Football's first five minutes terrorize Tigers

Penn secured its win and first place in the Ivies by scoring 21 points in the opening five minutes of Saturday's game. It seemed at the beginning of Saturday's game that the Princeton football team was still on fall break. Penn racked up 21 points in the first five minutes, taking a commanding lead they would never relinquish. The Quakers pounced on the toothless Tigers on the opening kickoff, when Michael Elko recovered a fumble by Princeton wide receiver Ray "Take the gun, leave the" Canole at the Princeton 27-yard-line. Five short plays and two minutes later, Penn quarterback Matt Rader found a wide open Brandon Carson for Penn's first score on a play that Penn coach Al Bagnoli described as "the weirdest play I've ever seen." Carson ran the play into the huddle, but when he lined up, not one Princeton defender took notice. Rader lofted what might have been the easiest touchdown pass of his career thirteen yards to a solitary Carson in the end zone. "Since I knew what the play was, as soon as I gave the play, I just ran out," Carson said. "And when I stood out there and I saw the [defensive] back's back to me, I knew that he wasn't going to come out and cover me, unless somebody said something to him. "I didn't want to start yelling and making myself visible, so I just sat out there and gave a little wave to Matt and hoped he saw me." The play silenced the few Princeton fans in attendance, but brought a large Penn following to its feet. Bagnoli said that the play was not designed to be a trick play, just a blown assignment by the Tigers secondary. "I don't know if they were trying to flip-flop corners," Bagnoli said. "I was just hoping that Matt saw him." After Princeton took the ensuing kickoff, Penn's defense shut the Tigers down, taking Princeton three and out. A 34-yard punt return from Joe Piela put the Quakers deep into Tigers territory once again, at the Princeton 28-yard-line. Bagnoli then turned to the No. 1 rated quarterback in Division I-AA football -- Penn running back Jim Finn. On the first play of the drive, Rader pitched to Finn, who then threw a strike between two Princeton defensive backs to tight end Brandon Clay for the second Quakers touchdown of the young game. Penn has gone to Finn for the halfback option three times now. Finn is three for three with two touchdowns, giving him the best pass efficiency rating the Ivy League. "It's a play we've been practicing," Bagnoli said. "It's one of those eight-man fronts that tries to get the defenders involved in the run, and consequently we were able to try and get a big play early." Having given up 14 points in two and a half minutes and managing six yards of offense, the beleaguered Tigers made matters even worse. On Princeton's next offensive play, Penn linebacker Jim Hisgen jarred the ball loose from Tigers running back Derek Theisen and pounced on it at the Princeton 18-yard-line. Rader and his offense wasted no time in capitalizing on the turnover. On the first play of the series, Rader threw to David Rogers for six. Rader credited both the field position and aggressive play-calling to the Quakers explosion. "We called the halfback pass; we called the pass to Rogers on first-down," Rader said. "I thought we were more aggressive in that way, and I think that helped us." Not only did the five minute outburst invigorate the Penn offense, which was effective the rest of the game save two missed field goals, but also it inspired the defense. "The defense got fired up," Piela said. "Our mentality going out there was pretty much, 'Let's keep them down, make some plays and get the ball back to the offense because at that point they were really hot.'" Down 21-0, their offense sputtering, their defense non-existent and their fans (as few as they numbered) silent, the Tigers were in a hole. "You could get mad, but there's no point. You just have to start over," Princeton receiver Phillip Wendler said. "Basically, you just have to look to start the game over and beat them by 21. It was a long game. "There's so much more time after that, so you have to keep your head up and keep banging away." To Princeton's credit, it did fight back, closing the gap to within 10 points, with an end result of 27-14. But the damage had been done. In five short minutes, the Quakers dismantled Princeton's hopes of an Ivy League title.

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