One last win for Penn's Bagnoli

ITHACA, N.Y. - It's not every day that the head coach of a two-win football team gets a celebratory Gatorade shower.

But for Penn's retiring Al Bagnoli, it felt right.

Moments after his Quakers batted down a Hail Mary to clinch a 34-26 victory over Cornell, the coach received a frigid - and unexpected - commemoration of his 239th and final triumph from his players.

"If we won a championship I'd see it [coming]," Bagnoli said. "I don't know if they were just, 'Hey, I'm gonna get the old guy one last time,' if it was one of those deals. . . . I'm really appreciative of our kids, because they've had an awful lot of things thrown at them this year."

The Quakers (2-8, 2-5 Ivy) finished 2014 well short of their usual standards. A leaky secondary and a running back depth chart decimated by injury ensured early on that Penn would not be adding a 10th Ivy League title to Bagnoli's trophy case.

But things seemed to click on Saturday for the Quakers. Going up against a moribund Big Red (1-9, 1-6) squad, Penn turned in maybe its best performance of the season.

Senior wide receiver Spencer Kulcsar closed out his career with 187 receiving yards and three touchdowns, including a 78-yard strike on a wheel route with 11 minutes, 35 seconds left in the third quarter that extended a slim 21-18 lead to 10 points. The defense did the rest of the work, holding Cornell scoreless on three of four second-half trips to the red zone.

Bagnoli is "a phenomenal coach, and he's a legend," Kulcsar said. "To be able to play under him and to be able to play with him in our final year - it was really memorable, and it's something I won't forget."

Bagnoli built a sterling reputation during his 23 years at Penn: six undefeated Ivy League seasons, 112 Ivy victories, a school-record 148 wins.

The coach ended his career on his terms, handing over the keys to defensive coordinator Ray Priore.

But not without one more celebration.

"It was good to get momentum in the offseason for coaches, the kids, and the entire program," Bagnoli said. "We tried to approach it like it was a critical game despite the won-loss record."