PHILADELPHIA – A defensive battle through and through, the University of Pennsylvania sprint football team scored the first nine points of the game before topping Chestnut Hill, 9-6, Friday night on Champions Night at Franklin Field.
The Quakers (2-2, 2-0 CSFL South) snap a two-game skid and remain unbeaten in divisional play following the victory over the Griffins (0-3, 0-2 CSFL South), who drop their third consecutive game to open the year.
Quaker Notemeal
*The victory snaps a two-game losing streak for Penn, while staying undefeated within the CSFL South Division, tied with Navy for the top spot.
*Penn's defense was the highlight of the night, holding Chestnut Hill to just nine points and forcing five turnovers (four interceptions and a fumble recovery).
Jordan Ortiz had a pair of interceptions with one each for
Adrian Montemayor and
Adedotun Bello.
*Friday marked the first time in at least 18 years the Quakers scored less than 10 points in a victory.
*He was sacked seven times, but senior QB
Andrew Paolini still led the Penn offense with 19 completions and 269 yards passing with a touchdown pass in the win.
*Four different Quakers caught passes with a game-high eight catches for
Jake Wang (for 89 yards).
Kyle Zeitlian caught five passes for 96 yards. In his first season with the Red and Blue,
Brandon Graves caught his team-leading fourth touchdown pass of the season and has a TD in three of four games so far.
*
Cam Janock led the Penn defense with seven total tackles and a half a sack. He also broke up a pass and blocked a field goal try.
Matt Kentra and
Jake Inserra both finished the night with three solo tackles.
*Not only did he tally his second interception of the season on the defensive side of the ball, Montemayor also put the Quakers on the scoreboard first with his second field goal of the season. He also punted three times for 103 yards (34.33 avg) with one punt inside the 20.
*176 people attended Friday night's game, which was played with clear skies in the low 70's, lasting a time of 2:36.
How It Happened
The Quakers' first drive of the night was a productive one, spanning 12 plays for 61 yards over 5:19 of game time. A 36-yard heave from Paolini found Zeitlian, which set up Montemayor's 24-yard field goal to put Penn up, 3-0 with 8:35 remaining the first quarter.
The very next drive, Penn's defense held Chestnut Hill with very little yardage before Anthony Cancellare forced a ball that was picked off by
Jordan Ortiz (the first of two on the night), who returned it 49 yards to the one-yard line. Unfortunately, a Penn personal foul backed the Quakers up to the 35 to start the new drive.
With 3:40 remaining in the second quarter, Penn had a golden opportunity to put points on the scoreboard before entering the locker room at halftime, as Paolini marched down the field with first down passes to Graves (12 yards) and Wang (21 yards). On 2nd and 10 from the Chestnut Hill 28, the Quakers got all the way down to the 19 following a pass to Zeitlian, but a pair of sacks dashed Penn's hopes of going ahead by two scores before time expired.
Back-and-forth for much of the start of the third quarter, Cancellare notched his third mistake of the night – a third interception – after being picked off by Ortiz for the second time, which set up Penn at the opponent's 31-yard line.
This time, the turnover worked out in the Quakers' favor as Paolini completed a pass over the top to Graves for the 16-yard TD. Montemayor's extra-point attempt was blocked as Penn extended its lead to 9-0 with 3:56 to play in the third.
After taking back over the ball to start the fourth quarter on third down, Cancellare picked up his fourth interception thrown of the night, this time to Montemayor who gave Penn the ball at midfield.
Following a fumble lost by the Penn offense and recovered by Chestnut Hill, the Griffins earned their first points of the evening following Cancellare's 12-yard touchdown throw to Xavier Hendricks, but their extra point was also blocked, keeping the score at 9-6 in favor of the Quakers.
With 11:06 to play in the fourth, a fumble forced and recovered by
Matt McKillop proved to be Chestnut Hill's fifth turnover of the game, which set up Penn with the ball once again at its own 35-yard line.
Paolini once again had Penn driving towards the red zone before another costly turnover (a fumble lost and recovered by the defense) gave the Griffins the ball back with under five minutes to play in the contest, trailing by three points.
A few chunk plays had the Griffins driving down the field, and a 15-yard rush had Chestnut Hill all the way down to the Penn 20-yard line in the closing minutes of the game. After a false start gave the Griffins a 1st and 15 from the Penn 25, Cancellare had three incompletions and a sack (for a loss of three yards) as they turned the ball over on downs with just 57 seconds to play, allowing Penn to clock the ball to hang on for the victory.
Up Next
Penn heads onto the road for two straight games, taking on Cornell next Friday at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ (subscription required).
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