Penn destroys struggling sprint football

Several times this season, sprint football has come close, though not necessarily on the scoreboard. The experience-deficient Tigers played even with teams for 30 or 45 minutes before a big play by the opposition, a turnover or a special teams mistake broke the game open.

The season finale against Penn Friday at Frelinghuysen Field was no different. The Tigers played the Quakers fairly evenly through three quarters, but a monster second quarter gave Penn a lead it held on to, as Princeton fell, 35-6. The loss gave the Tigers a second straight winless season.

The Quakers scored five minutes into the game, when running back Mark Gannon capped off a 94-yard drive with a 28-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing point after attempt, wide receiver Jeff Bagnoli found Tim Murphy in the end zone to give the Quakers an 8-0 lead.

Penn remained silent until five minutes remaining in the second quarter when quarterback James Donapel found Bamidele Olabtasum in the corner of the endzone, extending the lead to 14-0.

Though the Princeton offense had been silenced in the first half, the game was far from over. But keeping with the tradition of the season, Penn sprinted out and secured the game with a 21-point third quarter.

Penn scored its third touchdown of the game with 6 minutes, 24 seconds remaining in the third quarter when Donapel found Patrick Monaghan on a 37-yard pass. Donapel threw his third touchdown pass of the game when he hit Bagnoli on a 76-yard pass to give the Quakers a 28-0 lead. Gannon capped off the scoring for the Quakers with seven seconds left in the third quarter, rumbling 15 yards for a 35-0 lead and putting the game out of reach.

Donapel passed for 192 yards and three touchdownsand Gannon, who led the conference in rushing with 766 yards, rushed for 158 yards and two touchdowns.

The Tigers broke the Quaker shutout with 40 seconds remaining in the game, when senior Matt Hall capped a six-play, 44-yard drive with a four-yard touchdown run.

Junior tailback Christian Gomez gained 90 yards on the ground, finishing the year with 468 total yards. Freshmen L.T. Lawler and Dennis Bakke shared quarterback duties for the Tigers, going a combined 6-for-15 for 73 yards and no touchdowns.

Princeton ended the season with 113.7 yards per game on the ground, 131 yards per game through the air, and seven touchdowns.

Princeton, featuring a team of 22 underclassmen and only 5 seniors, had a season of spurts. Spurts of solid play were followed by critical mental errors that keyed offensive explosions from the opposition.

No game was more illustrative of the Tigers' season than its season-opening loss to Cornell. In its strongest showing of the season, Princeton out-gained the Big Red in total yardage, 319 to 164.

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But despite several long drives, the Tiger offense turned the ball over deep in Cornell territory several times and was unable to get on the scoreboard until four minutes remained in the game. By then Cornell had capitalized on field position and reeled off 27 points.

The Tigers finish the season in fifth place in the Collegiate Sprint Football League for the second-straight year. Navy captured the title with a 17-10 overtime victory over Army last weekend.