Andrew DeLaney: Defense comes up big when needed most

When senior linebacker Steve Lhotak secured the Penn football team's Ivy League title with a last-second stop of Harvard's Matt Fratto on the Quakers' 6-yard line, it was not just a desperate tackle.

Nor was it just the Penn defense barely holding onto a big lead.

That tackle signified what the Quakers' defense has done best all season -- make the play at the critical moment and survive to the next week.

It was not like this last year. Even though last year's Penn team suffered a loss, and the 2003 version has yet to -- and barring Cornell pulling a miracle upset on Saturday, won't -- the 2002 Quakers team was the more dominant one. And that began on the defensive side of the ball.

Last year's Penn defense was simply awesome. The unit only allowed 10.4 points per Ivy League game -- and not one of them was competitive in the fourth quarter. That Penn defense -- led by four departed first-team All-Ivy selections, Travis Belden, Vince Alexander, Chris Pennington and Fred Plaza -- ensured it would never have a dramatic fourth quarter stand by its great play in the first three stanzas. They never found out if they could make the critical stop when the sun went down at Franklin Field.

The 2003 iteration is not as dominant.

It's just clutch.

In week two against Lehigh -- arguably Penn's toughest opponent of the season -- the Quakers trailed 24-10 at halftime on the road. Another score and Penn would be out of the game. The Engineers would barely muster another yard. With Lhotak -- the only first-team All-Ivy performer left from last year -- out of the game after spraining his knee, Penn held Lehigh to only 46 yards after halftime.

Dominance, when necessary.

Against Yale, the defense allowed four touchdowns in the fourth quarter and the game went into overtime. It seemed as though the injury-ravaged Penn defense could not stop the Elis on a 200-yard field, let alone the 25-yard one of overtime. However, the Penn defense held, and sophomore defensive back Casey Edgar blocked the field goal attempt.

A clutch play. A Penn win.

The next week against Brown, the Quakers again made the play, when it was most needed, to stop a fourth quarter comeback. With just over two minutes to play, Lhotak tipped a pass that senior cornerback Pat McManus picked. Ball game.

The 2003 Quakers defense could not have been expected to live up to the previous year's billing. Along with severe losses to graduation -- Alexander even made it to the last round of cuts with the New York Jets -- the unit has been hit hard with the loss of key players.

Senior safety Kevin Stefanski badly injured his knee in the preseason. Senior defensive end Kyle Chaffin -- potentially the best player on the defense this season -- quit the team unexpectedly. Neither played a down this season.

Players like linebackers Ric San Doval, Luke Hadden and several linemen have played hurt. Lhotak missed three games.

Penn coach Al Bagnoli recognized that was not the same defense and he put them in a position to play to their strength -- making that one big play when needed. By running the ball more this season he kept the opponents' offense off the field.

Last year's unit would not have given up 31 points if it played the whole game. This year's would; the coaching staff was wise enough to realize that. However, the defense also makes the winning play -- and the Quakers' undefeated record attests to that.

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