Lightweights try to change history

The statistic is incredible. Glancing at the Penn lightweight football media guide, you notice the Quakers' record against Army. Is it a misprint? No. In 37 games against the Cadets, Penn is 1-36. This is not necessarily something to be embarrassed about. As Quaker coach Bill Wagner pointed out, Army, along with Navy, ruled the entire Eastern Lightweight Football League throughout much of its history, winning titles year after year. Since every Cadet has to participate in a varsity sport, Army had a natural advantage in depth and talent. But in recent years that advantage has been shrinking. Last year, the Cadets won 28-14, and only a few lapses prevented the Quakers from winning. When Penn meets Army 7:30 tonight at Franklin Field, the Quakers (1-1) will have their share of talented players. "In the last five years, our players have gotten better," Wagner said. "If we suit up 50 guys, there are going to be 50 guys who can play. Fifteen years ago, we had maybe 18 or 20 out of 40 that could play." Not that the Cadets (2-0) are exactly suffering. The defending ELFL co-champs are off to an impressive start. Army has handled its first two opponents easily, including a 35-0 blanking of Cornell. With Cadet senior quarterback Mikell Harper leading the way, the Army offense has rolled up 720 total yards in its first two games. Most of that yardage has come on the ground, with the Cadets wishbone attack running the ball 127 times (compared to only 20 passing attempts) for 604 yards. "They run the same thing every year," Penn linebacker Steve Barry said. "They know that we know what they're going to run, but they're basically cocky and saying, 'Here's what we do, try and stop us.' " The Quakers have made adjustments to do that, Wagner says. "You have to have a couple defenses that take on the lead blockers, and the people who are assigned to the quarterback have to take him on good," Wagner said. "It has to be a swarming defense. It just can't be one or two people. It has to be a unit of six guys to the ball." On the offensive side, Penn sophomore quarterback Greg Small will start. Senior Carmine Greco, who had been the starting quarterback the first two games, is no longer with the team, but Wagner said Small had won the starting job before Greco left. "Greg was going to start even if Greco was here," said Wagner, who was given a message by another player and does not know why Greco left the team. "Small established himself as the starting quarterback after the game [last Friday] when we watched film Saturday and practiced Sunday morning. "Small had finished the game and did a nice job. He's got great 'fieldmanship.' He can run the team, the kids have respect for him and he's got good leadership abilities. What he lacks in superior athletic ability he makes up for in his leadership and his desire to perform." The performance of the Quaker defense may be the key to the game. After giving up 121 rushing yards last week in its loss to Cornell, Penn knows it will have to do better against Army if it is to have a chance to win. "We have to be very aggressive defensively to take away their wishbone, and we can't get hurt on big plays," Wagner said. "If we do that and our young offensive team can score two or three touchdowns, we can beat them." Then the Penn-Army series would be one small step closer to being evened.