The football team lost a high-scoring shootout to Case Western Reserve University last Saturday 53-26.
The loss capped off a disappointing season for the Yellowjackets, who finished tied for third in the University Athletic Association with Case Western and the University of Chicago.
Washington University in St. Louis won the UAA title with Carnegie Mellon finishing in second.
Junior tailback John Breedy had yet another fine day running the football for the boys in blue and yellow. For the third straight week, Breedy topped 100 yards on the ground, this week rushing for 123 yards on 25 carries.
Sophomore receiver Patrick Roman also played a great game, snagging three passes for a game-high 111 yards. The QB tandem of sophomore Patrick Fitzsimmons and junior Justin Davis combined for 212 yards passing, with one TD toss by Davis.
Despite the spectacular performances on offense, the UR defense was unable to stop the Spartan attack, which pounded the Yellowjackets right from the start. Case Western fullback John Kobs had a 35-yard touchdown run on the very first drive of the game, and the Spartan offense never let up from there.
After Tom Penoyar picked off a Fitzsimmons pass, Case Western scored another TD, giving them a 13-0 lead with less than five minutes gone in the first quarter.
On the next UR possession, Breedy went to work. He had 62 yards on eight carries in the drive, including a 4-yard TD burst to put UR on the scoreboard. The teams traded off touch-downs on their next possessions, with Rochester’s coming on a 3-yard keeper by Fitzsimmons.
In the second quarter, Breedy would add another TD, this time on a 1-yard squirt, but Kobs answered with two of his own, and the half would end 41-18. The third quarter was all Spartans. QB Eli Grant had a 10-yard rushing TD, and added 6 more points to the board on a 41-yard strike to Kobs, who finished with an amazing 4 touchdowns. Greg Lozeau scored on a 10-yard pass from Davis to bring the score to 53-26 (after Davis’ 2-point conversion run was successful), but that was as close as the Jackets would come. On the upside for the UR defense, Craig Pipal had an interception, his first of the season.
The loss was UR’s fourth in a row. Rochester finished the year with a 3-7 record (1-3 UAA, 1-3 UCAA). Fitzsimmons did show some promise in the game, proving that he may just be ready to step in for graduating star QB Jeff Piscitelli next season.
