First place in Ivy football competition became very crowded territory last weekend as Harvard and Yale joined Brown in the top slot by virtue of their respective victories over Princeton and Penn.

Elsewhere in the league, Brown brought down Holy Cross in a convincing come-from-behind victory, and Dartmouth clung to its Ivy title hopes by extinguishing Cornell, leaving a total of four teams in serious contention for this year's honors.

Ticket to Ride

Yale bought its first place ticket by beating Penn, 21-7, in a tough but decisive battle marked by a devastating Yale ground offense.

While the Eli linemen held Penn's defense at bay, Yale's running backs broke for 429 yards, setting a team record with 32 consecutive first downs.

Yale running back John Pagliaro excelled, as he scored all three Eli touch-downs and tied a team record with 33 carries for 187 yards.

Dartmouth rolled to an early lead in its game with Cornell as the Big Green's offense scored on its first possession and put 28 points away before halftime.

Cornell came off much the worse for its efforts in this game. Penalties, mistakes and fumbles thwarted the Big Red's every attempt to score in Dartmouth's 35-0 victory, the largest losing margin for Cornell in a home game since 1935.

After a slow start, Brown overcame a 7-6 deficit at halftime to whip Holy Cross, 28-18, in a see-saw battle punctuated by a surprisingly poor Bruin defensive performance.

An inspired Crusader offense, led by quarterback Bob Morton, managed to pierce Brown's vaunted defense again and again, rolling up a total offensive tally of 393 yards.

Brown's well-balanced offensive drive carried the day, however, as the sharp play selections of Bruin quarterback Paul Michalko turned the game around in the second half.

Columbia, plagued by fumbles and an injury-ridden player's roster, surrendered to Rutgers, 47-0, as the Scarlet Knights claimed their fourteenth victim in as many games.

The game was the first college football contest held in brand-new Giant's Stadium.

All photos appearing on today's sports page were taken by John Donley.