Sprint Football opens season

There are perhaps two football cliches that are more prevalent than any other:

1. "The game isn't played on paper," and

2. "It ain't over till the horizontally-challenged woman sings."

In accordance with both of these, Penn's sprint football season opener last year up by Cayuga Lake placed QB Jimmer Donapel and his favored Quakers in a serious pickle.

Donapel had one play left to decide the season-opener, determining where the 2001 journey would head.

Penn had squandered a 13-3 lead against Cornell, and Donapel and Co. were staring a 0-1 start, not to mention a very long bus ride home, in the face.

From the 18-yard line, with five seconds left and trailing by four, a poised Donapel took the snap and retreated into the pocket.

Using his legs and arm -- typical Donapel -- Jimmer avoided the pass rush, scrambled left, and hit Tim Murphy in the end zone with no time left.

"He has a great arm like any great quarterback," freshman wide receiver Greg Herman said. "But what sets him apart from others is that if no one's open, he can tuck the ball in and run."

The Penn sprint football team will try to duplicate that outcome, minus the Hollywood ending, when Cornell pays a visit to Franklin Field for the 2002 season opener, tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.

Led by Donapel and returning Collegiate Sprint Football League rushing champion Mark Gannon, the Red and Blue are looking to use the Big Red as the first block in what they hope will be the team's fourth championship since 1996.

The priority of the Penn offense will be to establish its running game, which ended the 2001 season as the most dominant in the CSFL.

"It's very important that we establish the run in order to open up the passing game," Herman said.

If the running game is slowed by a Cornell defense that allowed a robust 27.7 points per game last year, Penn coach Bill Wagner will ask his star QB to put the ball in the air.

This is not an especially adventurous travail, as Donapel ranked in the top two in a plethora of QB-statistics last year.

The Big Red, who do not return their starting quarterback from 2001, are trying to bolster an offense that had consistency issues last season.

Cornell, who went 2-4, scored 26 and 27 points in its two wins, yet was held to 10 or fewer three times, including just six points combined in their final two contests.

The Penn defense, meanwhile, is returning three all-league players, including junior defensive lineman John Pinto, who has already attained all-CSFL status twice in his Penn career.

Even though on paper this appears to be a blowout in the making, Wagner has his team concentrating hard.

Wagner "told us we can't overlook them," Herman said. "No one's going to roll over and die."

As whitewashes go, Penn did have one especially dominant performance in 2001. On Oct. 26, 2001 at Franklin Field, Gannon ran wild for four touchdowns against the Cornell defense as the Quakers literally ran away with the game, 41-3.

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