Quakers complete rise to top of Iview

It's been a long and circuitous route for the Penn football program. Dominant through the late 1980s, winners of six Ivy Titles. Tough times in recent years, under embattled coaching staffs. Three losing seasons in a row, and a marked decline in fan support. But then coach Al Bagnoli took control of the team a year ago, and immediately a new air of respectability hit the football scene at Penn. The team responded by posting a 7-3 record. On Saturday, the Quakers completed the full circle. In what must be termed the biggest game to be played at Franklin Field in over five years, Penn lived up to its most important challenge yet and defeated Princeton 30-14 before a packed Homecoming crowd of 35,810. In the process, the Quakers erased a four-game losing streak in games against Princeton. "I think it means a lot to all our kids, especially those kids who've been through some of the tough times," Bagnoli said. "The kids who stayed with the program even when it was struggling a little bit. Things have a way of coming back in cycle. This was a great moment for them. I thoroughly want them to enjoy today. It was a great moment for us. They were under the spotlight, they knew the media attention, they knew the crowd, and they knew what was at stake." Although the Quakers (5-0 Ivy League, 8-0 overall) still have two extremely tough opponents still standing between them and any title, Penn for one day recaptured the championship spirit that has been absent from Quaker football for quite some time. This was exemplified by zealous fans charging onto the field following the final gun and ripping down the west goalpost. "Seeing the guys from last year come onto the field, you could see the look in their eyes that they wished they could have been out there, and even some guys had some tears," senior defensive lineman Dave Betten said. "That really makes you appreciate it." The game's obvious star was Penn junior tailback Terrance Stokes. Outperforming his more heralded counterpart, Princeton's Keith Elias, Stokes dissected a soft Tiger defensive front en route to eclipsing the single-game Penn rushing record. He finished with 272 yards, coming on 42 carries. The old record was 249 yards, set by Brian Keys against Brown in 1989. "The offensive line did a great job on their front four," Stokes said. "I didn't do anything differently. The offensive line handled Princeton. [I was] just reading the holes and hitting them hard. Fortunately for us I had a good day." Meanwhile, Elias, sporting a pre-game mohawk and averaging 187 yards per game, was stymied by the Quaker defense. He finished with just 59 yards on 15 carries. "I didn't feel like I got started today," Elias said. "I never felt like I got into a groove. It just didn't pan out for us." "We knew he was one of the premier backs in the league," junior defensive lineman Michael "Pup" Turner said. "But we just played our basic defense. We make adjustments every week, and we made some this week. But we didn't do anything special [to stop him]. In addition to Elias's poor performance, Princeton (4-1, 7-1) also was plagued by its inability to hold onto the pigskin. The Tigers fumbled eight times, losing the ball on four of those occasions. In particular, Tiger quarterback Joel Foote (15 of 27, 177 yards, one touchdown) and center John Nied four times botched what is considered the most intimate part of football, the center to quarterback exchange. Three of these were recovered by Penn. "I wish I knew [the cause of the center-quarterback fumbles]," Princeton coach Steve Tosches said. "We had to do that thing 1,000 times, and yet it looked as if we were in preseason for some reason." Penn's good fortune and Princeton's woes began on the game's opening possession. With overcast skies and a slight drizzle coming down, the Tigers received the ball first and started at their own 25-yard line. After gaining a first down, Foote fumbled the snap and Penn Betten recovered at the Princeton 41. Penn capitalized on the Tiger turnover, and it did so in big-play fashion. On just the third play of the drive, senior quarterback Jim McGeehan (14 of 27, 154 yards, two touchdowns) found senior wideout Chris Brassell (6 catches, 90 yards) in the far corner of the end zone for a 30-yard strike and a Quaker touchdown. Senior kicker Marc Horowitz's extra point made the score 7-0 just 1:44 into the game. Things got sloppy for a time after this. The two teams played hot potato, each losing fumbles to the other twice. Included in this was another costly Foote fumble off the snap which ended what looked to be a Princeton scoring drive. Senior linebacker Andy Berlin recovered at the Penn 18-yard line. Penn then proceeded to chew off five minutes from the clock, and rumble 82 yards downfield. The 13-play drive hit paydirt when Stokes took the ball in from seven yards out on a third-and-goal situation. With the extra point, Penn now led 14-0. After both teams traded punts, Princeton got on the board. The Tigers executed a lightening quick drive that covered 49 yards in just 4 plays, spanning 55 seconds. On a second and goal from just inside the Penn 1-yard line, Tiger fullback Peter Bailey took the handoff up the middle and went untouched into the end zone for the Tiger touchdown. With the point after, the score was 14-7, and Princeton would never get closer to the Quakers. Penn put the finishing touches on a good first half with another long-yardage drive. Starting deep in its own territory at the 11-yard line, the Quakers put together a 7-play, 89-yard drive that ate 2:55 off the clock. Penn scored when McGeehan again hooked up with Brassell in the end zone from 8 yards out. The second half saw Penn unable to get the ball into the end zone. Instead, the Quakers settled for field goals, and were rewarded by the consistent foot of Horowitz. With field goals of 22, 23 and 27 yards, Horowitz enabled the Quakers to maintain a comfortable lead and keep Princeton down and gasping for air. "They had us on our heels, in a lot of nickel and dime situations," Tosches said. Penn fans, coaches and players got a scare late in the game when McGeehan was knocked unconscious for a brief moment after being hit late on a scramble play out of bounds. McGeehan sustained a concussion, but did make it back onto the field for the sentimental final play. But it wasn't scoring, fumbles, sacks or late hits that kept the crowd on the edge of their seats during the second half. Instead, the latter half of the game belonged to Stokes, who by the middle of the third quarter had already gained over 200 yards. "I didn't feel tired at all," Stokes said. "[Forty plus] carries definitely surprised me. I guess a guy my size isn't supposed to carry the ball 42 times." Stokes and the Quakers now sit alone atop the Ivy League. For the first time in a long while, Penn controls its own title destiny. But the long winding road hasn't quite come full circle yet. "Right now we're in good shape," Bagnoli said. "We can't get too high in victory, or too deep in despair. It's not like this was the season-ending victory, and we can hang up our cleats and say 'this is great.' We enjoyed today, and tomorrow we're back at work." EXTRA POINTS: Besides Stokes and the rushing mark, several other Penn records were broken on Saturday. McGeehan set both the Penn career passing mark (3,475 yards) and career touchdown mark (30). In addition, sophomore wideout Miles Macik bested the Penn season record for catches, now with 55 on the season. The Quakers also scored 30 plus points for their seventh-straight game, most since 1895, when the Quakers topped the 30-point barrier in nine games straight.