After a domination of Cornell two weeks ago, the Penn sprint football team now turns its attention to a school it has an even stronger history of dominating — Princeton.
The Quakers had a bye last weekend to refuel before taking the bus trip to New Jersey, and are now eager to take part in one of the strongest rivalries around.
For those of you who like to witness the Tigers get slaughtered, borrowing a friend’s car for the weekend might be an idea to consider.
Last year, the Red and Blue manhandled Princeton, 56-12, at Franklin Field, before cruising to a 35-6 victory at Nassau in the final game of the season. Then-junior running back Mark Gannon ran for 158 yards in each of these games.
And with the team’s leading passer, rusher, receiver and tackler back this year, history very well may repeat itself.
Nine defensive players who received all-league honors last year return to Bill Wagner’s squad. The defense proved they can still shut down opposing offenses, after holding the Big Red to just 77 total offensive yards two weeks ago.
Led by sack specialists Stephen Willard and Alex Gormley, the Quakers did not allow a Cornell first down into the third quarter.
After two weeks of practice, the defense seems prepared to take on the Tigers.
“The tight end is big in their offense, so there’s a concern for that,” sophomore linebacker Mike Russo said. “And they have a freshman receiver who put up 140 yards against Cornell, so we have to keep an eye on him.”
Although the team expressed concern regarding the defense’s health before the season opener, it seems that the bye week enabled those ailing to recover.
“Pretty much everyone’s back and healthy,” said Russo, who had 16.5 tackles last season. “We’ve got a couple guys who are day-to-day, but we got some young guys right behind them that are ready to step it up.”
Penn’s offense came out firing in the season opener, scoring on their second drive and giving the defense more than enough points to control the pace of the game.
But even though the Quakers beat Princeton on the ground last year, the team thinks today’s game will be decided in the air.
“We’re going to try to move the ball deep and open up the passing game a little more than against Cornell,” sophomore receiver Patrick Monaghan said. “We’re looking for some bigger plays to put more points on the board.”
Because of this “opening up” of the offense, some second-string players will get more playing time today than usual. Such players include running back Greg Bagnoli, brother of star sprint receiver Jeff and son of varsity coach Al, and backup quarterback Brandon Gebers.
Also, the question of the offensive line seems to be answered. Although they allowed quarterback Jimmer Donapel to be sacked five times, the improvement over time is quite evident.
“They were lucky in getting a lot of talented new guys,” Monaghan said. “The only question was if they would come together as a unit.”
One aspect of the Cornell game that is of concern to both offense and defense is the number of penalties given up.
“We shot ourselves in the foot many times on offense and defense because of that,” Russo said. “We gave Cornell a couple first downs and also had to punt the ball away just because of penalties. It is maintaining discipline that we need to do.”
All concern aside, the team is excited to take part in the storied Penn-Princeton rivalry one more time.
“We really want to beat them down,” Monaghan said. “The possibility of a high-scoring game always gets you excited.”
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