NEW YORK -- After each of the first three games of 1995, Penn coach Al Bagnoli complained about his Quakers. They committed too many turnovers. They missed too many assignments. They were flagged for too many penalties. Too many times they failed to execute. As Penn jumped out to a 3-0 start, extending its nation-best winning streak to a Division I-AA-record 24 games, nobody listened to Bagnoli's griping. After eking out 20-12 win over Dartmouth in the season-opener, Bagnoli spoke of botched quarterback exchanges and an interception deep in Dartmouth territory. Following a 28-8 thrashing of Lafayette Bagnoli was nothing shy of verbose in criticizing his Quakers' five turnovers and eight penalties. Last week, it took a last-second field goal from Jeremiah Greathouse to overcome another goal-line interception, four fumbles and pathetic special teams play. Following the game, all Bagnoli could do was sigh -- presumably in relief. But any coach that leads his squad to two consecutive undefeated Ivy League titles knows what he's talking about -- and even what he's sighing about. Saturday at Baker Field, people figured out what Bagnoli was talking about when the Quakers continued their erroneous ways, and the Lions took advantage of each and every mistake to win a hard-fought 24-14 battle. Bagnoli hit it right on the head: "There were a lot of mistakes -- turnovers, a breakdown in the kicking game, penalties -- you keep making those and sooner or later you're not going to have enough firepower to overcome it. It wasn't just a singular thing. It wasn't just penalties. It wasn't just turnovers. It wasn't just big plays given up. It was a combination of a lot of things." The Quakers set the error-prone tone early in the ballgame. After stopping the Lions on a crucial fourth-down play deep in Penn territory, the Quakers marched the ball to a third and goal at Columbia's 2-yard line. Penn quarterback Mark DeRosa came out from under center and rolled nakedly to the weak side before firing to receiver Mark Fabish, who ran a slide pattern across the goal-line after going in motion. For the second time in as many weeks, DeRosa's pass was picked off at the goal-line -- this time by free safety Joe Cormier. "I didn't see the guy," DeRosa said. "I guess he just followed Mark [Fabish] all the way across the field. Mark appeared wide open when I came out. I waited a little too long and the guy made a helluva play." Columbia made plays all day, and the Quakers didn't. DeRosa added one more interception and also fumbled late in the game. Last week's hero, Greathouse, missed two relatively easy field goals. The first was a 37-yarder that would have given Penn a 10-7 lead in the middle of the first half. The second was a 42-yarder that would have tied the game at 17. Greathouse left it short. The special teams also gave up a 39-yard punt return for a touchdown to Roy Hanks. His scamper down the left sideline in the third quarter turned out to be the game-winner. Time after time, Penn drives stopped in their tracks because of careless false-start penalties. After running the ball effectively in the first half (23 carries for 120 yards) five penalties in the second half led to long down-and-distance situations, forcing the Quakers to throw far too frequently. Overpursuit by the defense led to long running plays by Columbia's option-quarterback, Mike Cavanaugh -- including a 34-yard touchdown run two plays after the Cormier interception that put Columbia up 7-0. Cavanaugh cut an option left back up the middle and went untouched through the middle of an overplayed Quakers defense. On the day, Cavanaugh exploited a defense that was missing starters Joey Allen and Chris Osentowski for over 100 rushing yards. He also completed 10 of 15 passes in the Lions controlled passing game. For 24 consecutive games, the Quakers had stepped up and make the big play. Not the entire team, but some Penn player, made the difference. Sometimes it was the offense. Frequently it was defense. Last week it was the special teams. Saturday at Baker Field it was none of the above. It was the Columbia Lions. All of them.
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