ITHACA, N.Y. - So this is how it ends, with a sober and shivering postgame celebration and no Ivy League trophy to hoist.
But the Quakers closed out their 2008 campaign with a win to be proud of on Saturday, 23-6 over Cornell in 10-degree weather and swirling wind. It was hardly a catharsis for all the letdowns - above all, the lack of championships - that have plagued Penn for five years.
But coach Al Bagnoli and the Quakers took pride in what they could - how the team bounced back from one setback after another to send its seniors out with a win in one of the conference's toughest venues.
"Our kids have shown tremendous resolve and resiliency all year, and this was just another display of [them] gutting it out," said Bagnoli, who became the fifth coach in Football Championship Subdivision history with 200 career wins.
"Especially after expending so much emotional energy" in last week's heartbreaking 24-21 loss to Harvard, a game that had left Penn with only a miracle route to the Ivy title.
That scenario - losses by Harvard and Brown, coupled with a Quakers win - didn't materialize, and the Crimson and Bears will share the league crown. In his decade and a half at the helm of Penn's program, Bagnoli has now seen two classes graduate without rings - this year's seniors, and last year's.
But to put things in perspective, the Big Red haven't won the league since 1990, and they don't look to be moving in the right direction. Cornell squandered chance after chance to change the momentum on Saturday and was undone by three interceptions and penalties at crucial points.
The Quakers used a methodical 59-yard drive to score the game's first touchdown. They then stymied Cornell on the next drive, and a horrendous 11-yard punt gave Penn the ball inside the Cornell 30. Andrew Samson converted a 40-yard field goal, one of three on the day for him, and Penn had a 10-3 lead.
The Quakers would rely more heavily on the ground game as the contest wore on, keeping Cornell's offense off the field and eating up the clock. Penn threw the ball just 12 times, but ran it 67 times. Sophomore tailback Mike DiMaggio torched the Big Red for 126 yards despite taking a hard shot in the first quarter.
The most surprising contributor to the run game was not sophomore quarterback Keiffer Garton, who has made a name for himself as a dual threat. Instead, it was backup quarterback Brendan McNally, who was literally Penn's last option at quarterback after Garton re-injured a tender ankle in the first quarter.
McNally would end the day with 80 yards on the ground, and more importantly, no turnovers. Penn produced 282 rushing yards and 21 first downs, while Cornell's offense was equally one-dimensional, with 220 yards in the air and 18 on the ground.
"We thought it was going to be - maybe not that one-sided, but heavy run," Cornell coach Jim Knowles said. "And obviously, when their defense was playing so well and our offense was struggling, you knew that was what it was going to become."
DiMaggio broke free for a 37-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter, a play on which he later said he "wasn't even touched."
Penn took a 23-6 fourth-quarter lead on Samson's final field goal - his 16th on the year, a new program record. Big Red quarterback Nathan Ford nearly gave his team a new lease on life with an apparent 60-yard completion on the next drive, but a holding penalty negated the play and led to yet another punt. When Cornell wideout Shane Kilcoyne bobbled a pass into the arms of defensive back Kevin Gray a minute later, the game was all but over. For Penn's seniors, the transition back to civilian life had begun.
"Penn for the next couple of years is going to be real good," senior linebacker Jay Colabella said, with the wistfulness that only comes after playing for the last time.
