Sprint seniors end career with big win

The Quakers demolished Princeton but were forced to accept second place when Army held off Navy. Senior running back Tim Ortman ran for 226 yards and four touchdowns and junior quarterback John Kernan threw a pair of touchdown passes as the Penn sprint football team defeated Princeton 49-12 in Friday night's season finale on the grass of Princeton's Weaver Stadium. The Quakers, who finished the season at 5-1 overall and 3-1 in the Collegiate Sprint Football League, came up short in their quest for a second consecutive league title as Army defeated Navy 38-15 to clinch the title outright Friday. "It was a blowout," senior kicker David Sherman said of the Penn victory. "This was a great way for the seniors to go out." Sherman opened the scoring for the Quakers with a 32-yard field goal on Penn's first possession of the game. Ortman, who ended his career with 3,670 rushing yards -- a school record -- followed with a one-yard touchdown run; the ensuing extra point attempt failed. The first quarter ended with the Quakers leading, 9-0. The Red and Blue added two more quick touchdowns on the ground, as senior Steve Schickram ran the ball in from one yard out and Ortman added a five-yard run to his earlier score, giving Penn a 23-0 lead late in the first half. "Our young offensive line, who will all be back next year, did an outstanding blocking job to set up both the run and passing games," Penn coach Bill Wagner said. Princeton finally got on the scoreboard with just over two minutes left in the first half when Geoff Gasperini connected with David Liu over the middle for a 52-yard scoring strike. Kernan, who finished the game 6-of-11 for 138 yards, added two more touchdowns to the Quakers' tally. Kernan connected with Scott Moore for a 35-yard strike before finding Ortman on a short screen pass. The 1998 CSFL MVP turned the short completion into a 40-yard score by weaving through several Tiger defenders and outrunning several more to get into the end zone. Freshman Jeff Bagnoli capped the scoring for the Quakers with a 13-yard quarterback keeper with 4:06 to play in the game. The Tigers added a late touchdown in the closing seconds to make the score 49-12. For the game, Penn outrushed the Tigers 351 to 58 and outgained Princeton 504-214 overall. The defense came up big once again for the Red and Blue, holding Princeton to just over three yards per play and limiting them to 14-of-34 passing. "Our offense totally dominated Princeton," Wagner said. "We shut them down on defense too." Leading the Penn defensive effort was sophomore defensive back Matt Ragsdale, who recorded eight tackles. Seniors Josh McGraff, David Klein and Schickram, playing both ways, each added six stops. "This was a big game for [the defensive seniors]," Wagner said. "Klein really finished with a big effort." The Red and Blue's hopes for a conference title were all but dashed back on October 22 when Army defeated the Quakers 17-9 in a game that was plagued by bad weather and questionable officiating. However, Penn's players and coaches are upbeat about the team's overall level of success this year. "We take pride in what we accomplished this season," Sherman said. "We feel that we're as good as Army," Wagner added. "We'd like to play them again on a neutral field." Friday night's game marked the final contest for the current group of Penn seniors, who finished their careers with an impressive list of accomplishments. Three times in the past four years Penn has posted a 5-1 record, and they have won two CSFL championships under the leadership of the two senior captains, Klein and Ortman. "Everything that Timmy [Ortman] did collectively on offense, that's a career's worth [of accomplishments] for a coach," Wagner said. For now, Ortman is waiting to find out if his accomplishments this season -- 1,218 yards rushing in six games, a 203 yards-per-game average -- are enough to merit a second consecutive CSFL MVP award when the league honors are announced today.