Quakers evade Yale for fifth win

It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win.

Despite the 17 points Penn’s defense surrendered in the final quarter, the Quakers still came away with a 27-20 victory over Yale.

“At some points in the game it was definitely a little ugly, but we came out on top,” said starting quarterback Billy Ragone.

After the Bulldogs dominated the first quarter and entered the second up 3-0, the Quakers (5-1, 3-0 Ivy) responded with 20 unanswered points.

But Yale (4-2, 2-1) didn’t go down without a fight. With the Red and Blue leading 27-10, Bulldogs quarterback Patrick Witt strung together two scoring drives against the Penn defense in the final two minutes of play.

However, the Yale comeback fell just short when the Quakers recovered an onside kick with 13 seconds left — dashing any hopes of a last second touchdown.

“Their quarterback does a great job with the ball out of his hands. The receivers really catch the ball and they’re physical kids,” Penn coach Al Bagnoli said. “I think that is a very, very dangerous game, especially at home.”

Although Penn allowed Witt and his receiving corps 331 passing yards, Bagnoli praised his Penn team for forcing turnovers and preventing Yale from converting their drives to scores.

Early in the fourth quarter, Witt was intercepted by sophomore Brandon Copeland, which resulted in a Penn touchdown on the subsequent drive.

“The kid is a really a good athlete for a defensive linemen,” Bagnoli said. “I’m not sure how many kids can make that play — not only bat the ball up in the air and then catch it and then run with.”

Not only did Copeland come up big for the Quakers, but Penn’s special teams unit also put points up on the board. Bradford Blackmon returned a Yale punt 53 yards in the second quarter, marking the Quakers’ first punt-returned-for-touchdown since 2006.

“It’s a combination of our kids doing a really good job with blocking and the kid kicked a low-rider, we caught it on the run,” Bagnoli said.

But the Quakers’ specialists weren’t perfect. In fact, kicker Andrew Samson missed both a field goal and an extra point early in the game, snapping his perfect PAT streak. Following Penn’s first touchdown, Samson’s kick sailed wide, his first miss in 89 career attempts.

Coming off a lopsided win over Columbia in which Penn leaned heavily on its rush, Yale came prepared and stacked the box accordingly. As a result, Penn was forced to step up its passing game.

Ragone got off to a slow start, but rose to the occasion in front of his hometown crowd. The Connecticut native, who claimed he was not distracted by the presence of his many supporters, threw for 102 yards, as opposed to just 45 last week.

“Although we threw some interceptions, we were able to open it and put some pressure on them and get them on their heels a little bit,” he said.

Meanwhile, freshman QB Ryan Becker recorded his first touchdown pass of the season in a limited role. Becker, who was behind center for two offensive drives, completed a 17-yard pass to sophomore Jeff Jack to put the Quakers on the board early in the second quarter.

While the passing game was more apparent than in games past, Penn’s established running game accounted for two touchdowns, both of which came on the shoulders of senior Luke DeLuca.

“You just gotta look at it every week and pretty much just go after every team like it’s a championship game. Because in the end, if you win them all, it makes it easy to take the ring,” DeLuca said.

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