Lwt. Football, P'ton renew their rivalry

The Penn lightweight football team has had two weeks to prepare for what may be its biggest game of the season. Tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Franklin Field, the Quakers take on their archrival, Princeton. The Quakers are hoping they got all of the kinks out since the 21-7 loss at Cornell two weeks ago. The Quakers believe last weekend's Alumni Game and the extra week of practice leaves them ready to play a sound game. The Penn defense needs to improve its play from their last game. Poor tackling and no forced turnovers caused the Quakers' demise. Captains Mario Malcolm and Jordan Matusow lead a veteran defense that will line up against an inexperienced Princeton backfield. "We need to force mistakes and turnovers," Penn defensive coordinator John Amendt said. The Quakers (0-1) plan to take advantage of Princeton's inexperience to do exactly that. The Quakers have been watching tapes all week of Princeton's wishbone offense, which is run only by them and Army in the Eastern Lightweight Football League. "Every player has a specific role against the wishbone offense," Penn head coach Bill Wagner said. The Quakers' defensive players need to fulfill their unique roles to shut down the Tigers' offense. "Discipline is the key because their offense will wait for a defensive breakdown and then attack," Penn defensive backs coach Nate Scott said. The wishbone offense is a formation which gives the quarterback a variety of options. He can hand-off to the fullback, pitch to the halfback, throw or run the ball himself. Last year, the Quakers defeated Princeton twice, 30-12 at Princeton and 46-14 at Franklin Field. Despite the large margins of defeat, the Tigers (0-1) played the Quakers tough for over a half both times. The key to Penn's success was superb play by the special teams and great games from 1996 ELFL MVP Clint Schmidt and tailback Tim Ortman. Wagner hopes the special teams and Ortman can repeat last year's performances. Ortman ran the ball for 129 yards in Penn's opener at Cornell. If Ortman can gain similar yardage tonight, the Quakers should be able to put points on the board against Princeton. "Princeton will be up and ready for us," Quakers defensive line coach Tony DiPetro said. Despite Penn's recent success against the Tigers, this is their most important game of the year. There is nothing Princeton would rather do than win at Franklin Field. This is also one of the biggest games of the year for Penn, due to this immense rivalry. Ironically, Penn and Princeton are similar teams. They are both led by the two most experienced coaches in the league. Wagner notes he and Princeton coach Tom Murray have been involved in lightweight football for over 50 seasons combined.

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