FOOTBALL NOTEBOOK: Senior reserves may not see playing time

Even though Saturday is the final game for the Penn football team's seniors, coach Al Bognoli says winning comes first. With the Quakers out of Ivy League title contention, much of the focus of Saturday's game versus Cornell shifts to the senior class. Taking the field for the final time, however, will apparently not look any different from the seniors' previous games, as Quakers coach Al Bagnoli says that a win is his primary concern. "Read in the paper today about what happened to [Temple football coach] Ron Dickerson," Bagnoli said. "They fire people in this profession. You make decisions to try and win the game." "We don't give kids those options. Kids don't come up to me and say, 'I want to do 15 different things because it's my last game'." Quakers quarterback Tom MacLeod and other senior reserves will therefore not be given the start in their final appearance on Franklin Field. "Hopefully [MacLeod] will get in," Bagnoli said. "I'd like nothing more than to get everyone involved, but first and foremost, you have to try to win the game." Following Saturday's game, the defense will turn over the majority of its starters. Based on recent starting lineups, seven of the 11 who open the game for the defense will be seniors. · It's hard to congratulate any of the Quakers' players after Saturday's 33-0 shellacking, but defensive end Roger Beckwith certainly made a big effort for the defensive front seven. With Harvard up 7-0 and driving for more at the start of the second quarter, Beckwith came up with the Quakers only interception of the game by picking off Crimson quarterback Rich Linden's 10-yard pass over the middle. It was the second turnover in the half by Harvard, and should have provided the offense a motivational lift. The offense, however, capitalized on Beckwith's play by running three plays and having Jeff Salvino fall to the ground during his punt attempt. In addition to the interception, Beckwith also deflected two passes and made a couple of tackles. The senior from Philadelphia has come a long way. After a junior season in which he recorded only nine tackles, and left the team in mid-season, an unimpressive performance during spring practices, the coaching staff was guarded in its expectations of Beckwith's ability to contribute to the defense. He wasn't one of the team members profiled in the media guide and he wasn't listed on the two-deep lineup in the season opener against Dartmouth. But after steadily improving over the course of the season, he will likely be one of the starting 11 on Saturday. "This year he has really focussed and done a nice job," Bagnoli said. "He's really proved to be a very solid defensive end." · The 1997 season did not play out the way Mitch Marrow thought it would. Instead of showing off for the NFL scouts and leading his team to an Ivy League title, Marrow was forced to sit on the sidelines with a virus the first half of the season. Although he played in the majority of the Ivy contests, it was clear that Marrow had not had the time to regain his playing form or even his playing weight. Whether or not the season will hurt Marrow in this spring's NFL draft remains to be seen, but Marrow says that the season has not been a waste. "Maybe in the long run this will make me a better player," Marrow said. "I'll definitely look back on my career here fondly. Maybe it builds character. Regardless of Marrow's play against Cornell, Saturday will not be his last football game. Marrow is already been invited to play in the Blue-Grey All-Star Game and the Senior Bowl. Both games showcase the best NFL prospects in competition against one another. · Jim Finn has the chance to end the season near the top of the Ivy League in a number of statistical categories. Finn is currently second in yards per rush and is third in scoring behind Harvard's Chris Menick and Brown's Sean Morey. There is also a possibility for Finn to crack the top 10 in Quakers history in a couple of offensive categories. Finn needs seven points to finish with the 10th-highest single-season point total of all time, and needs 170 rushing yards to finish 10nth in Quakers history for single -season rushing yards. The opportunity for these honors, however, isn't going to sway Bagnoli's play selection on Saturday. Then again, Bagnoli intends to call plenty of running plays, anyway. "We had better be able to run the ball better this week than last week," Bagnoli said. "Our No. 1 goal is to get back to running the ball the way we did the previous three or four weeks before Harvard. "Hopefully [Finn] will get his yards and put us in some good situations to score some points."

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