Penn falls to Temple in Philadelphia intramural flag football

In a battle for city bragging rights in intramural flag football on Sunday night at Villanova's Goodreau Field, the outcome came down to the final seconds. Ultimately, however, Penn fell one point short of the championship, losing 21-20 to Temple. This was the thirteenth annual championship tournament of the Philadelphia CITY 6 Extramural Classic. In 1986, two representatives from Temple and St. Joseph's founded the country's only association of college recreation departments that offers intramural teams an opportunity to compete with each other for city championships. The association sponsors men, women and co-ed teams in flag football, volleyball, basketball and softball. The six schools involved are the Big 5 schools plus Drexel. After Penn defeated St. Joseph's and Temple beat Villanova in the semifinals, Sunday's battle for the best came down to the Quakers and Owls. Temple's quarterback opened the scoring with a 55-yard touchdown run. Penn, however, quickly adjusted to combat the signal-caller's lightning-quick speed. "We started out both rushing and then we decided that wasn't going to work because [the quarterback] was real quick," sophomore Billy Collins said. "So one guy dropped back and stayed and the other guy rushed and put pressure on him. When he didn't have anyone to throw to, it was easy to track him down and sack him." At the five-minute mark Penn quarterback Josh Coleman, who won the Mr. Penn competition last month, relieved senior Jeffrey Kirstein. With the clock winding down, a spark lit through the offense as the receivers -- namely senior Mike Roeltgen -- started to finally get their hands together. Late in the first half, Dan Kryzanowski came up with a huge play when he sacked the quarterback and the Quakers took over on downs. After an excellent double-threat execution of running and passing the ball down the field, Coleman ran the last five yards to put Quakers within one of the Owls. Coleman's completion to senior Mike Klatsky knotted the teams at seven as the clock wound down. After making the necessary adjustments to combat Temple's speed, Penn proved the stronger team at the onset of the second half. After just two minutes of play, Coleman completed a pass to Roeltgen to put the Quakers up 13-7. Collins then continued to maintain Penn's momentum by picking up his second big sack of the night. But the Owls answered back with just as much force. With 12 minutes remaining, Temple's quarterback ran 40 yards and the Owls converted the extra point to take a 14-13 lead. Immediately afterwards, the Owls dropped an interception, keeping Penn's drive alive. Responding to the adrenaline rush, Collins tipped the ball and Roeltgen picked it off with 7:30 remaining. The Quakers, starting at midfield, continued to drive the ball down the field, ending in Coleman's second touchdown of the night. After a one-point conversion from Coleman to Collins, the Quakers had a 20-14 advantage. Temple relied on only one plan of action -- divine intervention -- to overcome its six-point deficit, as the Owls had just 1:16 remaining to drive the length of the field. Temple's quarterback looked towards the heavens as he threw a Hail Mary downfield. For a split second the Owls' prayers appeared to go unanswered as Klatsky jumped in front of the pass and nearly picked it off. Instead of coming down with the game-saving interception, however, Klatsky merely tipped the ball into a Temple receiver's waiting hands for a 45-yard completion. Forty-five seconds later, Temple found the end zone to knot the score at 20. And seconds before the clock expired, Temple's prayers continued to be answered as the Owls converted the extra point to pull out a thrilling 21-20 victory.

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