All-American Megna leads Spiders to Penn

Finally, the Penn football team is facing someone who would make Buck Buchanan proud. Buck who, you ask? Buck Buchanan, the man who lends his name to the trophy for Division I-AA Defensive Player of the Year. That opponent is Marc Megna, Richmond's defensive tackle and senior captain. While he may not be liquid hot, the 6'2", 255-lb. defensive lineman does hold Richmond's season records for sacks and tackles for losses. Penn (1-0) faces Richmond (1-2) in the Quakers' home opener Saturday at 1:30 p.m. on Franklin Field. And Megna's not finished either, as he leads the Atlantic 10 with 11 tackles in the backfield in the first three games. That's almost twice as many as the two men in second place, who have six. After last year's Richmond record of 13, Megna needs only two more to tie the record in his fourth game of the season. Just to be consistent, Megna also leads the Atlantic 10 in sacks at 5.5. He was a Third Team All-American and was named to the Atlantic 10 First Team Defense. He was also named the top defensive lineman in the state of Virginia by the Touchdown Club of Richmond. "He's a standout, a consensus First Team All-American," Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. The Sporting News agreed with Bagnoli, naming him to its preseason All-American team. They also honored him as the best defensive lineman in I-AA. But Megna faced a challenge this season with the graduation of teammate Shawn Barber. Barber was last year's Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year, an award Megna hopes to keep at Richmond. Barber was also named a First Team All-American as he and Megna combined to lead the top defense in the Atlantic 10. The Spiders held opponents to a school-record low 93.8 rushing yards per contest. That crushed the old record of 100.8, which was set in 1969. Barber went on to play in the Senior Bowl and the Blue-Gray All Star Game. He was named the top linebacker in the state of Virginia by the Touchdown Club of Richmond. But Barber is now on the Washington Redskins, where he has already started one of the team's three games. Megna started 1998 pretty well without Barber, with three tackles for losses and one sack in a 7-6 loss to Rutgers. He came back stronger the following week with four tackles for losses and 3 1/2 sacks in the Spiders' 22-17 loss to Massachusetts. Megna picked up four tackles for losses and one sack last week as Richmond picked up its first win of the season, a 20-17 overtime thriller over Rhode Island. Including those three games, Megna has now started 36 consecutive games since redshirting in 1994. Megna is known for excelling in big games, and the best game of his career came last year against Division I University of Virginia. Megna made 12 tackles, in addition to one sack and one tackle for a loss against the Cavaliers. His performance against Virginia shows Megna can handle top competition, so the Penn offense will have its work cut out for it. Penn also has some extra motivation entering Saturday's matchup. The Spiders beat Penn 18-12 in the two teams' only meeting, in November 1981. Don't think for a second the Quakers have forgotten that defeat. While some of today's players were still in diapers at the time, the season-ending loss to Richmond was followed by five consecutive Ivy League championships. Now they finally have a chance for revenge. But there's a giant named Megna standing in their way.

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