Football uses extra week to heal injuries

Taking advantage of its rare week off, the Penn football team had a chance to heal, study and socialize. Coach Al Bagnoli was even able to watch his old team -- Union -- play at Dickinson. Yet, as Penn returned to practice yesterday, the Quakers still lacked a key ingredient vital to the team's long-term success -- uniforms. Did someone say shirts vs. skins? Penn's game jerseys were destroyed in a Sept. 22 locker room fire, which left the Quakers both homeless and poorly dressed. Donning makeshift blue and white jerseys, Penn's practice resembled an all-star game more than anything else. The Quakers have been living out of the visitors' locker room at Franklin Field for the past week, with hopes of returning home either today or tomorrow. "If we ever needed to have a week off, this was the week," Penn senior co-captain Michael "Pup" Turner said. "It would've been a zoo to try to have a game without our own locker room." · The week off, a result of Richmond dropping Penn from its schedule, gave Bagnoli a chance to fine tune his undefeated Quakers. Winless Holy Cross visits Franklin Field Saturday . "I've only had an off-week one other time in my coaching career, and I think that was in 1987," Bagnoli said. "We gave them Saturday off, practiced Sunday and had a J.V. game Monday. We tried to combine a few days off to get us healthy with some added contact work and some refinement in the things that need to be refined -- especially the kicking game." Some of those refinements include offensive production. After only putting 13 points on the scoreboard against Dartmouth, Bagnoli addressed the Quakers' ability to move the football. "The combination of Dartmouth being well coached and having a good defensive team, and us having to overcome a lot of things, and not executing the way we're capable," all contributed to a low-scoring day, Bagnoli said. "Injury factors, a young quarterback, our first away game and so on all contributed to our limited success on offense." · If senior linebacker Pat Goodwillie, who was named Ivy League Defensive Co-Player of the Week, hadn't stopped Big Green tailback Pete Oberle on a fourth and goal from the one-yard line, Penn's current 14-game winning streak would've come to a screeching halt. "I was talking to a few guys on offense and saying that we owe the defense some points," Junior Miles Macik said. "They really bailed us out last week. We've got to come through on both sides of the ball." · As expected, Penn's off-week allowed some key injuries to fully heal. Macik, the Quakers' all-American wide receiver, played against Dartmouth, but prior to yesterday, had not practiced since. His hand was stepped on by a cleat during practice Sept. 22. "I took it easy last week, but was eager to get out there and see how it felt," Macik said. "The cut's healing up where the cleat went through, and it's still bruised inside. But I stayed after practice to catch a few balls to get a good feeling." · Turner, Penn's top defensive end, hurt his lower back while squatting at the end of the summer and had been tightening up before the Dartmouth game. He also got a "burner" in his right shoulder and down his neck against the Big Green preventing him from participating in any contact drills last week. Yesterday was his first full practice. Senior offensive lineman Dave Broeker's knee has returned to health and is expected to be 100 percent by game time Saturday. Broeker played sparingly versus Dartmouth.