Any athlete will tell you that the best way to forget about a tough loss is to win big, which is exactly what the Penn sprint football team plans on doing Friday night.
A week after losing a heartbreaker to Army, 17-16, the Red and Blue make the haul up to Ithaca tomorrow to take on the Cornell, a team they have already soundly defeated once this season.
Just over one month ago, the Big Red left Franklin Field feeling blue after the Quakers manhandled them, 17-3. Cornell's much-touted quarterback was left helpless against Penn's defense, which held them to 77 total offensive yards, and did not allow a first down until the third quarter of play.
As usual, the Quakers' offense was also spectacular in this victory, accumulating 309 total offensive yards. Highlights included 132 yards from star running back Mark Gannon, 70 yards from leading receiver Jeff Bagnoli and runs for 10, 15, and 22-yard gains by junior quarterback Jimmer Donapel.
While Penn played well on both sides of the ball against the Cadets, it still took the team some time to get over the loss.
"At the beginning of the week, we were a little down and upset about it," said all-CSFL defensive back John Pinto.
"But Coach [Wagner] and the captains helped us realize that there's nothing we can do about it now. We have to put that behind us and concentrate on our last three games [of the season]."
And the Quakers did just that, spending the week looking over videotape from last week's game as well as the recent Cornell slaughter to prepare.
"We felt that in the Army game tackling was a problem," Pinto said. "We missed a lot of tackles."
Pinto also emphasized controlling the Cornell quarterback, whom he calls "the best athlete and biggest weapon [on the team]. He likes to run the ball a lot, so we have to get ready for that."
On the flipside, the Big Red's first goal will be to stop Gannon, who has been tearing defenses apart. He averaged 127.7 yards per game last season and is on pace to become the CSFL's leading rusher for the second season in a row.
With Cornell likely to key on Gannon, Donapel should have the opportunity to go to the air and hit targets like Bagnoli, sophomore Patrick Monaghan, and freshman David Derr.
Overall, Pinto says the team is confident that the offense can establish a lead, and the defense will take care of the rest.
"They [Cornell] have a decent running game, they don't throw much," Pinto said. "Our front seven should be able to control it."
