Football Crushed in Finale

PHILADELPHIA — The football team ended its season on a sour note Saturday, losing to Penn, 45-9, on a frigid afternoon at Franklin Field. From the very first snap, the Quakers (4-6, 3-4 Ivy) utilized a dominant offensive line, a stingy defense and impassioned special teams play to route the Red (5-5, 2-5) in the 2007 Ivy League finale.
“Hats off to Penn, they played great today,” said head coach Jim Knowles ’87. “They whipped us in all three facets of the game.”
The Quakers outgained the Red, 449-216, in total offense, including a 329-78 differential in rushing yards. The Red scored all nine of its points in the fourth quarter, when the game was already out of reach at 45-0. Sophomore running back Randy Barbour plowed his was to a seven-yard touchdown run and senior linebacker Ryan Blessing recorded his first career safety in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
“It was about as well as we’ve played collectively in a while,” said Penn head coach Al Bagnoli.
Penn wasted no time in establishing itself as the dominant team. On the first drive of the game, starting from their own 28-yard line, the Quakers needed only eight rushing plays, two completed passes and 3:51 to score their first touchdown. Senior quarterback Bryan Walker capped off the drive with an eight-yard touchdown. Running most of its plays out of spread shotgun formation, Penn seemed to pick up yardage at will, never needing third down until their 17th offensive play.
“They dominated and controlled the line of scrimmage,” Knowles said. “Their offensive line played great. When you are getting whipped that badly on the line of scrimmage, you’re going to struggle. Whether it is the run or the pass, it doesn’t matter; you’re struggling.”
The freshman running back tandem of Brad Blackmon and Michael Dimaggio combined for 163 yards and a touchdown while Walker racked up 95 yards and three touchdowns of his own on the ground. Walker was also 7-of-11 passing for 118 yards and a score, finding senior Braden Lepisto four times for 77 yards.
“[Walker] can run a little bit,” said Blessing. “He definitely made the plays when they needed him. When they needed to come up with a big pass play to get a first down, he converted. All around they played a great game, it was tough.”
On the Red’s first play from scrimmage, it attempted to make up the early deficit in a hurry with a flea flicker pass. Sophomore quarterback Ben Ganter handed the ball to Barbour and then received a return pass, but his bomb downfield to Bryan Walters was well covered and batted down. After a sack and an incomplete pass, Cornell made its first of eight punts on the day.
On the second play of the ensuing Penn drive, Walker recovered his own fumble as he scrambled to another first down. After picking up two more first downs, the Red defense held firm on third and 8 on their own 18, minimizing the damage to a Penn field goal and making the score 10-0.
Sophomore quarterback Stephen Liuzza managed to pick up a first down — the team’s first — on the ensuing drive before the Red was forced to punt yet again.
On the next drive, the Red seemingly had the Quakers stopped after forcing a fumble on third-and-long, but the fumble went forward and was recovered by the Quakers for a first down.
“We were very unlucky,” Knowles said. “We were getting some hits but it wasn’t bouncing our way. That’s kind of the way it has been all year, we just haven’t gotten any turnovers on defense.”
Later that drive, on a third and 4 from Cornell’s 8-yard line, senior co-captain was called for pass interference in the end zone to give the Quakers an automatic first and goal. Walker waltzed into the end zone on a quarterback sweep to cap off the 80-yard drive and make the score 17-0.
The Red showed signs of life on its ensuing drive, however, with the offensive line opening up holes for Liuzza and Barbour. Three consecutive runs of at least eight yards put Cornell at the Penn 30 with six minutes remaining in the half. Liuzza then rolled out to his right and scrambled his way to the 19. Unfortunately, a holding penalty pushed Red all the way back to second-and-23 from the 32. Two incomplete passes ended the drive and forced Cornell to pooch kick it to the 14.
The teams exchanged punts before the Quakers got the ball back on their own 45 with 53 seconds remaining in the half. Walker rolled out to his right before firing a bullet to Lepisto, who had snuck behind his coverage and proceeded to sprint up the right sideline for the touchdown. The 55-yard score all but put the game out o reach, with Penn holding all of the momentum and a 24-0 lead going into halftime.
In an effort to ignite his offense, Knowles inserted injured junior quarterback Nathan Ford to start the second half.
“[Ford came in] because we felt we needed a spark. We tried to bring in the Kirk Gibson, you know, the limping, hurt quarterback to try to make a play. At that point, we were just trying to do everything we could to create a spark. He was hurt but was gutsy; he did the best he could.”
Ford’s best was not good enough, however, as he led the Red on five unsuccessful offensive possessions before giving way to Liuzza. On the Red’s first possession of the second half, the offense started at its own 27 and did not gain a yard. Penn then blocked the punt on fourth down and ran it into the end zone, to increase their lead to 31-0.
Ford was picked off on the next Red possession, which set up yet another long touchdown drive for the Quakers. DiMaggio’s 2-yard touchdown run made it 38-0.
To start the fourth quarter, Penn struck once again when Dimaggio ran the ball to the 5-yard line to set up Walker’s third touchdown run of the afternoon. With the score 45-0, the Quakers inserted a number of their reserves on defense and the Red was finally able to move the ball on offense.
