QB tandem back just in time

For coach Al Bagnoli and the Quakers football team, the number seven has many different meanings.

Seven is the number of Ivy championships the 18-year coach holds after Penn’s 17-7 victory at Harvard.

Seven is also the number of points that the Quakers’ defense has allowed to each of its last three opponents.

But for Bagnoli — who no doubt is already hatching schemes to get his team back to the same position next year — seven’s most important manifestation was the number of games this season in which the team had been unable to use both Kyle Olson and Keiffer Garton at quarterback in the same game.

“It’s been a long time coming,” Bagnoli said. “You have to go all the way back to Villanova [in Week 1]. [That] was the last time we had both guys healthy.”

In those seven games, Bagnoli did a terrific job molding the offense to whichever quarterback happened to be playing, be it Olson, Garton, freshman Billy Ragone or green backup John Hurley.

The Quakers won six of those seven games, but there was a definite absence of continuity at quarterback.

It seemed like Bagnoli was unable to perfect the attack because the identity of his team changed with its new leader each week.

Now, that problem seems to be cleared up.

“It’s nice to be able to run an offense that, from the preseason, we practiced,” Bagnoli said after the Harvard game. “Today we kind of ran the offense that we wanted to run from day one.”

And not a moment too soon.

It is vital that Bagnoli have in his mind a scheme to run that fits Garton’s abilities, since Olson will be playing his last game this Saturday against Cornell.

Garton is going to be their guy again in 2010, so it’s important that he get experience in big games and that he become a central part of the offense.

And the more he plays, the more Bagnoli is able to make that happen.

Bagnoli and the rest of the Quakers’ coaching staff effectively integrated Garton into the offensive gameplan against Harvard, utilizing mainly his legs but also giving him safe, quick passing opportunities to boost his confidence.

The Douglas County high school alumnus completed six of eight passes for 22 yards and ran for another 36.

But Garton’s healthy presence, more than anything else, is a source of hope for the Quakers, who play in a conference where league titles are paramount since there is no postseason.

It’s a source of hope that they’ll be able to run the same offense throughout next year’s campaign and that that continuity will get them back to this pinnacle.

“If ‘back’ [means] you’re trying to make a run where you have two and three championships and kind of go back on that kind of run,” Bagnoli said, “then this is it.”

So, in order to move past championship No. 7 and win their second in two years, Bagnoli and the Quakers will have to rally behind No. 14.

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