After two straight losses, the Penn sprint football team hopes to salvage its season with a win against Collegiate Sprint Football League champions, Navy, today on Franklin Field.
With the Midshipmen coming off of a 98-0 win against Princeton and holding an unblemished 5-0 record for this season, the Quakers, with a 2-2 record, anticipate a hard-hitting game filled with offensive and defensive challenges.
The seemingly invincible Midshipmen have been a dominating force in the league ever since the beginning of their sprint football program in 1946. As of this date, Navy has won 30 CSFL championships and currently leads the league in wins. In fact, the last time that Navy lost was in 2003 against Army, which cost it a CSFL championship.
With this impeccable record, the players on the team put an enormous amount of pressure on themselves in continuing the Navy dynasty in sprint football.
"Everybody at our school expects us to win. No one expects us to lose," Navy offensive captain Jake Owens said. "We work really hard and if we lose one game, the whole season is lost."
For Navy, their 31st CSFL championship rides on winning this game as well as winning against Army next week. With these two games left on their roster, the Midshipmen are focused on bringing home a victory against Penn.
"Our first objective is to beat Penn," Navy defensive captain Joe Landi said. "Our second is to beat Army and that's how we can become CSFL champions."
For the seniors of the Penn sprint football team, this game is significant not only because they are playing Navy. Most importantly, this will be their last opportunity to ever play on their home field.
Although there may not be more than 200 people on average at a sprint football game, there is still a strongly dedicated group of friends and family who attend every game. For senior captain and linebacker Robert Pelly, Senior Night tonight will be the last opportunity for his parents -- who, despite living in California, have watched him in every game he has played at Penn -- to see him play on Franklin Field.
Sprint football has become a very important part of the lives and Penn experiences of many of these senior players. It has given all of them an opportunity to play football at a level where they might not have been able to otherwise simply because of their size. One unique example of the versatility and openness of the program is how it allowed current senior captain and offensive lineman Hank Watson, who never played football in high school, to play it in college.
In the end, the Penn-Navy game is going to be an emotionally charged night for many reasons, and especially so for the seniors who are realizing the finality of the evening. These feelings are summed up quite well by senior captain and offensive lineman Ben Drane:
"I'm really blessed to be playing football in college and this is it," Drane said. "This is my last time playing college football at our home field ... it's pretty much the end of the road for me and football. It would be a nice way, to go out with a victory."
