Lightweights want to stop losing streak

Stuck in a three-game losing streak and reeling from two bruising losses, the Penn lightweight football team will have its own sort of homecoming tonight. When the Quakers host Princeton at 8, it will be their first game at Franklin Field in three weeks. Those three weeks have been tough ones for Penn. The Quakers (1-3, 0-2 Eastern Lightweight Football League) played back-to-back games against Army and Navy, the two best teams in the ELFL. First, after gamely holding the Cadets to a scoreless tie in the first half, Penn fell apart and lost 27-0. Then two weeks ago the Quakers suffered a 55-14 thrashing at the hands of the Midshipmen. The two games took a harsh toll on the team's health. "Physically we gave our all against Army," Penn coach Bill Wagner said. "It took a lot out of our team after playing so well against Army and then losing. We got somewhat beat up in that game. "Then we went down to Navy. Navy is very strong, very fast, and they've got two teams that are well-coached. They just physically beat up on us." Nine Quakers missed practice after the Navy game. But luckily for Penn, last week was a bye-week. It gave the team a chance to heal, and by the middle of this week almost everybody was back. "We're very thankful we got a bye-week," Wagner said. "Physically, it gave our team an opportunity to get somewhat healthy." But Princeton (1-4, 1-2) might not be fit after its own tangle with the Middies. Last week, the Tigers were stomped by Navy, 58-0, and like the Quakers, they got banged around. "I think Princeton is experiencing the same things," Wagner said, "only they didn't have a week off. I don't think Navy was very polite to them either." Penn was rather rude to the Tigers in the first meeting between the teams. In their only win of the season, the Quakers prevailed at Princeton, 16-0. In that game, the Penn defense was terrific, forcing six turnovers and holding the Tiger offense to five first downs and 78 total yards. "If our defense can go out and do that and shut them down like that, we'll win the game," Wagner said. "Our team was very aggressive. They were very physical." But Wagner expects Princeton to try something different on offense. In the first game, the Tigers lined up with fullback A.J. Ortega as the lone running back. This time, Wagner expects Princeton to mix up its formations more, with tailback Dan Wu getting more carries out of an I-formation. The Quaker offense will have a different look as well. Senior Loren Mendell will start at quarterback instead of sophomore Greg Small, who had started the two previous games. "I just felt he did very well at Navy throwing the ball," Wagner said. "He showed a good presence in very adverse conditions. He did a good job and deserves a chance to start." With Mendell starting, look for the Penn offense to throw the ball a bit more. According to Wagner, receivers have been getting open, but the ball hasn't come their way. Penn hopes to change that tonight. "When we played them the first time, we had guys open for yardage," Wagner said. "We didn't throw the ball to them." Perhaps a few completions for big gains and a repeat performance by the Penn defense will make it a happy homecoming for the Quakers.