PRINCETON, N.J., Nov. 7 - Friday marked the 100th game between Penn and Princeton, but at times the real matchup seemed to be Princeton vs. The Clock.
The Quakers' 14-9 win was smashmouth football at its best, with Penn's offensive scheme predicated on running the ball and then running it some more, preventing the Tigers' offense from getting much time on the field.
Sophomore quarterback Keiffer Garton ran for 89 yards on 15 carries, while classmate Mike DiMaggio chewed up 74 yards of his own. That lead to a season-high 156 rushing yards for Penn, still in the bottom half of the league in that category.
Aside from Garton's 29-yard third-quarter rush (in which he carried what seemed like the entire Princeton defense on his back), Penn was not aided by a single big run. But the Quakers' consistency on the ground played a major role in their victory, which ultimately became a 60-minute game of keep-away.
Penn outpaced the Tigers in time of possession by nearly 10 minutes, holding the ball for 21:13 in the second half alone.
The Quakers managed four possessions over five minutes long, including their first second-half drive, an eight-minute, six-second marathon that ended in a Garton touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Matt Appenfelder.
That drive, which saw passes on just four of 14 plays, represented the Quakers' offensive outlook going into the contest.
"We knew we had to run the ball," coach Al Bagnoli said. "It was good to have Mike [DiMaggio] healthy."
At the onset of this season, Bagnoli was committed to using DiMaggio and fellow sophomore tailback Bradford Blackmon in a tandem role. But the bigger, stronger DiMaggio has seen the lion's share of rushes lately, with Blackmon often splitting out wide or catching passes out of the backfield.
But this weekend, the Quakers didn't rely on either to carry the ground game. That task went to Garton, who has completely transformed the makeup of Penn's attack. The newcomer rushed the ball almost as many times (15) as he threw it (21), and most of them were as designed runs.
And all night long Garton seemed to eke out just enough yardage for the first down, allowing those precious seconds to keep ticking away.
The credit, however, doesn't lie solely with Garton and DiMaggio. They'll be the first to say that a strong push up front was key to dominating the ground game, and by extension, the possession battle.
"Honestly, it was all the offensive line and tight ends," Garton said. "They did a great job blocking and opening up holes."
