'We just refused to lose'

Quakers stay perfect with clutch drive ITHACA, N.Y. -- Penn had won football games in every imaginable way during the course of its 20-game winning streak. The Ivy League champion Quakers had prevailed in a high-scoring shootout over Fordham, a last-minute goal-line stand against Dartmouth, a battle of field goals with Columbia, and even come-from-behind efforts against Cornell and Harvard last year. By prevailing 18-14 in Ithaca Saturday, the Quakers not only added another chapter to their record-breaking 21-game winning streak, but they found yet another way prevail. On a blustery day at Schoellkopf Field -- the last day for Penn's 13 starting seniors -- the Quakers' heroics ironically came by way of a last-minute drive led by redshirt freshman quarterback Mark DeRosa. After Penn had clawed back from an early 14-0 deficit to close the gap to 14-11, sophomore Mark Fabish fair-caught a short 28-yard punt by Tim McDermott at the Cornell 47-yard line. The clock read 3:52. The Quakers had two timeouts remaining. They were 47 yards from the Division I-AA all-time consecutive victory record. They were four plays from extinction. "It's now or never," Penn senior Terrance Stokes was saying on the sidelines. "Now or never." On first down, the Quakers picked up a Big Red blitz. Off his back foot, DeRosa lobbed a perfectly thrown ball between two Cornell defenders and the left sideline -- into the arms of senior flanker Leo Congeni. Congeni gained 15 yards and got out of bounds, stopping the clock and giving the Quakers a first down at the Big Red 32. A draw play to Stokes caught nobody by surprise and gained one yard over center. The clock ran. On second down, DeRosa took the shotgun snap and looked down the field. He looked right. Nothing. As he tip-toed up in the pocket in search of his secondary receiver, DeRosa was nailed from the blind side by free safety Chris Hanson, who came untouched on a delayed blitz. Remarkably, DeRosa would hold onto the ball and get up gingerly from the artificial turf. "After he got sacked, I was a little nervous," co-captain Michael "Pup" Turner said. "I won't lie to you. I had flashbacks of Jimmy McGeehan getting sacked by [Michael] Lerch [in Penn's last loss two years ago at Princeton]. But I don't think, at least in our minds, that there was ever a doubt that we'd come back. We just refused to lose." After a timeout, Penn was 41 yards from the promised land staring at a third down and 19. DeRosa went shotgun again and Stokes was the lone setback. Fabish was split right. Given plenty of time by the offensive line, DeRosa took the snap and again sat in the pocket. He made his read and fired the ball deep over the middle to a streaking Fabish, who had ran a skinny post against the Cornell zone. Fabish split the seam, caught the ball at the 15-yard line and sprinted all the way to the Big Red 1 before being hauled down by free safety Chris Allen. Fabish made a read and broke off what was a "dig" pattern across the middle when he saw the center of the field clogged. He beat cornerback Nick Bomback on the post. DeRosa, a high-school teammate of Fabish at Bergen Catholic, made the identical read and threw a strike to Fabish before Allen could get over from his free safety spot. "I looked at the chains and knew the called pattern would not get us a first down," said Fabish, who had muffed a punt several minutes earlier. "The middle was cloudy and I broke it off into a skinny post. The familiarity from having played together in high school definitely helped." "I held the ball a little longer than I probably should have," DeRosa said. "I saw Mark break it up and he made a great play. When I threw it, I couldn't believe they'd have a guy that wide open." As the clock continued to run, the Quakers gave the ball to Stokes on first and goal from the 1. As the tailback dove over right guard, he was stuffed for a loss by defensive end Dick Emmit. Turner came into the came as the lead back in the I-formation on second down. DeRosa handed him the ball as the lead back, but tackle Seth Payne stopped him just shy of the goal line as the clock ticked inside of two minutes. Timeout Cornell. Throughout the game, the Quakers had thrown the ball on short-yardage situations because of Cornell's exceptional goal-line defense. The Penn coaching staff expected the Big Red to pinch to the inside, and therefore called an outside zone play for Stokes. Stokes took DeRosa's pitch and headed left. Fullback Tim Gage sealed the Big Red cornerback, and Stokes cut inside that block and scooted to the corner of the end zone. Touchdown. Virtually untouched, Stokes just kept running in jubilation. He spiked the ball, ripped off his helmet and threw it as far as he could in celebration before being drowned by a mob of teammates cascading around him from the sidelines. "Usually I don't show any emotion, but this time I just had to," Stokes said later as he fondly remembered the final touchdown of his stellar career. For the first time in 21 consecutive hard-fought victories, the offense had to score on its final possession. Facing the clock, a stingy defense and a hostile crowd, Penn found yet another way to win. Terrance Stokes and the rest of the graduating seniors will carry a lot of gridiron memories with them throughout their lives. Perhaps none will be more gratifying than that final series of plays. As memories are rekindled years down the road, the Class of '95 will simply refer to it as The Drive.