COLUMN: McGarrity and Allen fill defensive voids

From Luke DeCock's "A Front Row View," Fall '95 But sometimes, the heroes are right where you expect them to be. During the Al Bagnoli reign, there has been one constant, besides strong safety Nick Morris. Every year, Penn has a defensive end and a linebacker who carry the defense on their backs. First, it was Andy Berlin and Dave Betten in 1993. Then, Pat Goodwillie and Pup Turner last year. Now, Tom McGarrity and Joey Allen have taken over, anchoring what has been in the past the best defense in Division I-AA. The roles played by the ends and the linebackers in defensive coordinator Mike Toop's 5-2 formation are varied and demanding. But at the same time they're the most crucial. The ends have to stop the outside run, rush the passer and drop back into coverage. The interior linemen funnel everything else toward the linebackers. If the safeties are making tackles, the linebackers aren't doing their jobs. It's a wonderfully innovative defense, perfect for stopping the run-oriented offenses of the Ivy League. But it relies very heavily on a few key players, most notably the ends and the linebackers. If they do their job well, they become stars. Berlin and Goodwillie served together in the middle, plugging holes and filling gaps. Turner and Betten did likewise on either end of the line, harassing passers and tailbacks. But those guys were all gone this season, as was Goodwillie's most recent partner in the middle, Kevin DeLuca. All-Ivy picks every one, they were the heart and soul of the most fearsome defense in the Ivy League, maybe in Ivy history. Taking over were some new guys: McGarrity and Allen, as well as Tim Gage and Tim Foster. Sure, McGarrity had been a force last year, playing at the other end of the line from Turner, but this year he would be the man, the key guy on defense who would draw all the double teams and attract the attention of the offensive line. Those were the questions, but now we have the answers. Saturday, when the offense -- with the notable exception of Aman Abye -- was giving a new range of meanings to the words inept and impotent, the burden was placed on the defense. And McGarrity and Allen picked up the gauntlet and carried Penn to victory. The stat lines alone were impressive, but they don't capture the true grittiness of the duo's performance. McGarrity had six tackles -- four of them for losses -- three pass breakups and four sacks. Allen made 11 tackles, two of them for losses. Impressive, sure. But they were more than that. They were invisible, invulnerable, inviolable. They were where they were supposed to be before they were supposed to be there. They were the difference. Bucknell's second play: Quarterback Jim Fox drops back to pass. McGarrity is blocked by only one guy. He blows by him and sacks Fox in the blink of an eye. On Bucknell's second drive, the exact same thing happened; McGarrity knocked the ball out of Fox's hand and Gage recovered at the 10. Two plays later, Abye had his first touchdown and Penn had the lead. Every time Bucknell put just one blocker on McGarrity, he was on top of Fox. And McGarrity was dropping into coverage and sealing the end so explosive Bucknell running back Rich Lemon couldn't get outside. More important in shutting down Lemon was Allen. A rock in the middle, Allen was a major reason Lemon didn't go over 100 yards for only the second time in 19 games. For Allen, a converted fullback and talented wrestler, the spotlight's glare was a relatively new occurrence. He was in the interview room almost immediately, carrying his helmet, pads and two Pepsis. He sat and waited with everyone else for the arrival of Bagnoli, shaking his head and exhaling. No one wanted to break his reverie. He was obviously still amazed by the ending of the game, as we all were. But if not for his strong performance, he'd be shaking his head for other reasons. Sure, the defense had some severe lapses -- uncharacteristically severe lapses that had Bucknell wide receiver Sakowski calling Penn an "overrated" team, not as good as in past years. He may be right. There's a good chance this team isn't as good as last year's, or the year before's. But whether he's right or not, it doesn't matter. This team keeps on winning, no matter how close, no matter how ugly. And its because of guys like McGarrity and Allen, who have never lost in their collegiate careers, and who just don't know how to.