Rader, Penn receivers take Towson defensive backs for a ride

Suddenly, this past Saturday, the offense that Penn coach Al Bagnoli had promised in the preseason would gel by the second or third week, started to take shape. Capitalizing on every opportunity thrown its way, the Quakers offense rolled up 464 total yards in the 26-14 victory over Towson Saturday night. With the Tigers being the tamest of the three foes Penn has faced this season, the Red and Blue offense did exactly what it should have done against a lesser opponent. Quakers quarterback Matt Rader toyed with the Towson secondary all night, and, more important, when the ball was thrown in the direction of his Penn receivers, they made the receptions that all college wide-outs are expected to make. Against the Tigers, a core of young and old Quakers put to bed the wild rumors they simply can't catch. With Rader completing 20 passes to six different wide-outs, no longer can it be said that receiver Brian Bonanno and his teammates have trouble holding on to the pigskin. Surprisingly, this burst of offense occurred with Penn's leading wide receiver on the bench. John James, who had 12 receptions to his name through two games, sat out Saturday night's contest recovering from a bad cut in his mouth. After the game, Rader admitted, he had some pre-game fears about not having his go-to man in there. "I was a little worried," Rader said. "You know John was our leading receiver, and not having him hurt us, but the other guys stepped up pretty well and that is what we needed." The "other" players Rader was referring to, were a trio of underclassmen. Two freshman, David Rogers and Dominic McNeil, and a sophomore, Doug O'Neil, hauled in six reception among the three. Most impressive was the play of O'Neil. The Farmingdale, N.J., native had a huge game after dropping a third-down pass from Rader early in the first quarter. "The first pass kind of caught me by surprise," O'Neil said. "But then after I made a reception I settled down and put the drop behind me." Sure enough, in the opening minutes of the second quarter, on another third down play, O'Neil redeemed himself. The sophomore broke free and caught a Rader rocket for a 31-yard completion. Along the way, another rookie on Penn's receiving squad, Rogers, began to see some action, including a nice looking reception for 14 yards on yet another third-down call. Whether Bagnoli and offensive coordinator Chuck Priore were drawing up these plays for Penn's green wide-outs did not make a difference, because the rookies were making the big plays. While the younger Quakers served an instrumental role in the victory over Towson, no one played a bigger part on offense than fifth-year senior Bonanno. Bonanno ripped down five passes for 129 yards, none more electrifying than the first quarter 64-yard strike from Rader, that finished with Bonanno dancing across the goal line for the easiest Quakers touchdown this fall. "They played a lot of man coverage," Bonanno said. "That is putting a lot of pressure on the safeties because they are bigger guys trying to cover us. Especially inside, I love to see a guy come down like that, because I feel that 99.9 percent of the time I am going to beat him and that is exactly what happened." No doubt about it. On the bomb from Rader, Bonanno made Towson defensive back Dwane Exeter look foolish. In fact, Bonanno actually had turned on the jets too much and had to slow up because Rader's pass hung up in the air just a bit too long. But it didn't matter, because once Bonanno hauled the pigskin in, he further humiliated Exeter by breaking a tackle, before scampering to the end zone. One reason for the Quakers' success when throwing the football was Rader's ability to take a hit while targeting his receiver. "I was impressed pretty much by the quarterback (Rader) more than the wide-outs," Towson defensive back Khalid McLeod said. "On that first touchdown, one guy had Rader by the legs and he just threw the ball, you know, on one leg down the sideline for a touchdown." While Khalid might not have been pleased with the Red and Blue receiving corps, Towson coach Gordie Combs knew they "played a great game." Combs admitted, he was even a bit surprised Penn threw the ball as much as it did. It would be unrealistic to expect the Quakers' offense to produce over 400 yards during their remaining seven contests. But if Rader can hook up with his receivers like he did last Saturday night, on a more consistent basis, suddenly the Penn offense begins to look very dangerous in the eyes of its Ivy league rivals.