Bolinder, Castles dominate Dartmouth 'D'

It is very possible that Rob Milanese will hold every major receiving record in Penn's history by the end of the week.

It was the supporting cast, however, that led the way against Dartmouth in the Quakers' 49-14 win Saturday.

Fifth-year senior Erik Bolinder set a new career high in receptions with four in the first quarter before Milanese even caught a pass. Bolinder, who missed all of last season with a leg injury, went on to catch nine balls for 102 yards, all before halftime.

"This is pretty much my first year of really being on the field a lot," Bolinder said. "I think they were probably doubling Robby [Milanese] early. When we get into our no huddle, and he's on the other side of the field, it's going to leave me with a lot of one on one situations."

Dartmouth free safety Clayton Smith, who had two interceptions, admitted that the Big Green defense was focused on shutting down Penn's primary target.

"We were doing a great job on Milanese," Smith said. "Our inside linebackers kept him out of the middle. [Penn quarterback Mike Mitchell] was getting incredible time and was able to find his second and third guys."

Smith and the rest of the secondary did a respectable job on Milanese early, shutting him out through the first quarter and holding him to three catches for 27 yards in the half.

Given that before this game Bolinder had never caught more than three balls in a game, and third receiver Jonathan Robinson missed most of the game, this strategy seemed like it would be enough.

However, sophomore Daniel Castles stepped up in Robinson's absence and had four catches for 43 yards and a touchdown in the first half alone. He added a 13-yard catch in the second half.

"I have a lot of confidence in him," Mitchell said. "The young guys are learning and getting a lot of practice. I know where they're going to be all the time, so I have a lot of confidence in them."

Completing the trio of Penn receivers stepping up was junior Joe Phillips who had four catches totaling 63 yards.

Milanese did explode after halftime, catching an 82-yard touchdown pass with 12:45 left to make the score 42-14 and end any hope of a Dartmouth rally. He ended the day with six catches for 140 yards.

During last week's Lehigh game, Milanese had 10 catches for 111 yards. Phillips had six for 62. However, Castles and Bolinder were held to a combined three touches.

Given this precedent and how mightily Penn struggled moving the ball last week against the Engineers, it seemed especially important to establish more offensive diversity in the passing game.

Using Milanese as a de facto decoy early seemed to work. At the very least it made Bolinder very happy.

"After I dropped the first one early, I think I woke up a little bit," Bolinder said. "I made some catches. It was great, a good feeling."

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