PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania football team nearly completed the fourth quarter comeback, but ultimately came up short in a 30-26 defeat to Brown Friday evening at Franklin Field.
 
The Quakers fall to 5-2 overall, 2-2 in Ivy play while the Bears improve to 4-3, also 2-2 in the conference.
 
Quaker Notemeal
*Penn totaled 410 yards with 322 through the air and 88 on the ground.
 
*Jared Richardson had double-digit catches for the second game in a row with 12 catches, his previous 17 against Yale set a new single-game program record.
 
*Richardson also had 122 yards, his second straight game with 100+ receiving yards. His TD with 8:57 remaining was his fifth of the season, bringing the Quakers within striking distance.
 
*Aidan Sayin passed for 322 yards and had 32 completions. It's Sayin's fourth game with 300 yards and second consecutive.
 
*Six receivers made at least one catch, including the 12 for Richardson. Haight caught seven passes for 89 yards, Joshua Casilli totaled six receptions for 39 yards, Malachi Hosley had four catches for 54 yards and Bisi Owens and Jonathan Mulatu each had one grab.
 
*Jack Iuliano had a team-high 12 tackles, and Joey Slackman adding 11. Jack Fairman and Julian Talley each had nine tackles. Iuliano led the Quakers with three TFLs.
 
*Penn totaled six pass breakups with two for Logan Nash.

*Penn and Brown honored alumni Martin Vaughn and Dennis Coleman during the coin toss, honoring the 50th anniversary of the first Ivy League meeting of two Black QBs.
 
How It Happened
The Quakers deferred the ball until the second half after winning the coin toss, putting trust in the defense to set the tone for the game. Although the Bears were able to drive the ball to the Penn 23-yard line, John Lista came up big on a 3-and-5 attempt, pushing out the Bear receiver for only a yard gain. Brown set up for the 40-yard attempt, drilling it down the middle to take a mere 3-0 lead.
 
Penn didn't waste any time answering the call on its first drive with Richardson connecting on his first two catches of the day including one for 13 yards up the right side, breaking four tackles for the first down. Mulatu followed on the ground, busting up the left side while brushing off his fair share of tackles for 16 yards to continue the momentum.
 
Richardson made his third catch of the drive, this time for 19 yards across the middle to set the Quakers up in the red zone where O'Brien did the rest. In his first snap of the game under center, he ran up the right side on the quarterback keeper for his fifth touchdown of the season.
 
The 7-3 lead for the Quakers rolled into the second frame where the Penn defense held strong again. The Bears maneuvered their way down the field but were halted once again from getting into the red zone thanks to a tackle from Jack Iuliano and Julian Talley to force another field-goal attempt, this time a good 30-yard kick to move the score to 7-6.
 
Brown's defense made two big plays over the next four minutes of the second on two different series, pulling in two interceptions in Penn territory. The Quaker defense held the Bears to a 3-and-out after the first interception, but Brown connected on its first touchdown of the game after the second to take a 13-7 advantage.
 
The Quakers started their next drive on their own 35 following a 34-yard return from Isaac Shabay, having no issue pushing down the field into Brown territory. Hosley rushed the ball three straight times to get Penn over midfield before Alex Haight and Richardson combined for five catches to get to the 28-yard line. However, that's as far as the Quakers could drive, setting up a career-long 45-yard kick for Gotlieb to get Penn within three, 13-10.
 
The Bears used nearly three minutes on their next drive to push down the field and connected on a 29-yard passing touchdown to push their lead to 10. However, they left too much time on the clock before the half for the Quakers, who made them pay.
 
Sayin played the biggest role in the series success, kicking off the drive with a 36-yard scramble up the middle of the field to bust into Brown territory. He followed it with a pair of short passes to Joshua Casilli before Mulatu rushed 12 yards up the left side to put Penn into the red zone. Although a delay of game moved the ball back, Sayin still ripped off a 27-yard pass to Haight for the touchdown to trim the deficit back to three for the half, 20-17.
 
The Quakers started the second half with the ball, but it was the Bears that struck with back-to-back scoring drives. Brown halted Penn after one first down on the restart then used over four minutes to drive down the field ultimately for a 19-yard touchdown completion. They followed again later in the quarter, this time for nearly six minutes, but were held this time to just a field goal from 21-yards out to take a 30-17 lead.
 
In the final frame, Penn looked to close the gap again. After a pair of pass breakups by Shiloh Means and Kendren Smith, the Quakers offense got the ball back with 12:10 remaining. Sayin put the ball in the air eight times in the drive, using the eighth on a 13-yard connection with Richardson in the endzone for his 11th catch of the game to put Penn within six. The defense fought on both sides of the ball, forcing three straight 3-and-outs until Penn kicked off a series with 4:21 left in the game that drove the ball all the way down to the eight-yard line. Sayin connected with Hosley on back-to-back passes, each for 20-plus yards, setting up the momentum for the series. It led the drive to the red zone where Sayin had three straight pass attempts in the end zone, concluding with an unfortunate interception on an attempt to Richardson to draw the game even.
 
Hope wasn't lost, holding the Bears in their own endzone. In an attempt by Brown to eat up more clock, the Bears ran the ball out of the back of the endzone on fourth down to take the safety, closing the gap to four. The thought process helped, as the Quakers ran out of time on their final drive to get past midfield.
 


Up Next
The Quakers continue at home next weekend, hosting Cornell for Homecoming. Start time is set for 1 p.m., at Franklin Field.