Analysis: Quakers prove mettle on first drive

NEW YORK -- The intersection of 218th Street and Broadway may prove to be the spot where the 1999 Penn football team turned the corner. When Columbia tailback Johnathan Reese caught a short pass from quarterback Mike Glynn in only the Lions' third play from scrimmage and ran it a blistering 72 yards into the Penn end zone, the Homecoming crowd of 7,702 New Yorkers let out a mighty roar. Columbia was there to play. But, by the time the two Ivy foes walked off the field at Wien Stadium this past Saturday, the only sound heard was a faint purr coming from a thoroughly tamed Lions squad. "They caught us on a very early third down," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "We blitzed and they did a nice job of running a crack screen. They got the kid and next thing you know, 72 yards later and a minute into the game you're behind 7-0. A -- that tests the character of your kids, and B -- that shakes your coaches up." There is no doubt that Saturday was a gut check for the Quakers. Coming in, they knew that a win at Columbia would trump their previous besting of feckless Dartmouth in the season opener or their outclassing of still-winless Fordham. They also knew that a loss could complicate the path to an Ivy repeat. That very early Columbia touchdown might have sunk a faint-hearted team. This 1999 Penn squad, however, faced the pasty blue assault head-on. On both sides of the football, the Quakers exemplified the championship form that has remained largely obscured throughout the early part of this campaign. The Penn secondary rose to the occasion on Saturday. In the process, the Red and Blue D-backs took Columbia by surprise. "I think going in, we underestimated the defensive back unit of Penn," Glynn said. "I thought they did really well." Glynn has every reason to laud the Penn secondary. The Lions may have struck first but the touchdown to Reese would turn out to be the sole Columbia completion of the first quarter. With the return of senior cornerback Joey Alofaituli, who led the team with six tackles, the Penn deep backs foiled every other Columbia attempt until Glynn found Reese for an insignificant two-yard completion just before the 10-minute mark in the second quarter. Some of the success of the Penn D-backs might be due to Columbia offensive foibles, but, in the first quarter alone, both Alofaituli and freshman Travis Belden each knocked down passes that seemed destined for Lions receivers. If it were not for the athleticism and quick instincts of the Penn secondary, Columbia might have kept up its initial momentum. In a critical sequence in the last two minutes of the first half, the Quakers "D" came up huge and, in the process, kept Penn momentum alive heading into the locker room. With just over two minutes remaining, the score was 21-14 Quakers. On fourth down, Penn had the ball on its own 42-yard line. Bagnoli and his staff decided to catch the Lions off guard by attempting the Quakers first fake punt of the season. However, punter Ryan Lazzeri's nonchalant three-yard completion to John Holahan failed to move the chains. The Quakers turned the ball over on downs and gave Columbia prime field position. The Lions moved the ball quickly up the field. Five hurry-up plays later, Columbia was looking at first and goal on the Penn six-yard line with a 1:20 on the clock. That's as far as the Lions would get. On first down, Glynn looked for Mark Cannan but Steve Moroney deftly batted away the pass. The Lions then gave it to Reese on the ground on second down. Before last year's Ivy League Rookie of the Year could even look for a hole, Penn's Moroney and Mike Germino stopped him cold. They sent Reese back for a four-yard loss, setting up a third-down Glynn incompletion, again intended for Cannan. Neal Kravitz then hit a 27-yard field goal, but Penn had successfully averted a game-tying Columbia touchdown. "We went for the fake punt," Bagnoli said. "It was open, it was there and there should have been a holding call. They don't call it, so it didn't work and we give them short field. With short field you're obviously at a disadvantage. We came up big just to hold them to a field goal." The way that the defense rebounded on Saturday mirrors the lightning-quick rejoinder offered by the Penn offense. With his team down seven points, Gavin Hoffman took the reins on the Quakers' first offensive drive and orchestrated a poised 78-yard, seven-play drive to the end zone. Hoffman's first pass may have been rifled out of bounds, shortening the breath of the Penn faithful, but his picture-perfect touchdown spiral six plays later to senior wideout Brandon Carson squelched any Red and Blue apprehension. If Penn's first half showed its bounce-back acumen, the second half showed its propensity for dominance. The Quakers amassed almost six times the total yardage of the Lions in the second half and outscored them 20-0.