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Lafayette stuns Penn, 37-12

If you have a good enough eraser and a little forearm strength, you can easily eliminate Lafayette's big-play scores from your score- book, so Penn's defensive stat line won't look as poor.

If you have a good enough eraser and a little forearm strength, you can easily eliminate Lafayette's big-play scores from your score- book, so Penn's defensive stat line won't look as poor.

But on a brisk Saturday night at Franklin Field the Quakers learned in their season opener that it's not quite as easy to wipe those points off the scoreboard as the visiting Leopards rocked Penn, 37-12.

And they learned that to finish unbeaten in the Ivy League for a record third straight year, they had better figure out how those big plays happened.

Making his first career start, Lafayette junior quarterback Andrew Shoop torched the Quakers defense for 230 passing yards and four scores on 14-for-23 passing.

Three of Shoop's touchdowns were from more than 35 yards, including a 73-yard bomb to sophomore Mark Ross in the third quarter.

Penn senior defensive back Matt Hamscher said the big plays were caused by communications errors by the Quakers defense and said the team came into the game "a little too big-headed."

"That was a good old-fashioned, rear-end kicking that we haven't had here in a long, long time," said coach Al Bagnoli. "If that doesn't get our attention then I'm not sure anything's going to get our attention."

The Quakers sputtered on offense through the first half and broke down in the second as they gained just 147 yards after intermission, and 56 in the third quarter when the score was still close.

Junior Billy Ragone passed for just 91 yards on 8-for-23 passing and was intercepted twice. One pick was returned 31 yards for a touchdown in the third quarter.

He was removed in the third quarter, which Bagnoli said was due to the Quakers' use of a two-quarterback system. After the game, Ragone's left forearm was wrapped in ice, which he said was just because of "nicks and bruises."

"They put us in a position going up early that we had to throw the ball and we weren't able to do that effectively," Ragone said. "That starts with me. Missing open guys and not getting the ball in the right spot. I think we have to take this as a learning tool."

Ross finished with 126 yards on just four catches. Following his 37-yard touchdown catch in the second quarter, Penn's Brian Giesecke blocked the extra point and Justyn Williams returned it 92 yards to the end zone to pick up two points for the Quakers.

Greg Schuster scored the lone Quakers touchdown with 2 minutes, 23 seconds left in the second quarter as he barreled into the end zone on an 8-yard carry to give Penn a 10-7 lead. The score was set up by a dashing run by Ragone, who jostled around a few defenders and rushed for a first down inside the red zone.

Early in the second quarter, Penn freshman kicker Connor Loftus converted his first career field goal attempt as he nailed a 21-yarder to hand the Quakers a 3-0 lead.