Football: Defense steps up when it needs to

NEW YORK -- Columbia coach Bob Shoop had two aces up his sleeve on Saturday against Penn. After the game, Shoop was bewildered when both of his aces were trumped by the Quakers defense. "There are certain plays you have in your mind during the week that are going to work and that are going to be big plays," Shoop said. The first of these two plays came with just over a minute to go in the first quarter and Penn leading 14-0. Columbia had a fourth and seven from its own 31. Punter Jon Rocholl -- whose 71-yard punt later in the game was his second 70-plus yarder this season, making him the first in Columbia history to ever do that -- tried a pass to the right side. The Quakers defense was not totally fooled by the fake, but Lions cornerback JoJo Smith was open on the right sideline for what would have been a first down. Maybe it was the pressure on Rocholl, or the coverage -- albeit a little late getting over -- on Smith that caused the intended receiver to drop the ball. Instead, Penn took over and still had the momentum on its side. However, quarterback Pat McDermott made a terrible throw over the middle and it was intercepted by linebacker Drew Quinn. The Lions had the momentum back, and the Wien Stadium crowd was alive. Two plays after one first down via a third-down conversion, Columbia had a third-and-2 on the Penn 22-yard line. Quarterback Joe Winters tried a swing pass in the flat to Pat DeFazio, but Adam Francks and Brad Martinez were there to bring him down between the 20 and 21-yard lines. Out came the chains, which showed the Lions to be inches short. Rather than try a 39-yard field goal, Shoop tried to get the first down and maybe an eventual touchdown to halve the Penn lead. Winters sneaked up the middle, but was tackled by Naheem Harris and Ric San Doval, on a play where the entire Quakers' defensive front deserves credit for stopping Winters. The officials measured again, and the Lions may have even lost an inch or two. "It's fourth and inches on the 20-yard line you have to be able to execute a quarterback sneak for crying out loud," Shoop said. "We can't shoot ourselves in the foot like that." After that, Columbia did not threaten again until Rocholl's 47-yard field goal at the first-half buzzer made the score 21-3, hardly a large dent in the Penn lead. By the time Brandon Bowser caught his 72-yard touchdown, the Lions were down 34-3. When Columbia cut its deficit to 37-16 with 3:43 to play, a Quakers defender was there one final time to seal the win. Although Shoop probably did not expect to recover the ensuing onside kick, he certainly never thought that Penn safety Doug Middleton would scoop up the attempt and take it straight to the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown, the Quakers' first kick-return score in 20 years. The Penn defense allowed 386 yards passing in the game, not particularly good, but reflective of the score. The run defense was much better, holding the Lions to 13 yards on the ground, moving the Quakers into first place in Division I-AA in running yards allowed per game with 49, more than eight yards per game ahead of second-place James Madison. Despite the 400 yards allowed, the defense stepped up when it needed to, and gave Penn the win.