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Penn Tops #22 Lafayette in its season-opener, 22-11

Easton, PA - The University of Pennsylvania Quakers (1-0) opened its 2006 campaign with a 21-11 victory over 1-AA's  # 22 Lafayette Leopards  (2-1) despite the home team already having two wins under its belt and re-opening its new Fisher Field at Fisher Stadium.  Penn RB Joe Sandberg ran for 166 yards and two TDs for the win to negate 286 yards passing by Lafayette QB Brad Maurer.  It was a change of pace for CFF who traveled thousands of miles the previous two weeks to see three 1-A games played before 50,000 + in each.  This week was somewhat sedate as we traveled only 40 miles to the Lafayette campus in Easton to see two 1-AA teams play before 9,251 loyal fans.

     Penn got off to a hot start.  With a mixed diet of runs and passes, QB Rob Irvin connected with WR Dan Coleman on a long pass to the one-foot line.  Sandberg completed the damage with a one-yard run and Derek Zoch's point after gave Penn a quick 7-0 lead.  Neither team scored again in the first period, and P Anthony Melillo put Lafayette back on its own 7 with a perfectly placed 27-yard punt, but the Leopards were on the prowl before the period ended.  RB Jonathan Hurt (81 yards on 18 carries) rambled 26 yards on one play to the Penn 22.

     On the first play of Q2, PK Rick Ziska scored a 28-yard FG for Lafayette's first score to close the gap, 7-3.    After three exchanges by punt, the Leopards started a drive from their own seven once again.  Driving to the Penn 37, they went for a first down on fourth and seven, but Penn's All Ivy NG Naheem Harris came up with a sack of Maurer to get the ball back to the Quakers at their own 40-yard line.  QB Rob Irvin ( 17 for 27 for 186 yards) led his offense downfield as he hit WR Braden Lepisto with a 20-yard pass to the 1" line with :30 left in the half.  Lepisto's body crossed

the goal line, but the ball never crossed as he was forced out at the right pylon with :18 left.  Irvin took it in from the one for the 14-3 Quaker lead at the half.

      Fisher Field at Fisher Stadium is a nice improvement for the Lafayette facility. The names derive from the school's major contributor , Thomas Fisher , who raised most of the funds to build the original stadium back in 1926, and one of its leading contemporary  benefactors, James R. Fisher, class of '77/   Last time we were there two years ago for the Leopards' game against Harvard, the old wooden seats remained and the visitors' bleachers were very small.  All wooden seats have been replaced with plastic including some with backs for season ticket holders and school guests.  The visitors' section was expanded with the same, new synthetic turf replaced the old sod. and lights are in place for night games.  The total capacity is 13,132 which seems like a stretch to satisfy capacity for the annual  game against Lehigh, or even the annual Thanksgiving clash between Easton HS and Phillipsburg (NJ) HS.  The real trick there seems to be for parking.  We parked several blocks from the stadium because there is little space on campus for public parking. One has to get there early for a good spot.  We didn't do bad, but we can't imagine what a fiasco it must be to find parking on those particular days, but some day, we intend to find out.  The stadium has a great scoreboard for replays.  As a matter of fact. almost the entire game is broadcast on the big screen as all eleven Leopard games will be televised on Lafayette Sports network, airing in the Lehigh Valley, Philadelphia, and in the Poconos.  The board, however, still needs to indicate "ball on" and time-outs left information.  In the northeast corner of the end zone, it's the only information available at Fisher.  A scoreboard would be helpful at the opposite end for people in the visitors' stands.  The turf seems great.

      The Leopards opened the second half with a drive starting from its own 35.  Hurt ran 15 yards to the Penn five to set up the Leopards a with a first and goal, but the Penn "D" toughened up.  On third down, LB Kory Gedin deflected Maurer's pass to force a FG.  Ziska's chip shot was blocked by Penn SR DB and co-captain Scott Williams to keep the score intact.  Neither team moved the ball effectively during the third period, and the quarter ended, 14-3, still in favor of the Quakers.

