A battle of unbeaten teams will commence at 7 p.m. at Schoellkopf tonight, as the sprint football team takes on Ivy League foe and longtime sprint football rival Penn. With both teams sitting at 4-0 overall and at 2-0 in the CSFL, sole possession of first place and, at the very least, a share of the coveted championship trophy awaits the winner. Last year, the Red traveled to Philadelphia to beat the Quakers in a thrilling 27-24 finish in overtime –– a win that senior quarterback Elliot Corey recently described to the Sun’s Katie Schubauer in 10 Questions as the highlight of his career thus far. Tonight, the Red will aim to top that feeling with a victory in front of the home fans. Both the Red and the Quakers are coming off of a bye week, which will ensure that everybody is well-rested and well-prepared for the task at hand. “We’re definitely ready to go,” said senior captain John Mackintosh. “We’ve had two weeks to prepare which has really gotten us focused. There’s been a lot of build up along with the fact that’s it’s basically a championship game for us.” The Red’s defense, which is consistently one of the top ranked in the league, will be put to its greatest test yet, taking on the high powered Quaker offense which has averaged over 35 points a game. While the Red will not alter its overall defensive approach, it knows that it will need to make adjustments to account for the Quakers’ style of offense. “We’re going to do what we normally do,” said senior defensive lineman Kevin Schmidt. “But we’ll definitely have to key in on their main offensive threats. They have a running back with great vision and a really quick slot receiver who plays kind of like [New England Patriots slot receiver] Wes Welker.” A large crowd enjoyed the Red’s home opener victory earlier in the season against Post University and is counting on an even larger crowd to stand behind them tonight. “We definitely feed off of the crowd,” Mackintosh said. “We had a lot of fans against Post and we even had quite a few people when we played at Army. It helps us get fired up. At times, games can get long and every once in awhile you need that spark to help you get going.” For the seniors on the team, there is little doubt that up to this point this is the biggest game of their careers. “Nobody who’s on the team right now has gone into the Penn game undefeated before,” Schmidt said. “This is a huge opportunity for us.”“We’re essentially playing for a championship,” Mackintosh said. “For the seniors, we’ve been working up to this for the past four years. There’s no next year, it’s do or die. This is our last chance.”
Original Author: Ware Cady