Quakers enjoy a Laugh(ayette)

EASTON, Pa. -- First things first: Al Bagnoli has no new information on Rob Hodgson. Having taken care of that, there was a football game Saturday, apparently scheduled as an opportunity for the athletic department to get away from all the Hodgson hype. It sure wasn't scheduled as a competitive football game. Penn handled Lafayette easily, 28-8, dominating the first half and coasting through a poor second half to win for the 23rd time in a row. For the No. 16 Quakers (2-0), it was supposed to be another one of those semi-meaningless Patriot League games in which Penn scores nearly every time it touches the ball until it runs up a comfortable lead. This time, though, the Quakers' performance against a mediocre Lafayette squad (1-2) was shaky enough to create some worries for later in the season. The running game was poor, although Lafayette's defense was specifically set up to force Penn to pass. When Penn was unable to run the ball to protect its lead in the second half, the Quakers returned to the airways -- and got burned repeatedly. Defensively, the Quakers shut down the Lafayette offense until late in the game after the outcome was assured. The young Penn defensive line victimized the even-younger Lafayette offensive line, knocking the two Lafayette quarterbacks out of the game three times and setting up an interception that was returned for a touchdown. That was in the first half, when the Quakers shined. The second half was sloppy and penalty-marred. "I thought we played very well, in the first half especially," Penn coach Bagnoli said. "We made some plays and we made some stops. Second half play on both sides got a little bogged down and I give the Lafayette kids a lot of credit because they played the whole 60 minutes, and they took advantage of us and made some plays." It was all Penn in the first half, though. After stopping the Leopards on their first possession, Penn marched 28 yards in four plays before Mark DeRosa (14 for 23, 208 yards, 3 touchdowns, 3 interceptions) tossed a high, arcing pass to Felix Rouse in the right corner of the end zone. With the extra point, Penn led 7-0 and never looked back. The Quakers set the tone for the rest of the game with relentless pressure on Lafayette quarterbacks Shawn McHale and Joe Clair. Although the Quakers were credited with only five sacks, the defensive presence was felt on nearly every passing play. McHale had to be carried off the field twice. Once, Lafayette tried sacrificing him for a touchdown, rolling him out on a screen without blockers. The play worked, but the apparent touchdown was brought back because of a Leopards penalty. "I thought that was going to be the key to the game," said Bagnoli of Penn's pass rush. "It was going to be a game of pressure. Fortunately for us we were able to make some pressures and were able to get some turnovers and able to convert those turnovers into some points." The first time that Penn's pressure paid off was midway through the first quarter. Driving to the Penn 11, McHale dropped back to pass and was derricked by defensive lineman Tim Foster as he threw. The pass tipped off a Lafayette receiver's fingertips into the arms of free safety Dana Lyons at the 6. With nothing but daylight in front of him, Lyons -- a high school quarterback -- ran 94 yards for a touchdown, a new Penn record. "I just saw the goal line a mile away," Lyons said. "I don't think I've ever run that far in my life, actually. It felt good, though. I was telling [strong safety] Nick Morris the other day that I hadn't scored a touchdown since high school, so it was really sweet." The defense also made another stand deep in its own territory. Lafayette stunned the Quakers by putting an effective drive together late in the second quarter. After a couple of 20-yard pass plays, the Quakers found themselves backed up to their own one-yard line. The defense held firm, stopping three running plays and the fourth-down pass. "We kind of looked at each other and said, 'they're not getting in,' " Lyons said. "We have a lot of pride on defense and I think each and every one of us knew they weren't getting in. We've just got to work a little harder on keeping them from getting there in the first place." In the second half, Penn had another goal-line stand. This time, after the apparent Lafayette touchdown was called back, Penn held the Leopards on fourth and goal at the 1. On the next play, running back Jasen Scott was tackled in the end zone to give Lafayette its first two points of the game. But by that time the game was already well out of reach. After Lyons' touchdown, Penn tacked on two more scores before halftime, one a 15-yard play-action pass from DeRosa to Matt Tonelli that came after a key fourth-down conversion. Two plays later, while the Leopards were still stunned, DeRosa hit Tonelli. The fourth touchdown was a six-yard toss over the middle to Mark Fabish (four catches for 67 yards). DeRosa finished the first half 10 of 16 for 152 yards and the three touchdowns. The second half turned out somewhat differently for Penn, especially DeRosa. Where the passing game had been able to compensate for the lack of a running game in the first half (52 yards on 16 first-half carries for Dion Camp and Scott), Lafayette stacked the line in the second half, forcing Penn into the air with quite different results. With the Leopards doing a remarkable job of disguising their coverages, especially against wide receiver Miles Macik, DeRosa threw three interceptions. Two came on the same play call, Penn's trademark play-action bootlegs. On Penn's second play of the second half, DeRosa tried to find Rouse deep, but Leopard corner Tadji Chapman jumped in front of Rouse. Penn got the ball back after a Lafayette punt and on third down, DeRosa tried to hit Fabish across the middle, but Lafayette's Kevin Conaboy came out of nowhere to snag the pass. In the fourth quarter, Fabish let a pass slip out of his hands into the arms of Leopards safety Matt Cope. "You turn your back to the defense and you really don't know exactly what they're doing until you turn around," DeRosa said. For DeRosa, it was a disappointing end to a game he began so well. "I don't think anything was different -- it was my fault in the second half," he said. "If I throw three interceptions I'm still happy we won the game, but a little frustration sets in." Bagnoli, also pleased to come away a victor, was just happy that Rob Hodgson is not his problem.

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