PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania football team was pushed right to the final play but escaped Franklin Field with a 13-10 win over Columbia Saturday afternoon.
Penn improved to 4-1 overall and is now 1-1 in Ivy League play. Columbia fell to 3-2 overall, 0-2 in Ivy play.
How weird was this game? Penn had first-and-goal on five different drives on Saturday but came away with just the 13 points. As for Columbia's 10 points, the Lions had a combined 17 yards of offense on their two scoring "drives" (including negative yardage on one of them).
Penn's opening drive was full of promise, the Quakers driving from their 26 all the way to first and goal at Columbia's 5-yard line. However, the drive stalled at the two and the Red and Blue had to settle for a chip-shot 19-yard field goal from
Jack Soslow to take a 3-0 lead.
Penn also had first and goal in the second quarter, this time at the 6-yard line. And again, the Quakers could only get three points as the Lions defense stiffened. This time, Soslow was on target from 21 yards.
Soslow had a chance to make it 9-0 just before halftime, After Penn got all the way to first and goal at Columbia's 8-yard line, then a pair of Quakers penalties pushed them back 20 yards to the 28. From there, Soslow was short on a 45-yard field goal and the teams went to the locker room with the Red and Blue up, 6-0.
Columbia was essentially gifted its first points on Saturday when
Isaiah Malcome failed to catch a punt and the Lions recovered at Penn's 21-yard line. Two plays later, Josh Bean found an open Kaleb Pitts in the left corner of the end zone and the Lions were up, 7-6.
Columbia took advantage of another short field when Penn was forced to punt from its own end zone and it went out of bounds at the Quakers' 24-yard line. The Lions went backwards on offense, losing four yards, but made the score 10-6 as Chris Alleyne kicked a 46-yard field goal.
Penn seemed to respond immediately, driving all the way to Columbia's 5-yard line with, you guessed it, first and goal. Instead, penalties pushed the Quakers back to the 21, and while a third-down play got the ball back to the Lions' 8 it was for naught as Soslow was wide left from 25 yards out.
Penn forced a Columbia punt, and employed power football en route to its first and only trip to the end zone of the day. The Quakers ran 10 times in their 12-play scoring drive, covering 58 of their 63 yards via the rush. It was Glover who finally pushed over the goal line from four yards out, and Penn was back in front 13-10.
Columbia drove into Penn territory on its next possession, but on a fourth-and-short situation the Quakers ran Bean up the gut and he was ruled to be stopped short, replay confirming the spot. Penn got the ball back with 3:01 left, but three plays and three timeouts later Glover was quick-kicking the ball to the Lions' 12-yard line with just 2:34 to play.
Columbia only went backwards on three plays, but on fourth-and-18 Bean lofted a pass that Kaleb Pitts caught in a jump-ball situation near midfield. Given new life, the Lions completed two quick passes to get a first down on the Penn 30 as the game went inside a minute. On third-and-4 at the 24, Bean fired a pass but his receiver slipped and
Mohammed Diakite easily picked it off, returning it to Columbia's 38 before being tackled. From there, Glover took a knee to end things.
Penn is back at home next Friday night to continue Ivy League play, hosting Yale at 7 p.m. in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
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