In a game of missed opportunities and squandered momentum, the Penn sprint football team dropped another tough game in its blowout loss to Navy on Friday night.
The Quakers (2-3, 1-2 CSFL) were unable to score in the 31-0 Senior Night defeat and thus failed to avenge an opening game, 10-6 loss to this same Midshipmen (6-0, 3-0) team.
While Navy is the class of the league, Penn believes that it lost the game more than the Midshipmen won it.
"We beat ourselves," Penn coach Bill Wagner said. "The score should have been at least tied going into halftime. Instead we fell behind, 17-0, and against this strong Navy team, that was the ball game."
A high snap on a punt gave Navy possession deep inside Quakers territory and set up the first points of the game -- an Eric Shuey field goal with 9:49 left in the first quarter.
The Quakers were able to march right back down the field, only to have a field goal blocked. On their next possession, freshman halfback J.T. Hutchinson ran the ball down to the Navy 1-yard line, only to have the play called back because of a late hit penalty against the Quakers.
"Penalties killed us," sophomore offensive lineman Jordan Cloyd said. "We moved the ball well and got into the red zone three or four times in the first half, but whenever we did, some stupid penalty stalled our drive."
Defensively, the Red and the Blue were not ready for the Midshipmen's speed.
"Navy seemed focused on running the ball at our perimeter where they could use their speed," senior captain John Pinto said. "They lined up in sets that gave them one or two extra blockers on the outside, leading to huge gains by their running backs and tiring out our defense."
In the last four minutes of the first half, Navy scored two touchdowns, each of which were set up by Penn penalties. First, Jamie Glines capped off a five-play, 45-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run. Then, Navy scored a crushing touchdown with 36 seconds to play in the half to go up 17-0.
Any hopes that the Quakers had of rebounding were dashed when Navy halfback Randall Leslie broke a 60-yard touchdown run two minutes into the second half to make it 24-0. Navy scored again on its next possession with a 90-yard drive finished off by another rushing touchdown.
"They capitalized on every mistake we made in the first half," Wagner said. "Then in the second half they just dominated us physically."
Navy was nearly flawless in its victory on Friday. They turned the ball over once, while in their win over Penn earlier this year the Midshipmen turned the ball over seven times.
"Navy seemed better prepared; they really knew what they wanted to do," Cloyd said. "They made all the big plays while we just couldn't convert. When you play a team like Navy, you have to be perfect, we just weren't."
