Less-than-special teams sink Sprint

The Penn sprint football team's game statistics from last Friday look as though the Quakers were on the winning end of a lopsided 35-3 score against perennial Collegiate Sprint Football League powerhouse Army.

The Quakers (2-1, 0-1 CSFL) received 187 rushing yards from junior running back Mark Gannon alone, his largest output in a single game this season.

Just three minutes into the game, the Red and Blue had already gotten on the scoreboard with a successful 24-yard field goal attempt.

Penn's solid defensive effort held the Black Knights' offense to a mere six points the entire game.

And by the final play, Penn had dominated possession of the ball for an impressive 38 minutes over Army (3-0, 2-0 CSFL).

In the end, however, the Quakers failed to get the ball into the end zone, costing them a crucial game to a longtime rival at New York's Shea Stadium.

"We were pretty evenly matched in terms of straight up offense and defense," Gannon said. "But [the offense] committed turnovers, fumbled, and threw an interception. We had good numbers, but we just couldn't turn them into points."

The Black Knights' sharp special teams made the difference. Army freshman Austin Wilson returned two punts for touchdowns, running 38 and 77 yards, respectively.

"The punts changed the momentum of the game," Penn coach Bill Wagner said. "Each time we'd get back into the game, we just couldn't find the endzone. We beat ourselves in special teams with poor coverage on punting, and then bad decisions when they kicked to us."

The loss ended the Quakers' 11-game winning streak. For the underclassmen, it was the first time they had lost while playing at Penn.

"Everyone always knows that the Army game is tougher, especially when you have to go up to play them at West Point," Gannon said. "They suit up 95 guys and have an enthusiastic home crowd. It's a hostile environment. The experience of just playing up there will definitely help out the younger guys on the team."

The Quakers had come off a bye week following a decisive 56-12 win over Princeton on Oct. 5. Despite any confidence they had gained in that victory, however, the Red and Blue realized they would have to brace themselves for a much tougher challenge when facing Army.

"We knew the Princeton and Army game would be day and night," Penn junior defensive lineman Steve Willard said. "We're still confident in what we can do. The score isn't indicative of the game."

One of the most disappointing outcomes of the game for the Quakers may be that they can no longer fully control their defense for a CSFL championship. Assuming that Penn wins its remaining three games, another team would have to defeat the Black Knights for Penn to at least share the title.

"Now the title is kind of out of our hands," Gannon said. "We can't fully control our destiny anymore."

All the same, the Quakers are looking forward to getting back onto the field this Friday against visiting Cornell.

"We have a bad taste in our mouth right now and now they know it's harder to stay at the top than it is to get to the top," Wagner said. "The only way to change that is to get back out on the field and beat someone."

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