Ortman sprints to victory

Tim Ortman rushed for 241 yards on 24 carries in sprint football's home opener. Penn sprint football coach Bill Wagner revealed the bulk of his offensive strategy to the Cornell defense on the Quakers' first play Saturday night at Franklin Field. Give the ball to running back Tim Ortman. Ortman answered by gaining a quick three yards -- a modest start to a night when the returning First Team All-Eastern Lightweight Football League selection would eventually tally 241 yards rushing and four touchdowns in Penn's season opening 41-0 shutout of the Big Red (0-1). And all Cornell coach Terry Cullen could do was watch in amazement until Ortman was replaced midway through the third quarter with the scoreboard reading 34-0. "[Ortman's] just in another league," Cullen said after the game. "He should be playing with the big guys, not with us." Even if Ortman had not played Saturday night, the Cornell defense probably still would have had problems stopping the onslaught of the Quakers' offensive attack. Quarterback John Kernan was 4-for-6 passing on the night, with a 28-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Scott Moore with 2:45 left in the first quarter. The end-zone pass made the score 20-0, improving on Ortman's previous two touchdown runs. Place kicker David Sherman converted on all but one of his six point-after attempts, hitting the left upright after Ortman's 47-yard touchdown run at the beginning of the second quarter and keeping the score at 27-0. Ortman's back-up, running back Chris Wright, ran 145 yards of his own -- including a 90-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter -- adding to the Red and Blue's team rushing total of 417 yards. Behind each of these individual efforts was the solid wall of the Penn offensive line, which opened huge holes in the Cornell defense for the Quakers' 48 run attempts and kept the Big Red far from Kernan for most of the night. "The line gave me a lot of time tonight which made my job a lot easier," Kernan said. "The offensive line blocking was simply out of this world," said a grinning Wagner. "There's not too many negatives you can say about tonight." But linebacker Keith Lotman had at least one negative thing to say about his performance on the night. Near the end of the opening quarter, Cornell quarterback Eric Thul threw a pass directly to Lotman, who caught the ball with a completely open view of the end zone about 25 yards away. But just before crossing the line unhindered, Lotman fumbled the ball, which rolled through the end zone and was given back to Cornell on its own 20 yard line. "It was any defensive player's dream to see a ball coming at you like that," Lotman said. "I was just showboating -- that's why I dropped it." Lotman's bobble was about the only blemish on what was an otherwise untarnished night for the Penn defense, which kept the Big Red ground duo of Joshua Trembly and Andy Smith to a mere 61 yards rushing and the entire Cornell offense to a total of 263 yards gained in its scoreless effort. Lotman said the "phenomenal effort" of the entire Penn team keeps his hopes alive for a Collegiate Sprint Football League title.