Lightweights visit powerhouse, Navy

Things aren't getting any easier for the Penn lightweight football team this week. Last week, the Quakers suffered a 27-0 loss at the hands of Army, the defending co-champions of the Eastern Lightweight Football League. Tonight, Penn will journey to Annapolis, Md., to take on Navy, which shared the ELFL crown with the Black Knights last year. When the Quakers take to Turf Field, they will be seeing a much different group of Midshipmen. Navy (3-0, 0-0 in the ELFL) has a completely new set of offensive personnel. Of the 11 starters on last year's offense, only Billy Simmons, the Middies all-league tailback last year, returned this season. And Simmons himself is out with a broken hand. But Penn (1-2, 0-1) knows Navy is just as good as ever. "Their offense is a young offense," Quaker coach Bill Wagner said, "but that doesn't really matter, because every year they just replace them. They haven't missed a beat." Brian Voss is a good example of the Navy system. When Simmons went down against Princeton, Voss, a sophomore, stepped in and scored two touchdowns in the Middies' 29-6 victory. In his next game, Voss drove a stake through the heart of the Salisbury State defense, running for 117 yards on 24 attempts. To counter the potent Navy attack, Penn will rely on its own offense. The Quakers are hoping to improve on an offense that scored only 29 points in its first three games, including the shutout against Army. In what seems to be a reversal of conventional wisdom, Wagner is planning to use the Penn passing game to set up the running game. "When teams are blitzing at you, you have to be able to throw the ball," Wagner said. "We've got four good receivers, and [sophomore quarterback Greg Small] has to hit that open guy. If he does that, then [the Navy defense] is going to sit back a little bit. Then our line is starting to come to life, and I think they can move the ball against them. We have to be able to hit the open receivers and take the pressure off our defense by keeping them honest so we can get that running game back." To do this, the Quakers will open up their offensive playbook and show the Middies a variety of formations. Penn hopes this wide-open attack will keep Navy off-balance and take the pressure off Small. "We're going to do a lot of things," Wagner said. "We're going to play some play-action, we're going to spread them out. We've got all those things in. We just need to execute."