The government shutdown in Washington has already brought some effects to Penn, and now it’s touching Penn Athletics.
Penn sprint football (2-1) was riding a two-game winning streak into a matchup at Navy this Friday, but Navy announced today that the game was cancelled due to the Oct. 1 government shutdown.
The news came just a day after it was announced that Navy’s annual varsity football game against Air Force would go on as scheduled, but the Department of Defense announced that all Naval Academy varsity and club sports except for the Air Force game would be cancelled.
As of Tuesday, Penn’s squad was still preparing as if the game would happen.
“As far as we’re concerned, we have a game on Friday,” freshman quarterback Mike McCurdy said. “We have to be prepared, be in the right mindset.”
Coach Bill Wagner echoed McCurdy’s sentiments.
“I told our kids, ‘don’t believe anything you hear on TV or radio until you hear it from the league,’” he said. “We’re getting ready to play Navy. We’re getting ready to beat Navy, but it is out of my control.”
The Navy game represents a pretty important game in the middle of sprint football’s season.
“It is our championship game,” Wagner said. “We have to beat Navy if we want to even be considered to win the league. That’s the bottom line.”
And while Wagner was focused on keeping Navy’s offense sidelined, now both teams will be kept on the sidelines for at least a week.
There is no makeup date announced for the game, giving the Quakers a week off before returning to Franklin Field to face Franklin Pierce. The cancellation of the Navy game leaves Penn with just three scheduled games left in the 2013 season.
However, Navy’s press release also stated that the game against Penn would be “rescheduled as the calendar allowed.”
SEE ALSO
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Penn sprint football downs Mansfield, 42-14
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