Football pleases parents with win over Crimson

After junior QB Tom MacLeod is injured, freshman Brian Russell steps up in his first varsity game with a touchdown on his first pass attempt. and Jordan Smith On a beautiful day for football, Penn gave Quakers fans plenty to cheer about. Breaking from their conservative shell, the Quakers (5-4, 3-3 Ivy) came out throwing against the nation's second-best rush defense. In the end, they gave a Parents Weekend crowd of 21,509 a treat and the seniors a happy send-off in the last home game of the season, beating Harvard 17-12. Penn defensive end Mitch Marrow was dominant all afternoon, recording four sacks and 11 tackles. From the first possession of the game, it was clear that Harvard's offensive line could not handle Marrow, as the 6-foot-5, 275 pound junior buried Harvard quarterback Rich Linden on third down. But the real story was Penn's masterful game plan, which neutralized Harvard's nationally ranked run defense. Junior quarterback Tom MacLeod and his replacement after hurting his shoulder, Brian Russell, repeatedly found Quakers receivers in the flat. That gave tailback Jasen Scott the element of surprise he has needed all year. For the afternoon, Penn ran up nearly twice as many yards (158) on the ground as Harvard (3-6, 1-5) had been allowing. Freshman signal caller Russell's first pass in a varsity uniform was also his first career touchdown pass. On a third-and-four bootleg at the Harvard 13, Russell threw across the middle to running back-turned-receiver Aman Abye, who eluded Harvard tacklers en route to the end zone. Jeremiah Greathouse's extra point gave Penn a 7-0 lead with 5 minutes, 29 seconds left in the first quarter. Russell went on to have one of the better performances by a Quakers quarterback this season. He was 10-for-16 for 112 yards, and threw a touchdown pass. But although Penn was moving the ball better, Harvard stayed in the game, thanks to some Quakers errors. On the last play of the first quarter, MacLeod threw a flat pass straight to Harvard linebacker Joe Weidle, who rumbled 50 yards down the sideline to the Penn 18. Two players later, star wide receiver Colby Skelton took a reverse 19 yards for a touchdown. The kick failed and Penn held a 7-6 halftime edge. Ball control was the order of the day in the second half. The home team turned once again to senior tailback Jasen Scott, who carried 42 times for 149 yards, surpassing 1000 yards for the season in the third quarter. Scott is only the sixth player in Penn history to break the 1,000 yard mark in a season, the last being Terrance Stokes in 1994. "I am glad I broke a thousand, but I have no idea where my place in Penn history is," Scott said. "We have one more game left, and when the season is over I will reflect on it and I will be happy that I had that many yards." Although the senior tailback did run on over half the Quakers offensive plays, performances by the offensive line and by Russell and his receivers also were crucial. All day Russell had loads of time to throw, due in part to senior offensive lineman Sears Wright, Matt Julien, and Mark Fleishauer who were all playing their last game on Franklin Field. With time to set up, Russell rifled passes to six different receivers, much to the delight of coach Al Bagnoli. "He did a nice job," Bagnoli said. "Brian is accurate, he is athletic, and he came in and showed a lot of poise. We put him under duress and I thought he handled himself quite well." Also taking advantage of a starter going down was wide receiver Alec Dafferner who for the second week in a row was Penn's leading receiver. Following the departure of Mark Fabish with a broken shoulder, Dafferner has stepped into the void. "Alec really stepped it up when Fabish got hurt two weeks ago," Russell said. "In practice he is diving around making catches just like today." The Quakers coasted through most of the second half, completely shutting down Harvard tailback Eion Hu. The Crimson managed only 178 yards total offense and averaged a scant three yards per run. Penn had established a 17-6 lead on a Scott one-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and a Greathouse 24-yard field goal with seven minutes to play. The game seemed won. "We had just got through telling them to make sure you play everything out in front of you, play soft and run the clock down and it is a two-score game," Bagnoli said. Moments later, he looked up to see James Finn and John Bishop getting burned on yet another trick play. A double reverse pass by wide receiver Jared Chupaila to Colby Skelton went for 70 yards and put the Crimson on the one yard line. Bagnoli went bonkers on the sidelines. On the next play, Hu scored to make it a 17-12 game. "In seven seconds we all of sudden became backed in and now we don't know if they are going to on-side kick so our return gets all skewed," Bagnoli said. Following a failed attempt to run time off the clock with an incomplete pass to tight end John Ricchio and two rushes for two yards by Scott, Penn punter Jeff Salvino needed to give the Penn defense some room to work with. Instead Salvino squibbed a 26-yarder, allowing Harvard to have the ball with 5:13 left on the Quaker's 35- yard line. The result was Penn's defense smothering the Crimson freshman quarterback. Forcing one incompletion before Marrow unleashed a powerful sack (his fourth) on third down and had Harvard punting for the tenth time. With one last chance, the Crimson took over on offense at the 1:42 mark. After completing a pass to Drakos, placing Harvard on the Penn 40-yard line, Linden -- under a big rush by Marrow, Foley and Tim Foster -- made an errant throw that Robertson tipped and Finn grabbed for his third interception of the year. That play sealed the victory for Penn. Scott, who also was playing in his final game at Franklin Field, summed up nicely why the win over Harvard was especially sweet. "There are a lot of great players on this team and we all believe in ourselves and our teammates," Scott said. "And while nobody said anything, I think today the team just decided to we were going out there to play and play hard."