Ortman's 363 yards help Sprint Football pound Navy

Penn senior running back Tim Ortman rushed for a Collegiate Sprint Football League record 363 yards on 47 carries and scored four touchdowns as the Penn sprint football team handed Navy its first loss of the season with a 37-14 defeat Saturday night on Franklin Field. "This is the best offensive performance I've seen in my 30 years here," Penn coach Bill Wagner said. The Quakers (4-1, 2-1 CSFL) entered the game needing a win against the perennial CSFL powerhouse Midshipmen (5-1, 2-1) to keep their title hopes alive. Penn responded to the challenge presented by undefeated Navy's potent passing game. "Our secondary, especially [junior defensive back] Brad Gusich, really shut down their offense," Wagner said. This is the second consecutive year that the Quakers have defeated the Midshipmen, as they left Annapolis, Md., with a 17-14 win in 1998 on their way to a 5-1 record and a share of the conference title. This year, Navy had plenty of opportunities to score early in the first half. On the opening drive of the game, the Midshipmen marched all the way down to the Penn 11-yard line, only to have the Quakers partially block a 28-yard field goal attempt. On its next drive, Navy had an apparent 22-yard touchdown pass called back on an offensive pass interference penalty. The drive ended when the Navy offense was unable to convert on fourth-and-long. After sustaining the two early threats, the Quakers dominated the rest of the contest. Ortman -- who shattered his own league record of 262 yards, set last season also against Navy -- opened the scoring for Penn with a 25-yard touchdown scamper on the first play of the second quarter. Senior kicker David Sherman added a 27-yard field goal with 6:52 remaining in the first half and the Quakers took a 10-0 lead into halftime. "Timmy [Ortman] deserves a lot of the credit for this team," Wagner said. "He's the best player in the league by far." To open the second half, 1998 CSFL MVP Ortman entered the end zone from eight yards out at the 10:28 mark, increasing the Penn lead to 17-0. Navy finally broke through the solid Quakers defense less than four minutes later on Roger Callahan's 18-yard scoring run, cutting the Penn lead to 17-7. The Quakers responded in kind as Ortman's six-yard touchdown run gave Penn a 24-7 lead with 2:56 left in the third quarter. Both teams scored quickly early in the fourth quarter. Penn quarterback John Kernan hit fellow junior Scott Moore on an eight-yard scoring pass but Navy countered with Jason Martin's 39-yard touchdown run. Ortman capped the Quakers' offensive explosion, bursting through the Navy defensive line on a 70-yard touchdown run in the closing minutes of the game, outrunning several defenders in the process. Penn's league-leading offense racked up 552 total yards against a top-ranked Navy defense that entered Franklin Field allowing just 118.0 yards per game in league play. The Quakers, who lead the league in rushing, outgained the Midshipmen 433-189 on the ground. Martin led Navy with 90 rushing yards on 10 carries, while quarterback Drew McGinley threw for 181 yards on 18-of-40 passing. "We've got to get ready now [for Princeton]," Wagner said. "It's a short week for us and they'll be fully rested." Penn closes out its season on November 12 on a grass surface at Princeton. The Quakers must beat the Tigers and Navy has to rebound with a win against Army in order to force a three-way tie for the CSFL championship.

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