Lwt. football gets burned by big play

The result was the same, but the circumstances were reversed. Usually the Penn lightweight football team plays well enough to hang in there in the first half, only to lose in the second half. But against soon-to-be Eastern Lightweight Football League (ELFL) champion Army last Friday, the Quakers trailed by 21 at the half, only to have a furious second-half comeback fall short as they lost 28-14. On an evening on Army's home turf when the Quakers' (1-3 ELFL, 2-4 overall) defense was scorched for 372 total yards – while their offensive counterparts could scarcely manage 204 yards – Army (3-0 ELFL, 5-1 overall) showed a penchant for going deep early and often. "It was very frustrating," senior fullback Todd Levine said. "Aside from three big plays, we basically beat them." The Cadets showed an ability to score quickly, whether it be on a long pass or a big run, and those three plays were the Quakers' undoing. Army quarterback Mike Harper unloaded a huge 40-yard touchdown pass to wideout Justin Perusek to complete a seven play, 64-yard drive only six minutes into the game. When Army kicker John Jettinghoff nailed the extra point, Army led, 7-0. With the score still 7-0, Harper unloaded a 31-yard bomb to wideout Aaron Osburn, who burned Penn's secondary for a TD. Another Jettinghoff kick gave Army a 14-point lead. Finally, Army closed out its scoring in the third quarter when Paul Salmon broke away from would-be Penn tacklers for a 40-yard TD run. Jettinghoff again hit the extra point. The Cadets, however, were not merely a one-dimensional team that relies on the big play. For its third score of the game, Army unloaded a nine play, 61-yard drive, which culminated when halfback John Fiorito punched it in from the one-yard line to give the Cadets a 21-0 lead with only 2 minutes 27 seconds remaining in the half. Typically, the difference between the halves for the Quakers was like night and day. Penn managed two impressive touchdowns in the second half on decent drives, including a 14-yard pass from freshman QB Greg Small to senior tight end Ryan Hadrava in the third quarter to complete an 11-play, 37-yard drive. The two also connected on a 19-yard scoring pass in the fourth quarter which wrapped up a drive spanning 42 yards on eight plays. Small, who again filled in for junior starter Carmine Greco, threw 8 completions on 17 attempts for 79 yards and the aforementioned two TD's during one-and-one-half quarters of play. Small also demonstrated his scrambling ability, keeping the ball five times and gaining an impressive 26 yards. Speaking of rushing, senior tailback Tom Morrin, who needed only 47 yards to reach the 2,000-yard plateau for his Penn career, gained 78 yards on 21 carries, boosting his career total to 2,031 yards on the ground. "The biggest thing [in the game] was Tommy breaking 2,000 yards rushing," freshman wideout Clinton Schmidt said. "It was a great moment for him and for the team." This was a game which did not feature many great moments for the Quakers. Penn's quarterbacks were sacked five times for a total of 45 yards, and the defense gave up a crucial fourth-down conversion when the final result still hung in the balance. But despite it all, Penn still hung tough against a dominant Army squad, a team which in all probability should have blown the Quakers out, especially on its home turf. "If any consolation can be taken in a moral victory, then we can at least be proud of ourselves," Levine said. "Although the season is over, I think we proved that we are not a pushover. We played tough against Army, and we showed that we're just as good, if not better, than them. "We killed ourself in this game, and all season long, with turnovers and penalties. We could have beaten Army." And therein lies the frustration of the entire season for the Penn lightweight football team.