. On the ensuing possession, it was the Lions turn to control the clock and grabbed some points. Hormann is a very large quarterback, similar in many ways to Ben Rosthliesbrger of the Steelers. Quarterbacks like that are hard to hold down. It's is a shame that such talents will go relatively unnoticed with a perennial also-ran. Columbia used in 15 plays, and ultimately got three points on a field goal by Jon Rocholl.

The game moved into the second quarter and Columbia picked up another field goal on their first possession. Following the kickoff, Harvard took over their own 33. Pizzotti then led the team on another methodical march; nothing fancy or dramatic but a combination of effective short passes and short runs. Chang Ho took it up the middle for 9 yards, and the Crimson went ahead 13-6. The teams went back and forth over the remaining minutes of the first half with no additional scoring.

In the second half, the Crimson really took control of the football game. Starting on their own 32, Pizzotti came out firing, finding Mazza and Lagace on 11-yard strikes. The key play of the drive came moments later, when Pizzotti hit Mazza for 30 yards down the sideline, setting the Crimson up in great shape at the Columbia 9. After a series of runs, Pizzotti quarterback sneaked into the end zone from a yard out in the Crimson were ahead by two touchdowns, and after three quarters it was 20-6 Harvard.

Columbia started the fourth quarter by turning over the football when Hormann fumbled and Peter Ajayi grabbed the loose ball at the Columbia 48. At this point of the game, Pizzotti just hand it off the football Chang Ho and allowed him to do his thing. Ho had runs of 11, 12, and 11 to bring the ball down to the one-yard line, where he banged it in for 27-6 Harvard lead. On the ensuing possession, Columbia was enabled greatly by two critical penalties called on the Harvard defense that allowed the Lions to maintain possession, and to move the ball into the red zone. Hormann found Austin Knowlin in the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown pass. The kick was no good, so the game stayed at 27-12. Columbia got the ball back with time enough to score, but Hormann was picked off by Doug Hewlett. Harvard took possession at Columbia's five with about a minute left in the game and allow time to expire. Chang Ho had another 100 yard-plus day carrying the ball and Pizzotti went 23-29-217-1TD on a very efficient afternoon. The defense stepped up big, especially in the second half, where they picked up two more turnovers and really held Hormann and the Columbia offense in check. Next Saturday, the crimson play their final home game of the year against Penn. And despite whatever records the teams may have in a given season, it is always a tough, hard-fought game.

Piacenza (4-8-1-13) 12th Place Serie B:

It was a pretty good week for biancorossi as they picked up four out of a possible six points in their two matches this week. On Tuesday, they traveled to Rimini and came away with a 1-nil win on Miglionico’s penalty kick in the 57th. Since Rimini is higher in the Serie B table, it’s a nice feather in the squad’s cap. On Saturday, the squad visited Frosinone and had one of their better matches of the year coming back from a 2-nil deficit to draw level in injury time. Martini scored twice for Frosinone (17’)(27') and things looked pretty bleak for Piacenza. However, in the second half they started to get their act together. Rantier scored right off the bat (48’) and biancorossi carried the play. The first 90 concluded with Frosinone ahead by a goal, but Simon’s tally in the 92nd sent the visitors home a happy bunch. Mario Somma is now 1-1-1 since taking the helm and things are definitely looking up. On Saturday, Ravenna visits Leonardo Garilli. The last time the sides got together was in August, when Piacenza prevailed 2-1 in Coppa Italia play.

Wrexham (3-10-0-9), 21st Place (Relegation Zone) in League Two:

The Dragons’ situation can best be described as “dire” following their 1-nil defeat at home to Shrewsbury Town on Saturday. The squad’s midfield has been decimated by injury so Carey brought in Matty Collins on a one-month loan from Swansea during the week. Collins acquitted himself well during the match as Dragons had much the better of things in the scoreless first half. Michael Symes scored for STFC when he pounced on a clearance pass from Steve Evans and banged the ball past Williams in the Wrexham goal. The lads tried very hard to mount a comeback, but STFC went into lockdown mode once they were ahead, but other than a chance by Robbie Garrett in the latter stages, Dragons went away empty and were booed off the pitch by the Racecourse faithful. Fans are wondering just how long Carey can last before the inevitable sack. The squad has suffered debilitating injuries, but a lot of the failure is the result of the squad’s failure to execute and that is a matter of poor coaching. Things don’t get easier for Wrexham this week as 7th place Wycombe Wanderers come to town on Wednesday and the squad travels to 3rd place Peterborough in FA Cup qualifiers on Saturday.

New England Revs/MLS (Playoffs):

The biggest news coming out of the MLS East semis was Chicago Fire’s upset over top-seeded DC United, 3-2 in aggregate goals. Over the second half of the year, the Fire have lived up to their name. Since Cuauhtemoc Blanco was brought in during the second half the squad has taken on a new (and better) look. Knocking off DCU was no easy feat. In the West, there was also quite a surprise as Kansas City dispatched Chivas USA 1-nil in the aggregate to face Houston in the Western Final. Chivas had a great year and the prospect of seeing them in a final with Houston was enticing to say the least. However, Wizards had a different idea and now KC and Dynamo will hook up to determine the West Champion. That left New England and New York to determine who would be the East Champion. Revs have been the perennial bridesmaids of MLS winning the East Final several years in a row only to lose MLS Cup on penalty kicks the past two years.

Saturday night’s winner-take-all match was initially played in heavy rain as the remnants of Hurricane Noel ripped through the Eastern New England coast. It was hard to get any rhythm going in the first half and the sides retired to the dressing room without any real scoring threats having been made. The key play of the match occurred early in the second when Red Bulls’ ace Juan Pablo Angel took a nasty head knock in a collision with Jay Heaps and was on the sidelines getting medical attention as his team temporarily played a man down. In the 64th, Ralston found Twellman on the left flank with a nice pass and Twellman banged the ball low right and Revs went up with what was the only goal of the two-match playoff. Matt Reis held down the fort following the goal as Red Bulls mounted a furious rally to equalize things, but it was not meant to be. Following the game, Bruce Arena stepped down as coach. Let’s hope that Revs come up big on Thursday night.