After bye week, Penn sprint football readies for Chestnut Hill

For Penn sprint football, the hard part is over, but the job is far from done. And that job continues this Friday when the Quakers face off against Chestnut Hill at Franklin Field.

Regardless of what happens Friday, it will be hard for the Red and Blue (4-0) to top the drama the last time they played in Franklin Field. In that game, Penn completed its sweep of the service academies by topping Navy, 29-23, in a thrilling overtime finish. The win also firmly established the Quakers as the favorite to win the championship in the Collegiate Sprint Football League.

“We always knew we were a good team,” senior captain and quarterback Mike McCurdy said. "But to have it validated against a good team like that, in a real close win, doesn’t hurt.”

While it was a great win for the Quakers, Chestnut Hill (2-2) is just the first of three opponents Penn still needs to beat if it wants to finish the season undefeated for the first time since 2000. And since the regular season decides the champion in the Collegiate Sprint Football League, one bad game can ruin a whole year.

Penn is the heavy favorite against Chestnut Hill, but the Griffins have had two solid wins over Post and Cornell. They also present a strong passing attack that will attempt to spread the Red and Blue’s defense out. 

Through four games, Chestnut Hill quarterback Michael Marino has averaged 160 passing yards and has been especially dangerous when getting the ball to his two favorite targets, Lew Roman and Reginald Robinson. The wide receiver tandem has combined for nearly 400 yards on the year already.

If you’re worried about Penn overlooking the Griffins though, don’t be.

“As soon as we came back on Monday, all of our captains got on us. They were like, ‘Listen, we had a bye week, we enjoyed ourselves, but now we’ve got to get back to the grind. We’ve got to make sure we win these last three games, or the other ones don’t mean anything,”’ junior linebacker Quinn Karam said.

It would be easy for the Quakers to get caught in a trap game. This is only Chestnut Hill's second-ever season, the first as a full-fledged member of the CSFL. But Penn's focus isn't external. Of course, it also helps when a player as talented as McCurdy is your biggest leader. McCurdy, the reigning CSFL co-MVP, has been averaging 243 passing yards a game.

“You can’t look ahead too far,” McCurdy said. “Every game is important from here on out. Every game is important this whole season. So we know our next opponent Friday is Chestnut Hill, and we’re focused on that right now, and we’re just going to take it week by week from here on out.”

If the Red and Blue can take care of business against Chestnut Hill, they will be just two games away from securing the title. And with those two games being against Cornell and Post, who have a combined record of just 1-7, it is easy to see how the Quakers might get a little ahead of themselves. Those two games could not be further from the Quakers’ minds however.

“We had good practices,” coach Bill Wagner said, “And I think, it’s again because of our four captains, the leadership that they present by example as well as verbally, watching film, and preparing for Chestnut Hill just like they were preparing for any other game. Chestnut Hill’s the one that’s coming up Friday night, and they’ve been focused all week. They can’t look beyond that game.”

It is clear that all the players are on the same page. But for those of us who are ready to turn the page and see the Quakers win a championship, Friday night serves as the Red and Blue’s final major test.