Frosh kicker hurt in first play

What a way to start a college football career.

First, freshman Bryan Arguello had to compete with kickers up to two years older than him for the Penn football team's vacant placekicking position.

Then, with the kicking start secured, Arguello had to wait an extra week because of the national tragedy before attempting his first shot at the uprights.

And once that chance finally came last Saturday at Lafayette, everything went to pieces.

After Quakers quarterback Gavin Hoffman connected with wide receiver Ryan Murray for an 18-yard touchdown pass to give Penn an early 6-0 lead over the Leopards in what would become a 37-0 blowout, Arguello jogged onto Fisher Field to kick the extra point.

He instead had to go for two, though, when Penn long snapper John Westhoff started the play by snapping the ball high, off the holder's hands.

"I was pumped for the first play, and that was it," Westhoff said. "It was a bad snap. I threw a high one."

Arguello, who is also a reserve defensive back, instinctively scooped up the bobbling ball and rolled left, hoping to salvage the botched play by finding an open receiver in the end zone. But the Leopards defense quickly bore down on the freshman, who got off an incomplete pass just as contact was made.

What had started as a bad play got even worse, however, when the Penn starting placekicker got up and gingerly limped off the field.

"As I got tackled, my [left] ankle rolled over," Arguello said. "I couldn't really kick the rest of the game."

"Kind of an inauspicious first collegiate play, huh?" Penn coach Al Bagnoli said with a laugh.

Called in to replace the injured Arguello was junior Roman Galas, the Red and Blue's returning kickoff man who also finished runner-up for the placekicking start.

"Coach [Bagnoli] came up to me [and asked], `Hey, can you kick?'" Arguello said. "I told him it wouldn't be a good idea for me to kick when we had Roman who was perfectly healthy and can kick just as well. It would be pointless for me going out there, the 60 percent that I was."

Already excited after booming both the opening kickoff and the kickoff after the touchdown over the end zone for touchbacks, Galas was physically ready when told he'd be doing placekicking duty but was a little surprised by the turn of events.

"You don't ever think that's going to happen," he said. "I mean, when's the last time you've seen a kicker get hurt in a game?"

Galas took advantage of his first career placekicking opportunity, going 4-for-4 on extra points and splitting the uprights on his only field goal attempt -- an 18-yard kick with 8:55 remaining.

Galas, Arguello and Bagnoli all agreed that the junior did everything he was asked to do, although Bagnoli made sure the tasks were not extremely difficult.

"We went for it a couple times on fourth down [when] we were in that gray area [around] the 33-yard line," the coach said. "[Galas] really hasn't had many kicks, so I didn't want him to go in there and try a 50-yard kick for his first one.

"We were just smart with it, and he responded magnificently."

Galas' performance adds another page to the Penn placekicking spot saga. Will the junior who was originally snubbed for the start get the nod from Bagnoli and take the head role from the freshman?

Not unless Arguello, who is now fully recovered, gets sidelined with a serious injury.

"Bryan still has it," Bagnoli said.

"You can't penalize a kicker because he got hurt on a bad snap. But it's nice to know we've got two kids to go to, and they both now have some experience."

And as for Westhoff, Galas' perfect stats would not have been possible if the long snapper had made any more mistakes. Westhoff, a senior who helped Jason Feinberg break the Penn and Ivy League career scoring records last year, said Saturday's botched play would be his last.

"It won't happen again all year."

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