Lwt. Football closes season in Princeton

The 1997 Penn lightweight football season concludes tomorrow night at 7:30 p.m. at Princeton. Last week's 9-3 loss to Navy eliminated the Quakers from the race for the Eastern Lightweight Conference League title, but the Quakers look to rebound against their archrival. Despite that, this is still a big game for the Quakers, as they look to sweep the season series against Princeton for the second straight season. With a win tomorrow, Penn (2-3, 1-2 ELFL) will finish the season at .500. That would give the Quakers a third-place finish in the ELFL, tops among the Ivy League schools. "We need to beat Princeton because they're looking for their first win in two years," coach Bill Wagner said. Princeton (0-5, 0-3) obviously has plenty of incentive entering its season finale. The last thing the Tigers want to do is finish winless for the second straight year. Princeton is coming off a bye and will surely use the extra week of practice to their advantage. In their first meeting of the season, which was played at Franklin Field on October 3, Penn dominated Princeton, as they won the game 15-0. Tailback Tim Ortman ran for 226 yards and the defense played nearly a perfect game en route to its shutout of the Tigers. Ortman has compiled 731 yards this season. Therefore, if he rushes for 195 yards tomorrow, he will break the Penn record for single-season rushing yards. The record is currently held by Mark Dianno, who rushed for 925 yards in 1989. So, the obvious question is: how many times will Ortman touch the ball against Princeton? "Ortman should get at least 25-30 carries on Friday," Wagner said. Princeton needs to make major adjustments in an attempt to shut Ortman down. "The Tigers will use a 4-4 defensive front to crowd the line of scrimmage," Wagner said. "This means we'll see a lot of one-on-one coverage." Although Penn will pound the ball up the middle, Wagner hopes to exploit Princeton's defensive game plan by utilizing the play-action pass. This could lead to a big day statistically for quarterback John Kernan and tight end Scott Moore. On defense, the Quakers are likely to miss linebacker David Klein due to a swollen ankle he suffered against Navy. This means that Michael Grossman should get the nod as starting linebacker. In addition, Kevin Manning will see get a lot of playing time at both linebacker and defensive end. Defensive back/punter Keith Lotman, who has a fractured thumb, is hoping to return to the lineup, but is still waiting to get clearance from his doctor. When both teams take the field, their goals will be clear. Penn is playing for a 3-3 season and Princeton is desperate for a win. But without title implications, this game ultimately revolves around tradition, as each team would love to spoil the end of their opponent's season.

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