Sprint Football hopes to sink Navy

The Quakers' league game will match two of the top sprint teams. The Penn sprint football team this weekend is hoping to do something that it hasn't done in years: beat Navy. The Quakers (2-0, 0-0 Collegiate Sprint Football League) will battle the Midshipmen (1-3, 0-0) at Rip Miller Stadium Friday night in Penn's first league game of the season. How important is this game in terms of the rest of the season? "It's a paramount game? the first game for league contention," senior co-captain Carter Byrnes said. "To win the league title, we have to beat Navy." "We basically have to go undefeated to win a league championship," sophomore quarterback John Kernan said. Because Penn only plays four league games in a season, it is important to win all four to contend for a title. Last year they lost to Navy after scoring the winning touchdown and having it called back. The defeat is still fresh in the minds of the players returning from last year. "We've only beaten Navy four times. Last year was as close as we came without winning," senior co-captain Neil Batiancila said. "It left a bad taste." Penn coach Bill Wagner stated that the game was a "starting point to make a drive to win the title," and that the Quakers "think that this is their year." Penn had two weeks off to improve upon the defense that allowed Princeton to score 20 points, just one game after shutting out Cornell, a team that defeated the Tigers. "We've gotten healthier, we've had a week off to heal up, and we've made adjustments in case any of our key defensive people gets knocked out of the game," Wagner said. The Quakers go into this game more prepared than they went into the Princeton game. They did not know what to expect from the Tigers' new head coach, but they do know what to expect from Navy -- a balanced offense featuring a potent passing game. "We've been putting in a lot of defenses to focus in on Navy's passing game," Byrnes said. "They have the top receiver in the league. We have to focus on him, and the line has to put pressure on the quarterback." The offensive game plan, however, is simple: run Ortman. After junior running back Tim Ortman had two consecutive games with over 200 yards and four touchdowns, the Quakers will continue to stick with the running game until someone can stop it. Penn is prepared to mix things up and throw the ball if the Midshipmen prove they are able to stop the run. "I think we'll be fine, it may take us a couple of series to get back in sync," Ortman said. "I think we're as prepared as we'll ever be." "We know what this game means, and we've been pushing ourselves as hard as we can," Batiancila said. Penn knows what is at stake, and it has been preparing all season in anticipation of a victory against Navy and a chance at the league title. "We haven't beaten Navy in a long time," Byrnes said. "We think this is the year we can put it all together." Now the Quakers have to step onto the field and live up to their words of expectations.