Cornell finally got on the board with 5:51 left when Randy Barbour juked his way to a 7-yard touchdown. Peter Zell’s kick made it 45-7. Just 51 seconds later Ryan Blessing hit Chris Ashley in the backfield in the end zone for a safety to make it 45-9 with five minutes to play.
“We knew they were extremely talented,” Knowles said. “[Penn head] coach Bagnoli told me he thought it was one of the best defenses he’s ever had. And they’ve won many championships here so they were just extremely talented. We knew it was going to be rough going, I just didn’t expect our defense to get handled so much.”
“They dominated and controlled the line of scrimmage,” Knowles said. “Their offensive line played great. When you are getting whipped that badly on the line of scrimmage, you’re going to struggle. Whether it is the run or the pass, it doesn’t matter; you’re struggling.”
The freshman running back tandem of Brad Blackmon and Michael Dimaggio combined for 163 yards and a touchdown while Walker racked up 95 yards and three touchdowns of his own on the ground. Walker was also 7-of-11 passing for 118 yards and a score, finding senior Braden Lepisto four times for 77 yards.
“[Walker] can run a little bit,” said Blessing. “He definitely made the plays when they needed him. When they needed to come up with a big pass play to get a first down, he converted. All around they played a great game, it was tough.”
On the Red’s first play from scrimmage, it attempted to make up the early deficit in a hurry with a flea flicker pass. Sophomore quarterback Ben Ganter handed the ball to Barbour and then received a return pass, but his bomb downfield to Bryan Walters was well covered and batted down. After a sack and an incomplete pass, Cornell made its first of eight punts on the day.
On the second play of the ensuing Penn drive, Walker recovered his own fumble as he scrambled to another first down. After picking up two more first downs, the Red defense held firm on third and 8 on their own 18, minimizing the damage to a Penn field goal and making the score 10-0.
Sophomore quarterback Stephen Liuzza managed to pick up a first down — the team’s first — on the Red’s next drive before it was forced to punt yet again.
On the next drive, the Red seemingly had the Quakers stopped after forcing a fumble on third-and-long, but the fumble went forward and was recovered by the Quakers for a first down.
“We were very unlucky,” Knowles said. “We were getting some hits but it wasn’t bouncing our way. That’s kind of the way it has been all year, we just haven’t gotten any turnovers on defense.”
Later that drive, on a third and 4 from Cornell’s 8-yard line, senior co-captain Colin Nash was called for pass interference in the end zone to give the Quakers an automatic first and goal. Walker waltzed into the end zone on a quarterback sweep to cap off the 80-yard drive and make the score 17-0.
The Red showed signs of life on its ensuing drive, however, with the offensive line opening up holes for Liuzza and Barbour. Three consecutive runs of at least eight yards put Cornell at the Penn 30 with six minutes remaining in the half. Liuzza then rolled out to his right and scrambled his way to the 19. Unfortunately, a holding penalty pushed the Red all the way back to second-and-23 from the 32. Two incomplete passes ended the drive and forced Cornell to pooch kick it to the 14.
The teams exchanged punts before the Quakers got the ball back on their own 45 with 53 seconds remaining in the half. Walker rolled out to his right before firing a bullet to Lepisto, who had snuck behind his coverage and proceeded to sprint up the right sideline for the touchdown. The 55-yard score all but put the game out of reach, with Penn holding all of the momentum and a 24-0 lead going into halftime.
In an effort to ignite his offense, Knowles inserted injured junior quarterback Nathan Ford to start the second half.
“[Ford came in] because we felt we needed a spark. We tried to bring in the Kirk Gibson, you know? The limping, hurt quarterback to try to make a play. At that point, we were just trying to do everything we could to create a spark. He was hurt but was gutsy; he did the best he could.”
Ford’s best was not good enough, however, as he led the Red on five unsuccessful offensive possessions before giving way to Liuzza. On the Red’s first possession of the second half, the offense started at its own 27 and did not gain a yard. Penn then blocked the punt on fourth down and ran it into the end zone, to increase its lead to 31-0.
Ford was picked off on the next Red possession, which set up yet another long touchdown drive for the Quakers. DiMaggio’s 2-yard touchdown run made it 38-0.
To start the fourth quarter, Penn struck once again when Dimaggio ran the ball to the 5-yard line to set up Walker’s third touchdown run of the afternoon. With the score 45-0, the Quakers inserted a number of their reserves on defense and the Red was finally able to move the ball on offense.
Cornell finally got on the board with 5:51 left when Randy Barbour juked his way to a 7-yard touchdown. Just 51 seconds later Ryan Blessing hit Chris Ashley in in the end zone for a safety to make it 45-9 with five minutes to play.
“We knew they were extremely talented,” Knowles said. “[Penn head] coach Bagnoli told me he thought it was one of the best defenses he’s ever had. And they’ve won many championships here so they were just extremely talented. We knew it was going to be rough going, I just didn’t expect our defense to get handled so much.”