     Penn opened the period with a punt from Melillo, who did his job once again as he bounced his punt into the  waiting arms of the ubiquitous Williams who downed it at the Lafayette one-yard line.  Backs against the wall, Maurer came up with a big 37-yard pass completion to TE Michael Conte on the left sideline to quickly get out of the hole.  It was the spark that the Leopard attack needed.  Two more consecutive pass completions  got Lafayette into Penn territory.  Hurt fumbled one away as it was remarkably misplayed by Penn before going out of bounds.  From the 25, Maurer rolled right and turned the corner up the field and found a seam all the way down the right sideline to the end zone for a Lafayette TD.  On a two-point conversion, Maurer rolled right and connected with wide-open WR Daueno Dorsey in the flat to get the two to narrow the margin to 14-11.  Penn attempted to retaliate on the next series by driving to the Leopard 28 where on fourth and four, they came up short to turn the ball back over to Lafayette with 7:36 left.  Gaining only five yards, time was of the essence and the Leopards called time-out.  The resulting play was ineffective as Maurer's pass fell incomplete.  In punt formation, the snap went directly to LB Justin Stovall in the blocking back position.  He ran forward for three yards before being brought down one yard shy of the first down.  It was the turning point of the game as Penn went to work on the Lafayette 36-yard line.  On the very next play, RB Sandberg bounced outside off three Leopard defenders before breaking free for a 36-yard TD scamper.  With 5:39 remaining, Zoch's PAT put the Quakers up, 21-11.  Lafayette started from the 26 on its next series and drove to the Penn 10 with 1:25 left.  On fourth down, Head Coach Frank Tavani opted for  the short FG attempt with hopes to get the ball back one more time on an onsides kick.  The strategy was for naught as Ziska's FG was blocked by DT J.J. Stanton.  Penn took over to run out the clock to preserve the 21-11 victory over #22 Lafayette.  It wasn't a pretty game, but for an opener, it was a good start for the Ivy League contenders to upend a Patriot team with "three-peat" 1-AA playoff aspirations.  CFF was not impressed with the Leopard effort this day aside fro QB Brad Maurer.  With Princeton winning at Lehigh, we might consider Penn's visit to Princeton Stadium later this season as a possible game worth seeing if both teams stay in Ivy League contention.  The Leopards travel next to visit the aforementioned Tigers in a night game for its second of four consecutive games against Ivy League foes.  Penn returns home to historic Franklin Field to host 0-2 Villanova of the Atlantic 10.   Collegefootballfan.com travels to the state of Maryland for a 1-A double-header featuring two new teams to be added toward the Goal in each game.  3-0 Navy hosts 2-1 Tulsa (#110) at 1 pm before we head over to College Park to see the 2-1 Terps host 0-3 Florida International (#111) at 6 pm in what we predict will be an "upset special!" Check in again next week to see it we're right about the Sun Belt's first win over a BCS conference team. 

Extra Points: Guest Game Analyst Eric Koreivo, now a Pee Wee football player plopped on his bleacher seat, and looked across Fisher Field and asked, "This is college football, right?" He last attended the Big Tailgate with us at West Point last year, but he also attended the Lafayette-Harvard game two years ago!  How soon they forget.

Congratulations to Penn Head Coach Al Bagnoli, for his 100th win as Penn Head Coach in his 15th season there. 

Penn now holds a 61-18-4  record in this series dating back to 1892.  For the first 80 years, every game was played in Philly.  We attended a game between these two on a Friday night on October 14, 1977 at Franklin Field where the score was reportedly 42-7 in favor of Penn, but we could swear that the Leopards won that night.   What were we drinking?

Anthony Melillo punted four times for the Quakers averaging "only" 35.8 yards per punt, but stats lie.  Out of FG range, three of the four times Penn opted to punt, he set the Leopards back on their own seven twice and on the one once!  His fourth went for a touchback.  That's pretty effective for a punter at any level. 

Quaker fans take their "toast" on the road.  As tradition has it, the Penn fans sing "A Toast to Pennsylvania" in the fourth quarter, and the blue and Red Faithful then toss pieces of toast down on to the playing filed.  We've seen it at Franklin Filed, but we found out that the same tradition is carried out on the road!  At the Harvard-Penn game when the Crimson clinched the Ivy two years ago at Franklin, we noted most of the Penn faithful stuck it out until that tradition was carried out, and at t he conclusion, most left as Harvard had things under control on its way to victory.