Missed opportunity

If there were any doubts about the intensity of the cross-town rivalry developing between Penn and Villanova, last night's game should have silenced them.

The bragging rights came down to the final play for the third year in a row, and, once again, it was the Wildcats that emerged victorious, 27-20.

A win against Villanova has eluded the Quakers since 1911, despite many close contests.

"We expected it to be a nail-biter," Wildcats quarterback Marvin Burroughs said. "We're just glad we came out on top."

After no points went onto the scoreboard in the second half, with just over two minutes to go, Penn had one final chance to even the score.

Starting from his own 32, backup quarterback Bryan Walker, in for the injured Robert Irvin, completed three passes to get the Quakers into Villanova territory.

But a few plays and two penalties later, Penn faced a fourth and long, much like last year's game against the Wildcats. The Quakers converted the 4th-and-20 on a Walker rainbow to wide receiver Braden Lepisto inside the Villanova 29.

Then, in an ending identical to that of last year's 28-24 loss to the Wildcats, Penn had a shot at the end zone on the final play - and came up empty.

After three unsuccessful end zone strikes, Walker's pass to Billy May sailed out of the back of the end zone, and, for the second year in a row, the Wildcats celebrated at Franklin Field's west end zone.

"We were just hanging on," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. "They gave us every opportunity at the end to come back and tie it, and we came up a little bit short."

The game play leading up to the finish was as action-packed as the final drive.

Penn was the first to put points on the board, when junior Greg Ambrogi returned a punt 60 yards for the touchdown, the Quakers' first since 1998.

But Villanova was quick to answer as running back Matt Dicken scored on the next Wildcats possession.

Still in the first half, Penn got tricky; senior running back Joe Sandberg threw to sophomore back Kelms Amoo-Achampong to put the Quakers ahead, 13-7, after the missed extra point on Ambrogi's score.

But every time the Quakers pulled ahead, Villanova quickly followed with a touchdown of its own.

The Wildcats took the lead on the next possession as Burroughs - who finished with 367 yards of total offense and three touchdowns - threw a 57-yard bomb to Chris Polite after being flushed out of the pocket.

After the Wildcats extended their lead to seven, Sandberg broke a monster run of 74 yards, evening the score at 20 apiece.

Sandberg led the Quakers with 94 rushing yards in the game, but aside from that second-quarter score, he was stuffed all game by Villanova's defense, which had a top priority of halting Penn's running game.

"It seemed like they had a lot of guys up in the box," Sandberg said. "Every time I'd try to run the ball, there'd be six guys waiting there."

In the loss, Irvin - who looked good in his debut last week against No. 22 Lafayette - struggled mightily, completing only 11-of-24 passes with two interceptions before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.

Irvin's ankle was X-rayed after the game, but the nature of the injury and his recovery time have not been released.

Junior quarterback Bryan Walker came in for Irvin, completing only 5 of 16 passes, but he led Penn's final drive that almost tied the game. In the end, though, the Quakers came up short, and as history repeated itself, Penn must wait another year to break its nearly century-long losing streak to its cross-town rivals.

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