WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 11 - Junior Chris Wynn caught the opening kickoff, burst through what he called an "enormous hole" and in only 13 seconds, gave the Quakers a 7-0 lead. Fifty-nine minutes and 47 seconds of dominating play later, Penn left the nation's capital with a 27-7 win over Georgetown.
Wynn's opening play may have sparked the performance, but the Quakers outplayed the Hoyas in every facet.
"This is the best full 60-minute game we've played all season," senior tight end Josh Koontz said. "Guys getting experience and becoming confident in themselves is only going to mean good things down the road."
Offensively, the Red and Blue were led by a surprise standout, as third-string freshman running back Matt Hamscher rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown. With Bradford Blackmon sidelined going into the contest with a bummed ankle, the bulk of handoffs were supposed to have landed with Mike DiMaggio.
But on only his fourth carry, DiMaggio fell awkwardly and separated his shoulder. (He is expected to dress on Saturday but will likely not see action.) The Quakers marched 84 yards on 15 plays during that drive - their second of the game- capping it with Hamscher's first career score.
"When you encounter adversity, you just have to find a way to deal with it," Hamscher said. "Stuff like that happens; you just have to step up."
Also stepping up was Koontz, whose seven catches and 69 yards were both career highs. With Georgetown's defense sitting on the deep ball, Irvin found Koontz over the middle for five- to 10-yard gains all afternoon.
Defensively, the Quakers were initially caught off guard by the speed and agility of sophomore quarterback Keerome Lawrence. Whether through designed runs or scrambles on broken pass plays, Lawrence continually kept Penn on edge. He finished with 23 rushes for 111 yards - nearly double his 57 yards passing.
"We kind of underestimated his shiftiness to some extent," Wynn said. "We knew he was good, but until you are actually on the field trying to tackle him, you never really know. You're kind of thrown into the fire and have to do what you can, make sure you wrap him up."
His play could have made the game competitive if not for a number of costly Hoyas errors -- which he caused. Midway through the second quarter, a successful fake punt and some long runs brought the Hoyas to the Penn 4-yard line before Lawrence fumbled away a shotgun snap. And toward the end of the third quarter, Lawrence threw the ball right to senior safety Tony Moses. That interception set up sophomore fullback Luke DeLuca's touchdown run, which made it 27-0.
A turnover hurt the Quakers, too, though it was perhaps their pride that suffered the biggest blow. With nine minutes remaining, Koontz caught a ball over the middle, but he was hit hard and coughed it up.
"I don't have any moves, so I just try to run through people," Koontz said. "When I do try to make moves, I end up fumbling."
After a fourth-down conversion, Lawrence threw to tight end Collin Meador to prevent the shutout, giving the homecoming crowd a chance to cheer "Hoya Saxa."
But while the Hoyas may have secured that moral victory, a scoreboard win had been in the book for Penn from the moment Wynn caught the opening kickoff.
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