DeRosa shines in open attack

When Mark DeRosa was anointed Penn quarterback at the beginning of this season, he stepped into some very large shoes. The previous Quaker quarterback holds every passing record in the Penn book -- career yards, yards in a season, total offense and more. It was not always that way. For a long time, Jim McGeehan was just an occasional starter bumped from the starting role by the less-than-distinguished Fitz McKinnon and Mike Barthlow?and referred to as the younger brother of past Penn quarterback John. That all changed one sunny fall afternoon last year in Hamilton, N.Y. Against Colgate, McGeehan exploded for 295 yards and began his trek to the top of the Quaker quarterback pantheon. And no one ever again confused him with brother John, who he passed in the record book like he was standing still. Mark DeRosa is just a sophomore. He is still a long way away from McGeehan status -- John or Jim. But like Jim McGeehan's performance against the Red Raiders, DeRosa's performance Saturday against Holy Cross showed Mark DeRosa may no longer be just Jim McGeehan's successor, but perhaps may stake a claim of his own to the Quaker record book among the Malcolm Glovers and Gary Vuras. DeRosa, in one half, threw for 285 yards on 23 of 31 passing. He threw two touchdown strikes, and with Terrance Stokes out of the game after the first quarter, carried the Quaker offense on his shoulders. The 45-0 lead allowed him to sit out the second half, along with every other starter. "It felt great," DeRosa said. "It kind of reminded me of high school all over again. I kept coming off the field and joking with my receivers at how it reminded us of practice. To throw 30 times in a half -- I've never done that before. I don't even think I've thrown 30 passes in one game. I loved it." However, more than anything else, DeRosa was the beneficiary of a Crusader defense bent on stopping Stokes, and a Quaker brain trust that was ready to open up the offense. The new emphasis on the passing game was apparent almost immediately. Of the first three plays, two were 10-yard patterns to wide receiver Miles Macik. On the seventh play of the game, DeRosa went for the corner of the end zone from the 18-yard line and just barely overthrew Macik, who caught the ball out of bounds. Next possession -- a 19-yard touchdown strike to Warren Rosborough. Eighteen-yard pass attempts? Previously unheard of in this season's Al Bagnoli offense. "If you look at some film, we were by our standards pretty conservative, pretty close to the vest, didn't throw the ball up the field," Bagnoli said. "I think we opened up the field and saw a side of it that maybe will allow some bigger plays with the running attack. We did a good job of spreading the field vertically and horizontally and we threw the ball more up the field, inside patterns, take offs, those type of things." That Bagnoli would even venture to say the words "opened up" shows how much his confidence is building in his young quarterback. Over the course of the season, DeRosa's pass attempts have gone from 22 against Lafayette -- almost all short routes -- to 18 against Dartmouth, to the 31 in the first half of Saturday's game. "It's a situation where he's progressing right on schedule," Bagnoli said. "It's nice to be in a situation where you can open things up and just allow him the luxury of doing some of the things that he can do." DeRosa's progress is apparent to his receivers as well. Macik, in particular, was the focal point of the Quakers' success through the air. Although he found Macik 10 times, DeRosa spread the ball among eight different receivers. "He's definitely gotten better," Macik said. "I think it was just a matter of giving him some game experience and giving him some confidence. He's a real confident player, which is good, and he does a real nice job of reading coverages and he definitely has the arm strength to get the ball there." It wasn't only his coaches DeRosa impressed. Holy Cross coach Peter Vaas was prepared to stop the vaunted Quaker run attack -- and ended up scrambling to defend against the air game. "We lined up to stop Terrance Stokes," Vaas said. "[DeRosa] just did a nice job. He's a very poised young man. He's not playing on an undefeated football team because he's a bad quarterback. He's playing on an undefeated football team because he is a good quarterback. People who are in that position are capable of performing." Despite enjoying his success, DeRosa is aware of the vagaries of the quarterback position and that it is still quite early in the season. "I've reached a level where I feel comfortable, but I'm definitely not 'there' yet," DeRosa said. "I think it'll take me until next year, getting the season under my belt, looking at the defenses the Ivy League will throw at us. But for the year, I think I've reached a good confidence in myself." So was this the Mark DeRosa version of Jim McGeehan's Colgate performance? Was this Mark DeRosa's coming out party? "I don't know if I'd go that far," said DeRosa, ever aware of the nature of the Al Bagnoli offense. "We'll probably be running the ball next week."