Lwt. football to battle Cornell

The Penn lightweight football team has made some personnel changes in hopes of rebounding from its first loss of the season against Navy last Friday. The Quakers will test out their new lineup tonight against Cornell at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Big Red's Schoellkopf Field. This game differs from the first meeting of the year between the two teams, a 12-9 Penn victory, in that it counts toward the official Eastern Lightweight Football League standings. "We're more prepared than the first time we played them," Quakers tailback Greg Grabon said. "We won last time because they just sucked." Most of the changes that Penn has made reflect the problems the Quakers encountered in the loss to the Midshipmen. Penn coach Bill Wagner said that freshman Carl Jamison will get his first start at linebacker, but will also remain a part of the offensive line. In addition, Zach Chan will return to defensive end, the position where he earned all-ELFL honors last year, while continuing to see a lot of time at tight end. Finally, freshman Zach Shinar, Wagner's prized recruit, may see some time at quarterback in place of senior Matt Veneri. "There won't be so much of a drop-off when someone needs a break," said Quakers wide receiver Clint Schmidt, who will play even with his injured hip flexor. Despite the personnel changes, Penn's strategy will remain relatively standard on offense -- control the clock and keep Cornell's offense off the field. Defensively, the Quakers will again look to stop Big Red running back Mike Matays, who ran for 75 yards on 18 carries in the first meeting. More importantly, Penn must prevent Cornell quarterback Tim Hodges from throwing to senior wide receiver Nolan Hecht. The athletic Hecht, who is leading the ELFL in receptions, caught 10 passes in the first game against Penn. "We'll double up on him when we can," Wagner said. "[Hodges] looks to Hecht 90 percent of the time." Said freshman defensive back David Klein: "We'll worry about the fade. We don't want to give up anything deep." The Quakers will employ more wishbone sets, with Grabon getting the majority of the carries, and freshman Tim Ortman and senior co-captain Joel Correia splitting the remainder of the running duty. Of course, the play of the offensive line will be critical to Penn's success on the ground. "The game is going to be won or lost on the offensive line," Penn center Marc Menkowitz said. "If we can dominate the line of scrimmage, the game will be ours," Quakers guard Howard Goldberg said. Penn hopes that the personnel changes will pay off in a more balanced offense and an unyielding defense as it strives for its first regular season win. "It's just a matter of not turning the ball over, having no penalties, and executing, and we'll win the game," Chan said. "It's always harder playing a team a second time."