Whoever said it was lonely at the top obviously did not take a look at the Ivy League football standings.

At just past the midpoint of the 1998 Ancient Eight season, Princeton, Penn and Harvard are deadlocked with 3-1 league records, in a three-way tie for first place in the Ivies. And with both Brown and Yale each just one game behind the three-headed monster in first at 2-2, the race for the top spot is an interesting one.

Last Saturday saw many important Ivy battles with championship implications.

In New York, Princeton rebounded from its heartbreaking one-point loss to Harvard the previous week by dominating Columbia 20-0, improving its record to 4-3 overall, 3-1 in the Ivies.

With the victory, the Tigers recorded its third shutout on the season--a first at the school since 1965--as Princeton out-gained the lowly Lions (2-5, 1-3) in yardage, 397-105.

The Tigers received standout performances from junior linebacker Kevin Wright (12 tackles, forced fumble), sophomore cornerback Avery Moseley (13 tackles) and senior defensive end Tony McGill (seven tackles, one sack, two fumble recoveries).

Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Penn (5-2, 3-1) broke out to an early 21-0 lead en route to defeating Yale (3-4, 2-2) by a final of 34-20. The Quakers came back strong from a tough 58-51 loss at the hands of Brown last week to tame the pesky Bulldogs.

It was another stellar day for the Penn offense--which is second in points scored in the Ivy--as it jumped all over the Yale defense. Senior running back Jim Finn carried the ball 27 times for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Juniors Matt Rader, quarterback, and Brandon Carson, wide receiver, also combined for big days. Rader was 18-of-26 passing for 247 yards and two touchdowns, and Carson caught six passes for 116 yards with one score.

The Bulldogs made a valiant comeback attempt in the third quarter behind junior quarterback Joe Walland's 179-yard, one-touchdown passing performance, but came up short against the tough Penn defense.

In Ithaca, Brown (4-3, 2-2) manhandled Cornell, defeating the Big Red by a final of 20-7. The Bears racked up 225 total yards on the ground, led by junior running back Kevin Coyne's 41-carry, 171-yard performance.

Brown--owner of the league's top scoring offense--moved the ball effectively through the air as well. Junior quarterback James Perry hit on 19-of-34 pass attempts for 260 yards and three touchdowns for the day. And senior wideout Sean Morey--who entered the game ranked first in the nation in receptions per game with 9.33--finished the contest with six catches for 63 yards and a touchdown.

On the other side of the ball the Brown defense was dominating. The Bears limited the Big Red (4-3, 1-3) to just seven yards rushing and only 88 yards total, sacking the quarterback eight times on the day.

And rounding out the Ivy action on Saturday, Harvard (4-3, 3-1) defeated Dartmouth (2-5, 1-3) in Hanover, 20-7, the Crimson's fourth consecutive victory.

Harvard recorded a season-high six sacks and allowed just 225 total yards, with only 50 coming on the ground. Junior Chris Nowinski and captain Brendan Bibro both had big days for Harvard. Nowinski, a defensive end, recorded four sacks and six tackles, and defensive tackles Bibro garnered a sack and six tackles of his own.

The Crimson was equally effective on offense, riding strong performances by junior running back Chris Menick and junior quarterback Rich Linden. Menick had 31 carries for 104 yards and two touchdowns on the afternoon, while Linden completed 13-of-24 passes for 181 yards while rushing for 37 more.