Finn punishes Rams defense in Football win

Jim Finn rushed for 195 yards on 29 carries in Penn's win in the Bronx. NEW YORK -- The customary craziness of Gotham shifted north to the Bronx, leaving the road team happy to bring home a victory. In Penn's 34-31 win over Fordham Saturday, the happiness was mixed with a scare. Quakers starting quarterback Matt Rader exited the game after suffering a deep gash cut to his right throwing arm late in the third quarter. Official word on Rader's injury and status for next week is expected today. Penn coach Al Bagnoli described the cut as "a major gash, pretty ugly looking. His skin, when it was cut, went through part of the way down to the muscle." The injury was a tough hit for the Quakers (3-1). Rader systematically worked the width of the field in the passing game against the Rams (2-3), resulting in 19 of 25 passes completed for 256 yards and three touchdowns. The game-breaking play was Rader's 39-yard touchdown pass to David O'Neill down the right sideline with four seconds left in the first half. The score gave the Red and Blue a 27-14 advantage. But with Rader's exit came Fordham's 21-point comeback. "Certainly, Rader's exit was a momentum shift," Fordham coach Ken O'Keefe said. "We felt Penn was giving us certain things in the pass game that we wanted to take the advantage of, and that is what we ended up doing." A 20-point Penn advantage shrank to three, due largely to the duo of Rams quarterback Steve O'Hare (23 of 37 passing for 323 yards) and wideout Gerry McDermott (nine catches for 125 yards). O'Hare did not take any solace in the comeback or his astounding numbers in the losing effort. "It doesn't matter, it doesn't really matter," O'Hare said. "I'd throw seven [interceptions] just to have that win." The matchup at Jack Coffey Field turned out to be filled with uneven play. Fordham opened the contest with a 13-play, 5:55 drive, only to see place kicker Brian Colsant miss a 20-yard field goal that proved costly in the Rams' final margin of defeat. Penn proceeded to score more points in the first half than in any single game this year, despite controlling the ball for only 10 minutes and committing eight penalties for 85 yards. As if those events did not fill a plate, the Quakers took a seemingly solid 34-14 lead after milking off 5:22 on the opening third-quarter drive. When all seemed safe and good, Fordham brought itself back from the proverbial dead, and Penn found itself and Rader with the game once again up for grabs. The potential of the Quakers offense was on full display. Quakers running back Jim Finn rumbled for 198 yards and two touchdowns, including a 69-yard score off a pitch-and-run up the right sideline. Ten Penn receivers caught passes, led by David O'Neill with 98 yards on four catches. On defense, Penn defensive back Joe Piela proved reliable in making timely stops within the nine tackles he recorded. Quakers cornerback Hasani White and defensive back Bruce Rossignol followed suit with six tackles apiece. "If we came out on Fordham's first drive and just took them three downs and out, it would've stopped their momentum instead of it continuing for the whole game," Penn defensive back Hasani White said. While the defense was not perfect in shutting down the Rams' offense, the plague of first-half penalties was avoidable. With the exception of one extremely late flag, the calls against Penn came on false starts, holdings, pass interference and a celebration penalty on a backflip done by O'Neill after the pivotal first-half touchdown. It was Penn's worst case of yellow fever this season, most probably an aspect of the game that the Quakers will seek not to repeat. "We kept drives going, which was really frustrating," Bagnoli said. "We created our own damage early, conceivably on three or four different opportunities in the first half if we don't commit stupid penalties. "We need to get much more mature in our approach to practice. That's what we keep talking about, and today was a classic example -- that we are not the most mature team."