Sprint Football routs Cornell

There were many question marks coming into the Penn sprint football team's opener Friday night against Cornell.

After the game, many of those questions were answered -- emphatically.

Penn running back Mark Gannon ran for 132 yards and wide receiver Jeff Bagnoli caught a touchdown pass as the Quakers manhandled Cornell in their season opener, 17-3.

It was the defense that led the way, however. The Big Red were only able to gain 77 yards total in the game, and only gained six yards in the first half.

The Penn offense, led by quarterback Jimmy Donapel, accumulated 309 total offensive yards, and the Quakers led, 17-0, at halftime.

After getting a scare in last year's home game against Cornell in which the Big Red came back from a 13-0 deficit before Donapel threw a last-minute touchdown pass to win the game, the Quakers were not expecting a cakewalk.

"We expected a hard-fought game after the dog fight last year," Donapel said. "We were up 17-0 at halftime then too, so we knew we couldn't assume anything."

Donapel also showed his skill on the ground, avoiding sacks by slipping out of defenders' hands and running for gains of 15 and 22 yards during the game.

Bagnoli, son of Penn football coach Al, caught his touchdown pass on the Quakers' second drive of the game. He had 34 receiving yards on that drive alone.

Two drives later, Gannon humiliated the defense with a 36-yard run for a touchdown that Cornell easily could have avoided.

Gannon fumbled Donapel's pitch, but was able to pick it up on one bounce and run un-touched down the left sideline for the score.

As it turned out, the Red and Blue defense only needed the first touchdown to maintain control of the game.

Led by senior all-CSFL lineman Steve Willard and junior defensive end Alex Gormley, the Quakers defense did not give up a first down until the first drive of the third quarter.

"We knew what [plays] they were running," said Willard, who had 1.5 sacks.

Willard credited last week's game against the alumni as helping ease the transition back into league play. Gormley led the Quakers' defense with 2.5 sacks.

The Red and Blue's offensive line, the biggest question mark entering Friday's game, showed great improvement since taking the practice field just a few weeks ago.

Although he was sacked five times, Donapel had nothing but good words to say about the young line.

One thing that seemed to concern the Quakers was the amount of penalties the team committed during the game.

As the game wore on and fatigue set in, false starts and personal fouls became more and more frequent. Fortunately, the Quakers' offense had all the points it would need, with the Penn defense handcuffing the Big Red.

The Quakers have a bye this week before taking a bus ride to Princeton to take on the Tigers on Oct. 4.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.